Child Development Flashcards
What 2 behaviours are infants predisposed to exhibit?
Proximity seeking
Contact maintaining
What is attachment?
Biologically base system that functions to maintain infant’s proximity to care giver.
What is the importance of a secure attachment?
Shows infant is worthy of love and care and others will be available in times of need
Influences brain development
Better social competence, peer relations, self reliance and physical and emotional health
What is the significance of the critical period of attachment?
During first year
If separation occurs during the first 4 years problems may result
Describe social development during the first 6 weeks.
Newborns prefer human faces to inanimate objects
Describe social development by 3 months.
Distinguish strangers from non strangers
Prefer non strangers
Allow any adult to hold without being unduly upset
Describe social development at 7-8 months
Specific attachments
Child will miss key people and show distress when absent
Wary of handling by strangers
Identify the attachment styles shown by the strange situation.
Secure
Insecure: avoidant
- ambivalent
- disorganised
What predicts a secure attachment?
Carer sensitive to child’s signals
Rapid and appropriate response emitted consistently
Carer accepts role as parent/carer
Carer has higher self esteem
If an attachment figure is absent what are the behavioural changes in the infant?
Separation anxiety Increased aggression Clinging behaviour Bed wetting Emotional detachment
What are some of the physical impacts of an absent attachment figure?
Depression Slower movement Less play Less sleep Changes in heart rate and body temp
What are the three phases of separation?
Protest- distress
Despair- helplessness
Detachment- more interested in surroundings, remote and apathetic if carer returns
Why does separation cause distress in young children?
Lack of ability to keep image of carer in mind
Limited understanding of language
Can’t understand abstract concepts
Feel abandoned- own failing, punishment
Describe the implications of separation for the hospitalised child.
Adverse effect on treatment adherence
Pain worse if high anxiety
Stress adversely affects health
Give examples of good practice in hospital care for children.
Allow parental/carer access Allow attachment objects Reassure and explain Home like environment Toys and activities High quality substitute care Continuity of staff
What are the four stages of Piaget’s stages of development?
Sensorimotor
Pre operational
Concrete operational
Formal operational
Describe the sensory motor stage.
0-2yrs Experience world through senses Motor coordination Body schema Permanence No abstract concepts
Describe the pre operational stage.
2-7yrs Language development Symbolic thought and imagination Egocentricism Lack concept of conservation Classification by single feature
Describe the concrete operational stage.
7-12 years Logical thinking - not abstract conservation of number mass and weight Classification by multiple features Other perspectives
Describe the formal operational stage.
12+yrs
Abstract logic
Hypothetical and deductive reasoning
Outline some of the criticisms of Piaget’s stages.
Focus on what child can’t do
Risk of not informing child- partial information damaging
Describe Vygotsky’s theory of social development.
Cognitive development requires social interaction
Child learns through shared problem solving
Describe the concept of the zone of proximal development.
With able instruction child can achieve increase in understanding beyond which that would be achieved by child alone
Discuss the implications of theory for communicating with children.
Must assess each individual’s level of understanding
Young children lack theory of mind so think others know how they feel
Lack language for articulating feelings
May not understand metaphors
Difficulty thinking about future and making decisions
