Influences on Childhood Development

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Joyce Chandler February 22, 2013 Influences on Childhood Development Instructor Plotts Psychology 304 Life-Span Development Introduction The birth of a child can bring forth excitement and new changes to the parents and others. As the child is introduce to this new world their bodies are also undergoing a change. Childhood development is a crucial phase in the development of the human being; especially during the period of development between birth and age of 8 in a child’s life (Santrock, 2011). This period is considered the precarious periods of time by which children should learn specific skills, if they are to learn them. This paper will discuss the important stages in the development as to how the child changes from physical, emotional, social, and cognitive perspective throughout this time period. Physical Change Physical changes in early childhood are accompanied by rapid changes in the child’s cognitive and language development. From the beginning of birth they use all their senses to attend to their environment. They begin to develop a sense of cause and effect from their actions and the responses of caregivers. As the new born grows into a young person he can take care of his or her own body and interact effectively with others. For these reasons, the primary developmental task of this stage is skill development. (Eamon, 2001) Physically, between the ages of three and five years, children continue to grow rapidly and begin to develop adequate motor skills. They began to master typical many skills like sitting, walking, and toilet training, using a spoon, scribbling and hand and eye coordination to catch and throw a ball. By age of five most children demonstrate fairly good control of pencils, crayons, and scissors.(Santrock, 2011) Gross motor accomplishments may include the
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