DevelopmentThe Scientific Study Of Development

DevelopmentDevelopment: is the scientific study of

normal changes of children over time…

Breaking it down:• Scientific Study: means repeated testing

and/or observations done in an unbiased manner that have reportable reliability.

• Normal Changes:This is not the extreme or unusual situation but rather the common or typical changes that occur in children.

Breaking it down…

3. Over Time: an aspect of a child can be tested or observed at one time and then repeated after a time lapse to see if there is a change – e.g. a longitudinal study

5 Areas of Development

• Physical Development: sitting up, crawling, walking, running, growth spurts, puberty, etc.

• Intellectual/Cognitive/Mental Development: language acquisition, logic, moral reasoning.

• Emotional Development: control over emotions, temper tantrums, etc.

• Social Development: understanding of societal expectations, behaviour and interaction with others.

• Moral Development: development of ethical thought, empathy and reasoning.

1. Development is similar for everyone…

• Although the age at which infants sit, stand, walk, and control bowel & bladder varies from child to child, the sequence in which babies develop these abilities is universal…

• Most children learn to roll over, then get up on all fours and crawl, and finally walk – in this specific order regardless of time or place.

2. Development builds on earlier learning…

• Even before birth, an infant is tuning into the melody of its mother’s voice. Over the next six years, its brain will set up the circuitry needed to decipher the lyrics. A six month old can recognize the vowel sounds that are the basic building blocks of speech. So speech patterns build from there into a wide vocabulary over time.

3. Development proceeds at an individual rate…

• Almost everyone goes through the same stages of learning to walk. However, what time they hit this stage could vary. For example, listen to this question & answer taken from a parenting support group:

What’s the average age for learning to walk? My daughter is 13 mths old, and she shows no signs of managing to walk by herself, though she can pull herself up to a standing and she crawls well. Should I worry?

The average age is 12 to 15 mths. Perfectly health toddlers take more time than this, though, especially if they are expert crawlers. It’s likely that your daughter will walk soon, but if you have any concern about her development, speak with your health advisor.

4. Development is interrelated…• Physical health may affect how a child

intellectually develops. For example, a child that does not get proper nutrition over the course of a day could have difficulties paying attention at school. For younger children, a lack of certain vitamins can severely delay or inhibit the growth of certain brain cells. This in turn, affects how a baby will function intellectually later in life…

5. Development is continuous throughout lifespan…

• At no point in the lifespan, does one stop learning in some aspect or another…