Unit 1 - Children's Development overview

Unit 1 - Children's Development overview

1. Physical Development

   • Definition of physical development
     • Physical development covers anything related to the way children learn to move
       • There are two main areas of physical development
         • Fine motor development and skills
           • Fine motor skills are required to help children hold objects and coorindate the movements of their fingers, for activities such as holding a cup or grasping a pencil
         • Gross motor development and skills
           • Gross motor skills are required for movement of whole limbs, like arms or legs
         • Some people like to include LOCOMOTIVE SKILLS as an area of physical development. Locomotive skills are required to help move the body and the ability to balance
   • In addition to the 2/3 main areas of physical development, children need to develop the following skills: coordination, balance and perceptual skills. These skills will allow the child to move smoothly around and eventually combine skills so they can take part in activities like catching a ball.
     • Perceptual skills - the ability to judge objects in relation to shape, size and/or motion

2. Cognitive Development

   • Definition of cognitive development
     • Cognitive development is sometimes referred to as interllectual development. It focuses on the way children learn to think and process information
       • Children will use their cognitive skills to recall information
       • Children will also make connections between new information and previous experiences
       • Children will learn how to predict, reason, make sense of experiences and solve problems using their cognitive skills

3. Emotional Development

   • Emotional development is centred around the way children experience feelings and learn to express/control their emotions appropriately

4. Social Development

5. Communication & Language Development

   • Language development is about the ability to talk, understand what others are saying and interpret facial expressions of others