1. Biological theories focus on how genetics and physiology contribute to development of infants and young children. Theorists place strong emphasis on the maturity level of the human body during this process. What this means is that children walk when they are suppose to and puberty happens when nature tells it to. The timing of these two things happening is different but most always happens.
Mental representation enables children to rely on memory, perception and repetition in order to solve problems. Through mental representation children associate symbols and objects with other forms of information that is related. Toddlers are interested in playing “make believe”, often imitating others or imagining they are somewhere else using associations with objects or symbols. Piaget’s believes that children develop in a stage like process, others believe developmental flows. There are some infants that are capable in surpassing stages well before Piaget’s
Life-Span Perspective Despite the dramatic development that occurs during the first twenty years of life, development occurs throughout life. Traditional approaches to the analysis of development emphasized massive change from birth to adolescence, slight or no change during adulthood, and decrease during old age. However, an immense amount of change does occur after adolescence. According to Santrock (2011), the life-span perspective is “the perspective that development is lifelong, multidimensional, multidirectional, plastic, multidisciplinary, and contextual; involves growth, maintenance, and regulation; and is constructed through biological, sociocultural, and individual factors working together” (p. 6). Health and well-being, sociocultural contexts and diversity, parenting, education, and social policy all play a role in the life-span development (Santrock, 2011).
• Accommodation = occurs when a child adapts existing schemas in order to understand new info that doesn’t fit • Equilibration= According to P cognitive development is driven by the need for equilibrium in cognitive structures. When a child is aware of a shortcoming in existing thinking they experience an imbalance between what is understood and what is encountered. They try to reduce this imbalance by developing/adapting schemas until an equilibrium is restored. This process=equilibration A01/Piaget’s stages • 4 stages in cognitive development • Stage 1= Sensorimotor stage (0-2 y) - children able to coordinate sensory input with motor actions. Key development = objects permanence-8 months they realise that objects that our out of sight still exists.
From birth through to adulthood children continually grow, develop, and learn. A child’s development can be measured through social, emotional, intellectual, physical and language developmental milestones. In general, child development progresses from head to toe. Beginning at the top of the body and gradually moving downwards from inner to outer. Firstly gaining control of muscles close to the head and then moving outwards so the large muscles in the shoulders and upper arms/thighs are first and the extremities last from simple to complex; children progress from simple words to complex sentences from general to specific; emotional responses involve the whole body in young babies but may involve only the face in an older child It is important to understand how children develop physically, socially, emotionally and intellectually and to know that all areas of development
The Development of Children from Birth to 19 Years Nobody is born the same therefore children and young people develop at different rates, but the sequence in which they develop and advance changes very little. Children’s development tends to progress from head to toe, inside to outside, simple to complex and from general to specific. Children’s Speech and Language, Intellectual and Cognitive, Social and Emotional and Physical development will be looked at and explained through their various stages. All of these areas of development are very important and can in turn have an impact on each other and therefore the child’s full potential as an adult. The child’s physical development is the growth of their movements, both gross and fine motor skills and the development of their hand to eye co-ordination.
Someone could be born with genes to give them a normal height, but be malnourished in childhood, resulting in stunted growth and a failure to develop as expected. Both of these topics develop a person as a whole, Nature and Nurture determine the development of a person, but heredity, location, and environment affects the upbringing. During the upbringing of a child, heredity plays a vital role in determining a person’s predispositions as well as developmental potential. Scientists for years have known that traits such as eye color, hair color, and even how tall a person will be is determined by specific genes encoded in each human’s cell. The nature theory goes further in describing in more detail that intelligence, aggression, and even personality are also in an individual’s DNA.
LIFESPAN DEVELOPMENTS AND HEALTHCARE NEEDS RESOURCE PACK Lifespan developments are the stages of development and progress from the birth of a person to his/her death and are studied in a variety of ways. Human growth and changes throughout our lifespan are developed with effect from the following: * Physical development -This is the development of the body including the brain, muscles and senses. This includes the need for food, drink and rest. * Cognitive development - This refers to how a person perceives, thinks and gains an understanding of the world through interaction of genetic and learned factors. This includes remembering, problem solving and decision making from childhood to adulthood.
Children’s understanding of other peoples mind is connected to the Theory of Mind. Theory of Mind refers to children’s ability of comprehend others mental state and their own mind and to differentiate between false beliefs. Researches have shown that between the ages of 3 and 4 children are developing the necessary skills for the Theory of Mind, and even before this they have some understanding of others moods. In Theory of Mind we see that children with normal development have a special set of skills called the Executive skills which oversee and manage their cognitive function of brain. This skills are use do organise, sequence, sort, relate, differentiate and many other processes.
Object permanence is a child's understanding that objects continue to exist even though they cannot be seen or heard. Also the reflex is when a baby is born to one month they understands the environment by inborn reactions such as sucking and looking. Next is when primary circular reaction when they find pleasure in something they repeat it. Secondary Circular Reactions 4-8 months they began to focus on important things. Coordination of Reactions 8-12 months is when the child starts to show clearly planned actions.