Tibus Apps

Understanding Child Development for Children aged 13-18 years isthe third App in the Northern Ireland Social Care Council (NISCC)Understanding Child Development series. This mobile App has beendeveloped for social workers, teaching professionals, youth andcommunity workers and parents and it has been designed to helpprofessionals working with children and young people; • Tounderstand the development issues relevant to the 13-18 year agegroup. • To make links with knowledge obtained from previousUnderstanding Child Development Apps for 0-6 and 7-12 year oldchildren. • To utilise theoretical frameworks to enhanceunderstanding of development within the specific age range. • Toenhance professional competence in relation to decision makingbased on observation, assessment and analysis. This App like itstwo predecessors was developed in partnership with the Queen’sUniversity Belfast and the University of Ulster whom the NorthernIreland Social Care Council commissioned to write the content. TheNISCC acknowledge that the authorship and intellectual copyrightbelong to the Social Work Departments at Queens University Belfastand the University of Ulster through both authors, Dr Anne Campbelland Professor Mary McColgan whose expertise underpins the contentof this App. The development of this App was also informed by areference group of experts convened by the NISCC. This referencegroup included social work, education and youth work professionalswhose expertise and knowledge ultimately helped shape the Appcontent and style. The need for these innovative mobile resourceswas identified by the Office of Social Services, Department forHealth and Public Safety (DHSSPSNI) who provided the funding forthe development of the App and helped me it a reality. These mobileApps represents cost effective methods of delivering peer reviewededucation material at the touch of a finger and have been warmlywelcomed by employers and education providers across all sectors ofchild care and young people’s service provision.

Understanding Child Development for 0-6 Children This is afreeresource for social workers, early year’s workers and parents.Itis designed to ensure that social workers, those who work inearlyyears and other professionals in child care have instantaccess tohigh quality information on child developmental normsrelevant tothe 0-6 year’s age group. This free resource helps youto: • Accessinformation and pertinent video links in relation tochilddevelopmental milestones. • Utilise theoretical frameworks,viasuccinct knowledge summaries, video links andhyperlinkedreferences to enhance an understanding of childdevelopment and itsrelevance to practice. • Draw on significantlegislation and policyrelevant to work with children and familiesin NI. • Utilise andreflect on pertinent case studies which arebased on realisticscenarios in practice. • Critically reflect onsocial work / earlyyear’s observational skills and knowledge. •Make decisions basedon evidence whilst on practice placement orwithin the worksetting. • Enhance your professional competence inrelation todecision making, based on observations and assessment ofchilddevelopment. • Understand the impact of child neglect onchilddevelopment. The Northern Ireland Social Care Council (NISCC)hasbeen working in partnership with Skills for Care andDevelopment,the University of Ulster and Queens University Belfastto developthis new and innovative mobile application for ChildDevelopment.It is underpinned by the expertise of the twouniversities inNorthern Ireland and the authorship and intellectualcopyrightbelong to the Social Work Departments at Queens UniversityBelfastand the University of Ulster through both authors, Dr AnneCampbelland Professor Mary McColgan. The need for such a responsivetoolwas identified by the Office of Social Services who havejointlyfunded its development along with the Skills for CareandDevelopment (the sector skills Council for Social Care andEarlyYears). The app presents a cost effective method of deliveringpeerreviewed educational material and for this reason, thedevelopmentof the app has been warmly welcomed by employers acrossall sectorsin child care service provision.