Child Development Flashcards
What does a secure attachment help with in future life?
Influences brain development. Allows for better
- social competence
- peer relations
- self-reliance
- physical and emotional health
What is attachment?
A biologically-based system that functions to maintain proximity to the infant’s caregiver
Infants are predisposed to exhibit
-proximity seeking behaviours
-contact maintaining behaviour eg crying
When is the critical period for making the first attachment and after how many years will problems stop arising of separated?
Critical period is during first year
Problems may result of separated during first 4 years
What cognitive development skills do newborns have?
Preference for human faces to inanimate objects
First smile around 6 weeks which rewards the carer
What cognitive developments have happened by 7-8 months?
Specific attachments formed
Child shows distress in absence of key people
Wary of strangers picking them up, touching them, even with key people present
What cognitive development has happened by about three months?
Distinguish strangers from non-strangers
Preference for non-strangers shown eg smiling
Will allow any caring adult to handle them
At what developmental stage is age 12+?
Formal operational
At what age is pre-operational?
2-7
What cognitive developments happen during the sensorimotor stage (0-2yrs)?
Experience world through senses
Develop motor-coordination
No abstract concepts
Develop body schema of where they end and world begins
Understand permanence - continued existence of objects even out of their site.
At what age is concrete operational?
7-12
What developments happen in the pre-operational stage? (2-7 years)
Language development
Symbolic though
Imagination
Can classify by a single feature eg all red
What limitations are three still at the pre-operational stage?
Egocentrism - can’t see things from other people’s point of view
Believe everybody experiences the world as they do
Lack concept of conversation
What develops in the concrete operational stage (7-12)?
Can think logically but concrete rather than abstract
Conservation of number, mass and weight
Classification by multiple features
See things from other people’s perspectives
What happens in the formal operational stage? (12+ years)
Abstract logic
Hypothetic-deductive reasoning
At what age is sensory-motor?
0-2 years
Limitations of Piaget’s four stages of development?
Tends to focus on what children cannot do, not what they can
What is the concept of Vygotsky’s theory of social development?
Cognitive development requires social interaction
Child is seen as an apprentice - learns through shared problem solving
With able instruction, child can achieve some increase in understanding.
What are the implications of theory about childhood cognitive development for communicating about illnesses and treatment?
Don’t assume average ability - need to assess each child’s level of understanding and some of proximal development, then tailor communication
Young children’s lack theory of mind, may think that others know how they feel
Difficult to articulate feelings
Danger of using metaphors which may be taken to literally
Difficulty thinking about the future which can affect consent and adherence
What are the three phases of separation?
Protest - distressed, looking for mother, cling to substitute
Despair - helplessness, withdrawn, intermittent crying
Detachment - more interest in surroundings, smile, sociable. Remote and apathetic when carer returns
At what age are children normally most distressed by separation?
Age 6 months to 3 years
What makes it more distressing for children when separated?
Unable to keep image of carer in their mind
Limited language, may not understand ‘tomorrow’
Lack ability to understand abstract concepts
Feel abandoned
May feel punished for own failings
What a implications of child development for health outcomes?
Adherence may be adversely affected which can impede recovery
Experience of pain may be worse if anxiety is high
Adverse effects of stress on health
What can hospitals do to help children?
Allow parent/carer access
Allow attachment objects eg teddy/blanket
Reassure child is not being punished or abandoned
Make environment feel more like home
High quality of substitute care, have specialist nurses and continuity of staff
How to have good communication with children?
Smile Maintain eye contact Be calm Acknowledge and greet child Maybe talk to parents first to give child time to relax Observe, wait and listen Demonstrate anything you're going to do maybe on a teddy Give simple and clear information Give them choice eg sit on mum's lap? Distractions Rewards eg stickers Give them enthusiastic praise
What are the names of Piaget’s four stages of development?
Sensory-motor
Pre-operational
Concrete operational
Formal operational
