Introduction to Child Development

1
Introduction to Child Development

• History, theories and frameworks for
  understanding child development.

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Areas of Development

• Physical development related to the body.
• Gross motor skills large muscles
• Fine motor skills small muscles
• Social development related to getting along
  with and interacting with others.
• Emotional development related to having and
  dealing with feelings and emotions.
• Intellectual/Cognitive development related to
  learning and understanding the world around us.

3
Child Development is what happens when. . .

• A dependent new born baby develops
• Language, self-awareness, a personality, and
  physical abilities, among other things
• To become a capable independent young person

4
How it happens

• Certain aspects of development are very
  predictable.
• Around the world most infants and children do the
  following at about the same time.
• Development proceeds through a certain sequence
• Focus their eyes
• Sit up
• Learn to walk
• Begin to speak
• Develop logical reasoning skills

5
Same and Different

• Other aspects of development show more
  variability or individual differences
• Sociability
• Intellectual development
• Energy level, etc

6
Interrelated Development

• Areas of development are related. If one area is
  growing other areas are as well.
• Physical growth spurts are often mirrored in
  emotional and/or intellectual growth

7
Why study children?

• Guidance for parents and other care-givers
• Helps society to support healthy growth.
• Helps identify and help children with special
  needs
• Contributes to self-understanding
• Understanding the influences and experiences that
  shaped you

8
How we study children

• Theorists propose explanations for how children
  grow and develop.
• Focus on different aspects of development (moral,
  physical, intellectual, etc.)
• Theories based on observations and experiences.

9
Create a Theory of your own.

• Definition of a theory
• A proposed explanation or description of a
  phenomena based on observations. From the Greek
  theorein meaning to look at.
• In small groups come up with a theory that
  describes or explains some aspect of the
  development of children.

10
Childhood throughout History

• Ancient Rome-Middle ages
• Little adults - Children infants until about 6,
  then go work in the adult world
• Children as property of fathers
• Children as sin-filled creatures in need of
  guidance and salvation.
• Strict discipline and neglect of special needs.
  
  
  
  
  

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Childhood throughout History

• Renaissance Enlightenment
• Humanistic spirit appreciation for special
  qualities of childhood
• Children seen playing in art
• Childhood understood as a unique period of
  development around 17th 18th centuries.
• Tabula rasa child pure at birth, a blank slate
• Early experiences crucial to development of
  childs character
• Need to be protected from negative influences
• Calls for educational and social reform

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Early Theorists

• John Locke children as a blank slate
• Jean Jacques Rousseau children as naturally
  good, needed protection from evil influences.
• Charles Darwin childhood understood through
  human evolutionary origins.
• G. Stanley Hall studied children through
  interviews surveys

13
Sigmund FreudPsychosexual

• Personality develops in five psychosexual stages,
  powered by unconscious conflicts among the id,
  ego, and superego.
• Nature, but Nurture also important
• Child passive in development

14
Erik EriksonPsychosocial

• Personality develops in eight psychosocial stages
  through the life span.
• Social relationships and conscious thought are
  important.
• Nurture, but nature also important
• Stages build on each other
• Child Active in development

15
Arnold GesellMaturational

• Development progresses through an orderly
  sequence determined by biological maturation.
• Ages and stages
• Child Passive in Development

16
Lev VygotskyCultural Historical

• The cultural, social, and biological are all
  essential to development.
• Scaffolding learning/developing with help,
  support, and interaction.
• Child active in development

17
Diana BaumrindParenting Styles

• Examined the impact of parenting practices on
  childrens development.
• Four parenting styles
• Authoritarian
• Authoritative
• Permissive
• Uninvolved

18
Jean PiagetCognitive Developmental

• Thinking and problem solving develop in four
  qualitatively different stages. Assimilation,
  accommodation, equilibration are important.
• Nature and nurture important
• Child active in development
• He altered the study of children

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Mary Ainsworth John Bowlby Attachment

• Studied the importance of early attachment
  between infant and parent.
• Evolutionary imperative of attachment.

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Childhood, a crucial time

• Self-esteem developed in childhood
• A child who feels good about themselves is more
  likely to be able to overcome problems later in
  life.
• Developmental tasks occur in succession.

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Bibliography

• http//encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761557692/Deve
  lopment_Child.htmls3
• www.kathimitchell.com/middleages.htm
• http//www.athealth.com/Practitioner/ceduc/parenti
  ngstyles.html