Early Childhood Special Education

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Early ChildhoodSpecial Education

• Birth to Eight
• by
• Evelyn Gard, MA.Ed.
• [phone] egard_at_gwcc.commnet.edu

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• HUMAN DEVELOPMENT
• (Change over a period of time)
• Physical body, brain, sensory capacity, motor
  skills
• Intellectual mental ability, activity,
  cognitive development
• Social and Emotional responding, feeling,
  reacting

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Child Development

• The scientific study, over time, of normal
  changes in children.
• Including
• description
• explanation
• prediction
• modification
• of a childs behavior
• What they do tells us where they are.

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Historical Perspectives

• The historical child
• High mortality rates
• Not fully developed humans
• Same as adults, only weaker and less
  intellectual,
• only the strongest survived
• Parent/child relationships distant
• Children were needed to work the land
• Recent research
• Children have always been
• regarded as special
• Different than adults
• Usually loved and cared for
• Playful parent/child relationships

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Measuring Change

• Two methods
• Quantitative assesses measurable changes
• height, weight, frequency, size
• Qualitative assesses observable changes
• ability, adaptations, methods, social/emotional

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General Terminologyin child development

• Age-graded influence similarities in a given age
  group
• History-graded influence biological and/or
  environmental influences that are common to a
  particular generation.
• technology, war, epidemics
• Normative occurrences that are similar to other
  individuals in the same group, society or culture
• Non-normative events unusual and uncommon life
  events
• accidents, trauma, and things we do to ourselves
• Critical Period the specific time of impact on
  development

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Stages of Childhood

• Prenatal from single cell to baby
• the period of greatest growth in the human life
  span
• Infancy the first 18 months to 2 years
• Toddler 18 mos/2yrs to age 3
• Early Childhood 3 to 6
• Middle Childhood 6 to 12
• Adolescence 12 to 18
• Adult 18 older

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Development Theories

• Psycho-sexual Theory Sigmund Freud
• Human behavior is motivated by unconscious
  forces
• The human personality is made up of three
  elements
• ID present at birth operates on the pleasure
  principle seeks immediate gratification
• EGO begins to develop during the first year
  operates on the principle of reality represents
  common sense reason gratification through
  acceptable means
• SUPER EGO begins to develop around age 4 or 5
  represents learned, societal values incorporates
  should should not based on those values.

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• Freuds stages of psycho-sexual development
• Oral birth to 18 months
• Zone of gratification is the mouth main source
  of
• pleasure comes from oral activity like sucking
• and eating
• Anal 18 months to age 3
• Potty training phase. Zone of gratification is
  the anus
• and sensual gratification comes from holding and
• expelling feces.
• Phallic age 3 to 6
• Zone of gratification is the genital area
  feelings of
• love translate to the parent of the opposite
  gender.
• Latency age 6 to puberty
• A time of relative calm between stages
• Genital puberty to adulthood

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• Humans pass through stages of development where
  gratification shifts from one body zone to
  another. If a child is ungratified or overly
  gratified they can become conflicted and
• Fixated stuck in that phase of development. This
  causes anxiety.
• The parents role is to help children resolve the
  conflict in each phase before age 5.
• Freud believed personality is set by age 5
• The unconscious sets up protects the ego from
  anxiety by setting up
• Defense mechanisms
• Regression the return to an earlier stage of
  behavior
• Repression blocking feelings from consciousness
  through
• Sublimination channeling disturbing feelings
  into other activities
• Projection attributing the unacceptable feelings
  to others
• Reaction formation saying the opposite of that
  you really feel

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• Psycho-social Theory Erik Erikson
• Eight stages of development Personality
  development is a life-long process and societys
  influence has an impact on the ego at each stage
• each stage revolves around a crisis that must
  resolve a conflict
• each crisis emerges at a particular point of
  maturation when resolved, the ego develops on
  toward the next crisis and development of a
  particular virtue
• if unresolved, they interfere with healthy
  development of the ego
• both positive and negative aspects are needed for
  healthy and normal development.

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• Birth through infancy up to one year old
• Trust vs. Mistrust
• virtue hope During this time we are completely
  dependent on others so we must blindly
  trust our care givers.
• Positive outcome secure infant that trusts his
  environment
• Negative outcome insecure, mistrusting of others
  and his environment.

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• Toddler age 1 to 3
• Autonomy vs. shame and doubt
• Virtue will
• positive outcome self control, good coping
  skills and making good choices
• negative outcome shame, self-doubt, bad choices
• Early Childhood age 2 to 6
• Initiative vs. guilt
• Virtue purpose
• positive outcome accepts limitations without
  guilt and uses imagination without shame
• negative outcome guilty feelings and shame when
  corrected or caught

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• Childhood age 6 to 12
• Competence/Industry vs. Inferiority
• Virtue skill
• positive outcome pleasure in intellectual
  stimuli (learning), productivity and gaining
  skill
• negative outcome sense of inferiority
• Adolescence age 12 to 18
• Identity vs. role confusion
• Virtue fidelity
• positive outcome strong identity
• and a plan for the future
• Negative outcome fear of
• commitment, unable to

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• Young Adult (19-40)
• Competence Intimacy vs. Isolation
• virtue love Love relationships become
  important. you are not
  developmentally complete until you
  are capable of intimacy.
• positive outcome form close relationships and
  share with others.
• negative outcome fear of commitment, unable to
  depend on others, isolated.
• Middle Adulthood (40-65)
• Generativity vs. Stagnation
• virtue care We develop the ability to empathize
  and care for others and the need to create a
  living legacy.
• positive outcome helping the next generation,
  having kids
• self-centered, stagnant

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• Late Adulthood (65 death)
• Integrity vs. Despair
• virtue wisdom We redefine our lives and our
  place in the grand scheme of things.
• positive outcome sense of fulfillment, accept
  death with integrity.
• despair, fear of death, regret.
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