Patterns of Child Development The various aspects of child development encompass physical growth, emotional and psychological changes, and social adjustments. A great many determinants influence patterns of development and change. On the average, a newborn baby weighs 3.4 kg (7.5 lb) and is 53 cm (21 in) long, with the head disproportionately larger than the lower part of the body. As the child grows, increments in height are greatest from birth to three years; thereafter they are relatively constant until adolescence. The growth spurt at adolescence is far less than during infancy. Weight increments are also large during the first three years but are equally large during adolescence. Research shows that growth rates are influenced by the health of the child. Rates of development decelerate during illness; after an illness is cured, however, growth rates accelerate until children attain their appropriate height and weight. Dramatic changes occur in motor skills from birth through the first two years. At birth infants are capable of extensive uncoordinated movements. One feature of the early motor behavior of infants is the large number of reflex-like actions. These actions appear for a short time after birth and then disappear. For example, when the palm of the hand is stroked lightly the fingers involuntarily close, forming a fist; this is called the palmar reflex. From these early movements, distinct sequential patterns of motor development occur. Walking, which occurs on the average between 13 and 15 months, emerges from a sequence of 14 earlier stages. Research shows that the rate of acquisition of motor skills is innately determined and that the acquisition of these skills is not influenced by practice. Severe restri... ... middle of paper ... ... adults are less obvious. The members of peer groups change with age. Preadolescent groups are homogeneous; that is, members are usually of the same sex and come from the same neighborhood. Among older children, social relationships are based on shared interests and values. Within a given group, the popular children tend to be more intelligent, higher achievers, and socially and emotionally more mature. Much current work involves identifying the cognitive components (such as memory and attention span) used in problem-solving activities. Researchers also are trying to identify the processes that occur in the transition from one level of thought to the next. Another area of investigation is the cognitive components in reading and arithmetic. It is hoped that this research will lead to improved methods of teaching academic skills and more effective remedial teaching.
Compare and contrast a child from younger age group with a child from an older age group.
Esther Thelen’s article “The Improvising Infant: Learning to Move” describes her research into how and why infants use repeated motor sequences. She found these movements are related to the onset of new behaviors. Once an infant has achieved full mastery of the skill, the oscillating movements stopped. Infants do these actions when they are excited or drowsy, and even though the movements are involuntary, the infants can take over the movement for an intentional act, such as demonstrating impatience or getting attention. These movements and what caused them fascinated Thelen, and she began to study them. One particular experiment she ran focused on a disappearing reflex.
Theories abound around how people develop emotionally, intellectually, socially and spiritually. This essay will examine the theories of five leaders on the subject of development.
Motor development is directly associated to the advancement of our capabilities for voluntary physical movement. However, these changes take affect through the duration of our life, the most significant changes for humans occur between birth and 2 years of age. Motor skills is defined as “the learned ability to move some part of the body, from a large leap to a flicker of the eyelid” (Berger 2008). When a baby is born, they immediately are able to move their legs, grab things with their fingers and show facial expressions. This is due to the automatic movements that we refer to as reflexes. These reflexes includes the ability to maintain oxygen supply, maintain a constant body temperature and the ability to manage feeding, which are all essential for survival (Berger 2008). Usually at about 5 months, babies start to develop what 's called gross motor skills. According to Dorothy Einon “gross motor skills are larger movements a baby makes with his arms, legs, feet, or his entire body.
I believe that a child’s growth is developmental, and each child needs a secure caring and motivating atmosphere in which to grow and developed emotionally, intellectually, physically, and socially. I believe nature and nurture are the two aspects that influence in child development. Nature and nurture are different in several ways, but they both play an important role in child development. I believe that the environment that a person grows up in has the most influence on child development because children reflect what they are taught and what they learn from the people around them.
During the first year of the infant’s life the most noticeable thing is physical growth. The infants weight is doubled in six months and tripled in a year. During the time of growth not only does the weight and height increase but as well the head and the chest that causes development of the heart, brain, lung and several organs used for survival. The bones of the infant start to harden as well as the skull. By the end of the second year of the infant’s life his/her brain has developed 75% of its adult weight. The growth and size of the baby also depend on its nutritional diet during the mothers pregnancy and during his/hers life, if during the mothers pregnancy she didn’t have a nutritional diet the baby might later have difficulties in his/hers growth and even its ability to understand and process things, if the infant is overfed during the first year or two years this might cause obesity in later years, now if the baby receives a good and nutritional balance of food this should increase growth and size of the infant.
A newborn child’s physical and motor development is an evident progression throughout their first years and later in life. A child’s motor development is more of a slower progress, from going to gross motor skills to more fine motor skills in a few months while physical development is an apparent process. The environment affects children in their physical and motor growth, as they learn and adapt to new stimuli everyday as they develop. Separately, these developments start at different times, but function hand in hand as a child grows. Physical development is apparent at conception, early childhood, middle childhood, and adolescence; while motor development
Development is defined as the process of change, a pattern that occurs from birth throughout the lifespan of the individual (Keenan and Evans, 2009). In the UK it is usual to cover child development between birth and nineteen years. Development is often categorised into different areas of development; physical, intellectual, language, emotional and social. Smidt (2006) suggested that all areas of development are interrelated. Therefore development has to be approached with a holistic view; whilst looking at one area of development all areas of development need to be considered. "The holistic ideology values the whole child understanding the young child as an individual within the context of his or her family, community and culture” Wood (1998). With this in mind practitioners need to be aware of a child’s background. Children usually progress through a set pattern of stages, unless a child has additi...
When people hear the term Child Development they automatically think of how the baby is forming inside of the mother. Child Development means so much more than that, it is also the term used to describe how children learn and grow as they age into adults. Another term that is used for child development is developmental psychology (enter in-text citation). The actual definition of child development is the biological, physical, and emotional changes that occur from birth until the end of adolescence. There are many different stages of development, it starts in the womb.
A healthy pregnancy is a start to a good biological beginning for a baby. The developmental milestone process in infant’s progression can be normal and accurate for most stages however, a few transitions or changes in an environment can increase a delay in infants developmental milestones. As infants began to grow, then began to master normal age-related skills such as, at 2 months they would smile when he would see familiar faces. They tend to get attached to those that are familiar with. Lack of time spent with an infant biological mother, can increase attachment to his care giver vs their mother. At four months infants developed the typical motor skills for his age such as, sucking, chewing on his bottle or teething ring. Also, they also began to recognize sounds and voices, such as music. They would respond to the music he heard by kicking and eyes began to explore his environment. Infants tend to grab their hair and glasses and roll over. Playing with infants at six months and they should respond to by gurgling and making eye contact. They began to verbalize more at seven months such as cooing and gurgling in social environment they should be able to recognize those they are familiar
As children grow towards adolescence they go through many stages of development. Child development refers to the stages of physical, cognitive, emotional, social, and language growth that occurs from the birth to beginning of adulthood. All aspects of a child's development may be affected by many different factors, including a poor learning environment, lack of social interaction, cultural background differences, abuse, and loss of a parent. All of the before mentioned examples can affect the child's maturation, "a biological growth process that enables orderly changes in behavior, relatively uninfluenced by experience" (Myers 172). Children grow and mature at very different rates, some faster than others, which is why it is necessary to understand the importance of the different types of child development. Though all parts of child development are important, it is probably language learning that is most important to a child's development as a whole.
In the developing stages of a child, psychological factors play a huge role in th...
Child development and growth observation can be quite fascinating considering the uniqueness of each child. As children grow, they normally develop and acquire new skills whether complex or not. The abilities experienced by each child progresses differently that is it depends on the nurturing given by the parent or guardian and on the characteristics that they inherit. Proper development and growth of the child occurs when basic needs are provided by the reliable adult guardians, including such things as love, food, encouragement, shelter and warmth. The essay evaluates child development and growth through observation conducted by myself on my nephew. The essay will include physical development, general health, emotional development,
Wood, A. E., Wood, E. G., & Boyd, D. (2007). Child development: The world of psychology.
Childhood is defined as the period in human development between infancy and adulthood(book). In a historical perspective, this is relatively new social construction. Early childhood most often refers to the months and years between infancy and school age children. Child development is influenced by a lot of factors. These factors influence a child both in positive ways that can enhance their development and in negative ways that can change developmental outcomes. To understand why childhood is such a crucial time in human life it is important to study the development before and after birth along with any factors that may alter life in between.