Child Development And Development

860 Words4 Pages
“Child development has been a major research focus of psychology for decades” (Allen, & Marotz, 2009). There is a difference between growth and development when describing a child. The educators and parents in children’s lives need to also know age appropriate activities that will further develop all their domains which are physical and growth, motor, perceptual, cognitive, language and social and emotional development. Along with being able to challenge children in these domains we need to know milestones and how to detect atypical development. Although growth and development are usually often used interchangeably, they are not describing the same theories. Growth is typically the description of a person’s physical development. “Growth refers…show more content…
The first one is physical development and growth which is described as “changes in body size, proportions, appearance, functioning of body systems, motor capacities and physical health” (Berk, 2007). The next is motor development which is depicted as the way children begin to learn how to move their bodies. Children have to learn how to move their fingers and make them grab a pencil, or how to handle a jump rope and coordinate their body to jump at the right time. All of these take a healthy motor development. Perceptual development is “the increasingly complex way the child uses information received through the senses – sight, hearing, touch, smell, taste, and body position” (Allen, & Marotz, 2009). With a healthy perceptual development children can begin to “put things into perception” so to say. They can zone in on what is important and what is not, what needs to be done now, and what can wait. They can interpret the events in their…show more content…
“Major markers or points of accomplishment are referred to as developmental milestones in tracking the emergence of motor, social, cognitive, and language skills” (Allen, & Marotz, 2009). Developmental milestones are helpful in figuring out if a child is developing appropriately. They can help a parent or caregiver challenge areas that need more help than others. It can also alert physicians to any complications and ailments. Children usually follow a predictable development schedule and there is an appropriate margin for adjustment, but sometimes children develop outside of the norms of expected development. Atypical development in children is described as “children with developmental differences, deviations, or marked delays – children whose development appears to be incomplete or inconsistent with typical patterns and sequences” (Allen, & Marotz, 2009). Three factors that might contribute to atypical development is poor health, genetic errors and injury. The developing child is a critical period that should not be ignored. Children deserve the best chance at developing in all six domains. Teachers should be educated in creating developmentally appropriate and challenging environments. Parents and teachers should continue to work together to develop children cognitively, physically, socially, emotionally, perceptually, and
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