Periods of child development from prenatal to adolescence

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Periods of development:

Prenatal phase: conception - birth

Infancy and toddlerhood: birth - 2 years

Early childhood: 2 years - 6 years

Middle childhood: 6 years - 11 years

Adolescence: 11 - 18 years

Definitions:

Development:

Gradual observable changes in, or the unfolding of, the child-in-totality, who is en route to proper adulthood.

Maturation:

Continuous process that occurs in individual over a lifetime and is regarded as one of the most prominent aspects of development process.

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Process of development which is primarily ascribed to influence of heredity - that is, the physical development of the organism.

Examples of maturation:

Development of motor skills such as walking and standing, order in which teeth appear and the changes in child's body proportions size.

Growth:

An increase in physical size, and generally also in complexity, of an organism or a part of it.

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An increase in scope and function, such as speech or mathematical ability.

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Personal growth - that is, an increase in person's psychological maturity.

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Quantitative changes that take place in an individual which include increases in mass, length, growth and structure.

Areas of development:

Physical development: growth of body, changes in internal structure and functioning of body

Cognitive development: aspects and functions relating to thinking and ideas

Emotional development: an emotion is a complex condition which is characterised by activation of central and automatic nervous system, intestinal reactions and feelings such as fear, sadness, anger and happiness.

Social development: includes interesting aspects such as development of attachment between mother and child, the expansion of young child's interpersonal contacts, modelling behaviour, the development of sex role identity and moral development.

Moral-normative development: child's mastery of his lifeworld in respect of the values and norms underlying the educative situation. Includes development of voluntary obedience to certain norms of what is true and false, good and bad, right and wrong.

Personality development: constantly changing yet relatively stable organisation of all physical, psychological and spiritual characteristics of individual which determine his behaviour in interaction with environment.

Influence of heredity and environment on child's development:

Three approaches to determinants of development:

Native or genetic determinism: human being's characteristics are determined mainly by heredity

Environmental determinism: takes the view that environmental factors play most important role in human development

Transactionism: development is the result of the influence of experience on an organism, together with specific ways in which human being interprets and reorganises sensations and perceptions concerning the environment.

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Nativism:

Darwin's theory of evolution had a great impact on theories of human development.

Believed that inherited ability alone determines course of development and that environmental factors have little effect.

Environmental determinism:

English professor said that the mind at birth is tabula rasa - a clean state or blank sheet of paper on which experience would write its course.

In contrast to nativism, other scientists ascribed human development directly to learned behaviour.

Experience and influence of events are components that determine human behaviour.

Heredity plays no role, and human behaviour can be regulated by approval and disapproval of behaviour.

According to these theories, child's language, for eg, is not dependent on inherited abilities, but is learned by expectations of community to which child must learn to speak, example being set and approval or reward that is given when expectations are met.

Transactionism:

approach to human development holds that development is the result of experience on human organism coupled with particular ways in which organism modifies, reorganises and interprets sensations and perceptions from the environment.

Referred to as dynamic theories

Conditions that make psychological development possible and define its dynamics:

human beings are unique living beings - potential and biological aspects are primary factors and make development possible

child is helpless - emphasis is put on caring and presence of adult

child should experience safety and security

possibility of exploration is exercised

Role of phaseology in the development of young child:

in order to get clear picture of child's progress on their way to adulthood their development may be divided into a number of life stages or phases.

Phases should not be seen as absolute delimitations in which all children display exactly the same characteristics or features.

However, it is also true that children who are about the same have to contend with same difficulties and have similar experiences.

This is why "homogeneity in heterogeneity" is true of every phase

Seifert and Hoffnung describe the following common elements of different phasal approaches:

all intact organisms follow the same series of phases or stages in their development (all learn to sit, walk and crawl)

each phase is qualitatively unique and different from other phases (walking differs from sitting etc)

phases represent logical progression in development in that each phase is more complex than one preceding it and leads to an integration of previous phases (potential to walk rests on whether the child learnt to sit)

The physical development of young child:

Factors that influence physical development:

Genetic factors: important, especially with regard to size and appearance

Nutrition: adequate and balanced = healthy bone structure and healthy body as well as intellectual abilities

Health: good health and no conditions or diseases are prerequisites for normal physical development of young child

Affection and stimulation: loving affection and general stimulation of young child by caregivers is also prerequisite

Culture: children affected by way they are inducted into their culture and how they define themselves and are defined by others

Socioeconomic environment: social environment and effect this might have on development of child plays role in development

Neonatal phase:

starts immediately after birth and lasts up to age of 2-4 weeks

during this phase, many psychological changes take place that enable the neonate to adapt life outside mother's body

Infant:

lasts from neonatal phase to end of first year of life - characterised by exceptional growth and development in almost all areas of human life

Toddler:

child learns to walk and talk

coordination and gross motor and fine motor development undergo tremendous changes.

phase is characterised by toddlers exploration of and familiarisation with things around them

growth rate of toddler is slower than that of infant

play is vital for toddler's development

Preschooler or child under five:

growth slows down but body proportions still change

physical growth involves changes in height, mass, body proportions, muscle and bone growth, teeth, etc

psychological changes enhance the child's power of endurance

temporary teeth become replaced with permanent

strength increases 65%

new skills learnt

become more independent in eating and dressing themselves

School beginner - 6 to 9 years:

physical development manifests itself in changing sleeping, eating and toilet habits, and an increase in height and weight

change in body proportions, larger muscles, fine motor skills develop

important for teachers to be aware of developmental needs of child, as bodily or physical skills influence many other areas of development

when evaluating physical development of a child, one has to keep in mind there will be differences in physical development between those from well off and poor families, between sexes and racial and ethnic groups.

gross motor skills develop

child sleeps less, eating habits are virtually same as adults

manual skills develop quickly and children learn to distinguish between right and left

more structured drawing, writing and painting

Cognitive development of young child:

Piaget regarded man cognitive functioning as a way of interacting with environment

Piaget believed in the child's active discovery of world

He emphasised the role of adults' educative assistance, support and accompaniment in cognitive development of child

Functions that are important in cognitive development of young child:

intelligence:

develops through individuals interaction with environment.

implies much more than a mere quantifiable score - ability of an individual to use constantly changing environment.

8 intelligences defined by Gardner:

Musical

Bodily kinaesthetic

Logical mathematical

Spatial

Interpersonal

Intrapersonal

Naturalist

Schemes and cognitive structure:

a scheme is a pattern that underlies a class of similar behaviours and that includes tendency to initiate behaviour of particular class in appropriate situations.

example - sucking schema, refers to reflex tendency to suck everything which comes to contact with mouth - mothers breast, dummy, corner of blanket.

cognitive structures formed from environmental content that is incorporated into existing schemes.

Assimilation and accommodation:

according to theorists, the child can only interact directly with the environment through his existing schemes - by assimilation and accommodation.

assimilation = child understands new content on basis of existing schemes.

accommodation = modification of actions to adapt new or similar stimuli.

Equilibrium:

individuals cognitive development is influenced by own attempts to solve problems.

when environment is such that individuals existing knowledge and cognitive structures are sufficient to cope with it, a state of equilibrium is reached - implies steady, comfortable state.

when child comes across discrepancies in own knowledge, or discovers that knowledge and cognitive structures are insufficient to cope with stimuli from environment, will be motivated to adapt and change their own thinking in order to achieve state of equilibrium again.

child therefore constantly tries to maintain a balance between assimilation and accommodation - that is, a balance between understanding of new elements in environment and present knowledge.

Metacognition:

conscious attempt by child to control own cognitive abilities.

implies ability to formulate problems, to employ cognitive processes to solve tasks, and to know which strategies to follow or which rules to apply.

also includes ability to concentrate on task and to check eventual outcome and therefore evaluate process.

sensorimotor period - birth to 2 years

child's functioning changes from reflexive level at which they can execute coherent practical actions.

stage is characterised by sensory and motor adjustments that allow infant to organise and exercise some control over environment rather than by symbolic processing of environment.

pre-operational period - 2 to 7 years

phase is transitional between sensorimotor and later operational periods.

child's cognitive development is concentrated on development of ability to represent things mentally or symbolically.

child learns a language and their knowledge is very much tied to their own perceptions and symbolic schemes, imitation and imagery.

concrete operational period - 7 to 11 years

period is characterised by child's development and use of coherent cognitive system.

child is capable of thought processes that are reversible, but only regarding rea and concrete things.

formal operational period - 11 years onwards

child develops ability to execute formal operations - that is, to think in abstract or logical manner and make deductions.

formal operational thought is not tied to concrete objects but can also deal wirh abstract things, possibilities and hypotheses.

ability allows person to conceptualise about many simultaneously interacting variables.

Sensorimotor period:

divided into 6 sub-stages and lasts from birth - 2 years.

4 main characteristics of sensorimotor period are already present at birth:

- neonates primary response to their environment is their sensory and motor activities.

- neonate focuses on present only (no conception of past or future.)

- neonate is unable to plan.

- neonate does not link objects to images or words.

Stage 1: reflexive schemes (0-1 month)

neonate experiences surrounding world through sense of comfort or discomfort.

first month of life is occupied by activities such as crying, sucking and variations in rhythm of breathing.

reflexive movements lay the groundwork for further development that schemes will later develop from them.

sequence of events starts playing a role , for example, hunger, sucking, nipple, milk.

repititive reflexive movements, supported by neurological and physical maturation, form the beginning of learning.

Stage 2: primary circular reactions (1-4 months)

stage starts when inborn reflexes begin to change into learnt habits through experience.

when infants behaviour accidentally results in an interesting outcome, they try to repeat it.

as result, certain reflex actions are consciousy repeated through trial and error.

first signs of imitation can be seen.

baby still has no idea object permanence, unable to view different events as a whole (each event is an isolated experience).

foundation is being laid for concepts of causality and time and space.

Stage 3: secondary circular reactions (4-8 months)

child begins to include use of external objects in behaviour.

behaviour is directed towards retention in order to ensure that sequence of events lasts - will immediately repeat accidental movement which has produced sound (eg. will drop toy again)

initial reflexes are replaced with conscious movements such as grasping reflex for holding rattle.

sensorimotor skills (visual skills) combined and stored in set of experiences = form of a scheme.

concepts of cause and effect begin to emerge.

qualitative and quantitative concepts are formed.

coordination of separate events into scheme leads to infants awareness that self also plays role in action.

infant has vague idea of before and after and can recognise specific stimuli as part of certain event and then symbols begin to acquire meaning.

Stage 4: coordination of secondary schemes (8-12 months)

opportunities for increased experimentation are facilitated by infants greater mobility.

becomes aware of continued existence of object even though they can no longer see it.

experiences cause and effect through contact with reality.

trial and error behaviour leads to forming of behavioural patterns that they consider most useful for acheiving particular goals.

objects now linked to specific events and events are traced to their causes.

Stage 5: tertiary circular reactions (12-18 months)

child can walk - comes into contact with much larger section of environment.

discovers new meaning through experimentation and incorporates results.

rational and intellectual reasoning becomes evident and perception is NB.

sensory cues neither indicate perception nor guarantee awareness of perception if it occurs - not until current developmental level is achieved is the child capable of forming an initial concept of a thing - an initial awareness of an object as an entity with its own distinct properties.

child understands spatial relationships of objects and can, for eg, fill empty container with smaller items.

this ability implies progression in the recognition of shapes.

causality begins to take meaning for child and recgonises origins of events which are independent of activity.

development is essential for ability to relate to others.

good manners and cleanliness are now learnt.

Stage 6: symbolic representation and discovery through mental combinations or mental representations (18-24 months)

stage 6 is a bridge to next developmental phase.

more emphasis on cognitive behaviour.

objects seen as independent, autonomous entities that child can implement without any prior experience.

recognises properties of objects - colour, size and shape.

egocentricity is order of day owing to lack of differentiation between self and environment.

Pre-operational phase:

2 - 7 years.

- preconceptual thought (2-4 years)

child able to use symbols in lang, graphic expression, play and problem solving.

process of reflective level of internalisation and symbolisation, permitting reasoning, but originating at sensorimotor level. before development of lang and inner thought. Based on subjective judgements.

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