CHILD DEVELOPMENT It refers to the biological and psychological and emotional changes that occur in human beings between

birth and the end of adolescence, as the individual progresses from dependency to increasing autonomy. Because these developmental changes may be strongly influenced by genetic factors and events during prenatal life.

CRITICAL QUESTION Experts in the field of child development ask if it is a continuous or discontinuous process. The question points to the change and continuity in the individual. Child development is a continuous process and also divided into different stages.

NAMING DEVELOPMENTAL PERIODS Development in an individual is understood in general qualitative term. These developmental landmarks are used by people, thinkers, experts etc. NAME Parental Infancy and toddlerhood Early Childhood Middle Childhood Adolescence Emerging Adulthood PERIODS Conception to birth Birth to 2 Years 2 to 6 Years 6 to 11 Years 11 to 22 Years 22 to 25 Years

Experts divide periods of development into much smaller stages and name them differently such that development seems to be more continuous.

WHAT IS DEVELOPING? 1. Physical Development 2. Intellectual Development 3. Language Development 4. Social and Emotional Development 5. Moral Development PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT. In physical development we will study the growth of the individual starting in the womb, through parental period all the way to late adolescence. ALLOMETRIC DEVELOPMENT. Body proportions change over development. An infant 15 months old has a bigger head size compared to the body than an adult. The brain also increases in size over development. INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT. In intellectual development there is a famous theory called PIAGETS IDEA. PIAGETS IDEA A general understanding of PIAGETs theory is based on the idea that humans passed through stages of physical and cognitive development. As our bodies grow so does our cognition. PIAGET STAGES Sensorimotor: (birth to about age 2) During this stage, the child learns about himself and his environment through motor and reflex actions. Thought derives from sensation and movement. The child learns that he is separate from his environment and that aspect of his environmenthis parents or favorite toy continue to exist even though they may be outside the reach of his senses; this is called object permanence. Teaching for a child in this stage should be geared to the sensor motor system. You

can modify behavior by using the senses: a frown, a stern or soothing voiceall serve as appropriate techniques. Preoperational: (begins about the time the child starts to talk to about age 7) Applying his new knowledge of language, the child begins to use symbols to represent objects. Early in this stage he or she also personifies objects. They are now better able to think about things and events that aren't immediately present. Oriented to the present, children have difficulty conceptualizing time. Their thinking is influenced by fantasythe way they'd like things to be. Children's at this age show egocentrism-they assume that others see situations from his or her viewpoint. They take in information and change it in their mind to fit their ideas. Teaching must take into account the child's vivid fantasies and undeveloped sense of time. Using neutral words, body outlines and equipment a child can touch gives him an active role in learning. However a child still cannot grasp the concept of conservation - an ability to understand that specific properties of objects such as volume weight or number remains the same despite the changes in shape or arrangement of those objects. Concrete: (about first grade to early adolescence) During this stage, accommodation increases. The child develops an ability to think abstractly and to make rational judgments about concrete or observable phenomena, which in the past he needed to manipulate physically to understand. In teaching this child, giving him the opportunity to ask questions and to explain things back to you allows him to mentally manipulate information. Formal Operations: This stage brings cognition to its final form. This person no longer requires concrete objects to make rational judgments. At this point, he is capable of hypothetical and deductive reasoning. Teaching for the adolescent may be wide ranging because he'll be able to consider many possibilities from several perspectives. LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT Some theorists believe in the language acquisition device (LAD). A learning mechanism that quickens language learning. Children vocabulary enriches rapidly. From about 11000 word in first grade to about 80000 words in 12th grade.

90000 80000 70000 60000 50000 40000 30000 20000 10000 0 k-2 3-5' Grade 6-8' 9-12'

In the same fashion grammar in children improves over time.

Vocabulary

Complex

Two Words

One Word

Grammar Sentences

EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT 1. Emotion like anger, fear and happiness can be seen in the infants in a few months. 2. From day 1, infants are aware of emotions of others. They respond to others distress with their own distress. 3. By about 1 year infants can draw emotional cues from other.

SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT 1. Early social bonding comes about between infants and their mother. 2. Later siblings and fathers start socially bonding with infants. 3. Healthy social development is based on reliable attachment to the primary caregiver (Erickson,1950,bowlby,1967). MORAL DEVELOPMENT.