" When working with Child X it became apparent that he received too much agency so his social development was high meaning that he had life skills including cooking, cleaning and laundry. However, his transition was low as he had no support from his family so when a major transition happened like bereavement he resorted to alcohol.
Learning is vital for children and young people and can be defined as acquiring new, or modifying existing, knowledge, behaviours, skills, values, or preferences and may involve synthesizing different types of information. Rogoff (2009, p.102-138) states "there are three types of learning; formal, non-formal and informal." Formal Learning takes place in an educational environment and is mainly delivered by schools and colleges. Non Formal Learning occurs in a formal learning environment, but that is not formally recognised e.g. workshops. Informal Learning takes place in a number of settings such as at home, youth centres and through daily interactions with family, friends and other people. The author completed a learning style test with Child B which resulted in her being diagnosed as a visual learner who works best when they see demonstrations, diagrams, slides, charts, and other visual aids when learning. This knowledge enabled the worker to give Child B support to enable her to concentrate and increase her learning at school as well as tailor the informal learning opportunities provided to her in the youth centre. .
A key quality needed when working with young people is the ability to listen as well as teach individuals how to reciprocate this listening in a meaningful way. Listening involves many skills other than those connected with hearing someone speak including non-verbal communication, posture, eye contact, body language, facial features and hand gestures. To deliver a quality service to young people they need to know and be able to see that you are interested in what they are saying.
