Lifespan Development and Personality Paper Early childhood is a time of remarkable physical, cognitive, social, and moral development for human beings. Infant children enter the world with a limited range of skills and abilities. As they progress through this stage of life, they acquire new skills while learning about the world around them. Watching a child acquire these skills can be a source of wonder and amazement for parents and caregivers; but what is actually going on inside the minds and bodies of these children as they grow? Examining the period of early childhood (one to six years of age) has led to astounding discoveries and provided valuable insight into basic human development. Physical Development Several factors can affect physical …show more content…
Some childhood diseases can negatively affect a child's physical development, or cause serious health complications. Chronic illnesses such as cystic fibrosis, cancer, or asthma may also affect physical development in early childhood. Serious medical conditions such as cerebral palsy may impair fine motor skills and coordination in young children. In some cases, physical rehabilitation therapy may help improve a child's fine motor skills. According to medical experts, a child who has been vaccinated against various diseases stands a better chance of developing normally. (“What Factors Affect Physical Development in Early Childhood?”, 2017) Many credible scientists believe that hereditary factors also affect growth and development during early childhood …show more content…
Children of this age continue to advance their skills in observing and interacting with the world around them. They also make tremendous leaps in how they process, store, and use information. Quantifying cognitive change can be a bit tricky. We do not count the number of new neurons or measure the amount of connections between synapses to find averages for different ages. Rather, we rely on theories such as Jean Piaget's stages of cognitive development to give us a way to understand and to measure children's mental and social development and
Shaffer, D. R., & Kipp, K. (2014). Infancy. In Developmental psychology: Childhood and adolescence (p. 158). Australia: Wadsworth.
It has been proven that a child’s early years are the peak at which the mind can bend and shape, creating the foundation for a life. We know now that even before birth, the mind is a delicate matter that if improperly taken care of could alter a person’s entire life. Nourishment and stimulation before and after the birth of a child mold’s the brain in its most malleable state. Medical and scientific institutes paired with parenting information organizations have made information readily available for parents, childcare providers, and students to advise them of the importance of childhood brain development. This information is not only critical for the child, but for the person they will become in the future.
In acquiring this new-found knowledge Piaget stated that when the child is given a more complex problem they can use logical and cognitive processes to answer instead of just their imagination and/or visual prospects (Feldman, 2006, pp. 286-287). Although some kids may not fully just jump into the concrete operation stage Piaget says it is completely normal that kids shift back and forth between preoperational and concrete operational thinking during the two years before they completely reach the stage. When the process is complete you should notice how your child becomes more sophisticated in handling their information. Their concepts of speed and time also highly increase. During the middle childhood stage, short term memory improves significantly. For example, a child will be able to repeat a set of numbers back to you with more ease and less concentration then they could before (Feldman, 2006, p. 289). Vocabulary of children also begin to rapidly increase during the school years. They can take in what the teacher says and store it in their brains so more knowledge is obtained. This is the stage in which your child usually learns to read and
Every day while they interact with and learn about their environment they are creating new connections and pathways between nerve cells both within their brains, and between their brains and bodies. While physical growth and change is easily observed and measured in precise terms such as in inches and pounds, cognitive change and development is a little harder to determine as
Child development is crucial throughout the early years, during this time the development of the brain occurs. The development of the brain contributes to the functioning of the body. The anatomy of the brain is made up of neurons and divided into four different lobes. The temporal, frontal, parietal, and occipital lobes control a variety of cognitive functions. The brain controls simple functions such as fine and gross motor skills, vision, and memory. According to Meadows (1993, p.263), at all sorts of levels in the brain there are programs for functions such as breathing, sleeping, and producing coherent language. Brain development in children is vital during the early years. During the early years, children brains are active enabling children to learn a variety of information. Many studies have been conducted and they have concluded a healthy lifestyle, physical activity, and exposing young children to a variety of education material assist with child development. The first few years of a child’s life is crucial as far as his intellectual as well as socio-emotional abilities are concerned (Bose, 2000).
For my self-assessment, I chose to discuss the Middle Childhood, Adolescence, and Young Adulthood life stages. The theories of human behavior that will be discussed are Erikson’s Psychosocial theory, Kohlberg’s theory of moral reasoning, and Albert Bandura’s social learning theory. I chose these life stages because they are the stages where I have experienced many events that have shaped me into the person I am today. There are a number of factors that have played a role in my development over a period of time and I will discuss them throughout my paper.
Papalia, Diane E, Sally W. Olds, and Ruth D. Feldman. A Child's World: Infancy Through Adolescence. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, 2004. Print. The author is a child development and psychology professor. This is an anthology with strictly objective information. The content is broken down into physical, cognitive, and psychosocial developments of different stages of childhood.
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
Physical, Intellectual, Emotional and Social Development of Children Ages 0-8 Years Works Cited Not Included Physical development When the baby is picked up, the head falls backwards. This is because the neck muscles are not strong and developed enough to support the head. This is why the head always needs to be supported when the baby is lifted. When a newborn baby is held in a sitting position, they appear to roll up into a ball.
...preschool years they will learn to initiate and carry out tasks based on experience or exposure to those tasks. Interactions with parents, teachers, peers, and other adults are important in a child's life. These relationships actually shape the brain and lay the foundation for later developmental outcomes, from academic performance to mental health and interpersonal skills.
Infants and Children: Prenatal Through Middle Childhood. Pearson/Allyn and Bacon. Cooper, J., Masi, R., & Vick, J. (2009). The 'Standard' of the 'Standard'. Social-emotional Development in Early Childhood.
Shonkoff, J. & Phillips, D. (Eds.). (2001). From neurons to neighborhoods: The science of early childhood development. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press.
I want to discuss the topic of physical development during middle adulthood. Physical development is the time when people become increasingly aware of the gradual changes in their bodies this marks the aging process. (Feldman, 2014) Life style choices such as smoking, diet, alcohol and exercise can have an effect on an individual’s physical development according to the text. There is also a height, weight, and strength changes. The changes are happening in a declining rate stated in the text. The senses also decline at this stage in life. As a people age, so does their bodies they go through biological changes. Women go through climacteric and menopause. Climacteric is the transaction from being able to have children to not having them. (Feldman,2014) Menopause is the period when women can no longer have children. (Feldman, 2014) The individual I chose to do my observation on is my aunt she is 49 years old. She is a stroke victim. She had
Physical and motor development are two similar but different areas that describe child development. Physical development encompasses all of the various changes a child's body goes through. Those changes include height, weight, and brain development. Motor development is the development of control over the body. This control would involve developing reflexes such as blinking, large motor skills like walking, and fine motor skills like manipulating their fingers to pick up small objects like Cheerios. It is important to objectively study physical and motor development in children to gain knowledge on what characteristics are considered typical for each age and stage of development. This will enable me to be aware of when a child or children are developing at an irregular pace, and devise recommendations or find experiences and other resources that can aid in stimulating their development and to work towards closing achievement gaps. This particular assignment was to observe the selected child and reaffirm the importance of studying physical and motor development, and to develop ideas on how to involve it in my work as an early childhood professional.
During prenatal development, the mother's general health and age is very important. Nutrition, anxiety, and stress are a big part of the physical development during the prenatal stages. Referenced by Eysenck & Schoenthaler (1997) in our text, “A rapidly growing body of evidence reveals that when food sources are short on protein or essential vitamins and minerals during prenatal and early postnatal development, an infant’s physical, socio-emotional, and intellectual development can be compromised” (as cited by Broderick & Blewitt, 2010, p. 56).Genetic and chromosomal problems can begin at conception. Many disorders can be transmitted through the operation of dominant and recessive genes. Most recessive disorders are diagnosed in early childhood. Some genetic disorders include the following: sickle cell disease, hemophilia, night blindness, cystic fibrosis, extra fingers, high blood pressure, and huntington's disease. Chromosomal errors also effect the prenatal development stage. The most common is Down syndrome, in which a child has 3 copies of chromosome 21. The risk of bearing a child with this condition depends on the age of the mother.