Childhood Development

Question 1

Define development

Answer 1

The process of physical, congitive, emotional and social growth that occurs from conception to adulthood.
Maturation of organ function, skills and ability influenced by environment and biology.

Question 2

What are the age related developmental periods?

Answer 2

Newborn = 0 to 4 weeks
Infant - to 1yr
Toddler - to 2 yrs
Preschooler - to 5yrs
Adolescent - to 18 yrs

Question 3

What are the different domains of childhood development?

Answer 3

Cognition - learn and problem solve
Social interaction and emotional regulation - self control and interacting with others
Speech and Language - understand and communicating
Physical - fine and gross motor
Sensory awareness - registration of information around us

Question 4

What are the four domains of development for assessment?

Answer 4

Gross motor
Vision and fine motor
Social, emotional and behavioural
Hearing, speech and language

Question 5

What are the key developmental features of a 6 week old?

Answer 5

Good head control
Social smile
Tracks objects/face
Startles at loud noise

Question 6

What are the key features of development in a 6 month old?

Answer 6

Sit without support
Roll over
Palmar grasp and transfer grasp
Turns to loud noise
Babbles/ monosyllable (no/bye bye)
Puts objects to mouth
Shake rattle
Reaches for bottle/breast

Question 7

What are the key developmental features of a 9 month child?

Answer 7

Stands holding on
Straight back sitting
Inferior prince grip
Object permanence
Responds to name
Imitates sounds
Stranger fear
Holds and bites food

Question 8

What are the key developmental features of a 12 month old?

Answer 8

Walking (18m worry threshold)
Neat pincer grip
Understands nouns
Points to body parts
waves/clapping
Drinks from beaker with lid

Question 9

What are the key developmental features of an 18m old?

Answer 9

Runs and jumps
Squiggles to draw
Imitates every day activities in play

Question 10

What are the key developmental features of a 2yrs old?

Answer 10

Runs tiptoe
Walks two footed each step
Throw ball
Draw a vertical line
Understand verbs
Eats skillfully with spoon

Question 11

What are the key developmental features of a 2.5yr old?

Answer 11

Kicks ball
Draws horizontal line
Understands prepositions

Question 12

What are the key developmental features of a 3yrs old?

Answer 12

Hops
One foot per step up
Turn one page of a book
Cuts single with scissors
Griffiths beads
Understands negatives and adjectives
Begins to share toys
Bowel control

Question 13

What are the key developmental features at 3.5 yrs?

Answer 13

Cuts pieces with scissors
Understands comparatives

Question 14

What are the key developmental features of a 4yr old?

Answer 14

Walks up/down stairs like an adult
SMall beads on string
Understands complex instruction
Concerns/empathy for others
Starts imaginative play

Question 15

What are the three key questions of prognosis relating to child development?

Answer 15

Is it global or focal
Is it delay or regression
Is it static or progressive

Question 16

What are some red flags of development in infants?

Answer 16

No social smile by 8weeks
Poor tone - head/trunk control
Limb preference
Persistent fisting of hands
Leg scissoring - hard to change nappy
Abnormal movements

Question 17

What are some red flags of development in toddlers?

Answer 17

Not walking or talking by 18months
Not linking words by 2yrs

Question 18

What are some red flags of development in preschoolers?

Answer 18

No collaborative play
Language not discernable by non-family

Question 19

What are some red flags of development at any age?

Answer 19

Regression

Question 20

What investigations may be done to monitor childhood development?

Answer 20

Bedside - obs, Ht,wt, head circumference
Bloods - U&es, FBC, ferritin, creatinine kinase, genetic studies, metabolic causes
Imaging - CT/MRI
Other - vision/hearing screens, full neuro assessment, Denver screen, EEG

Question 21

What are the age rating for each stage of brain development?

Answer 21

Stage 1 = o to 12 months
Stage 2 - up to 2 yrs
Stage 3 - up to 6yrs
Stage 4 - up to 8 yrs
Stage 5 up to 25yrs

Question 22

What happens during stage 1 of brain development?

Answer 22

Rapid growth
Essential structures -> survival and physical growth
Cerebral cortex beings to form

Question 23

What happens during stage 2 of brain development?

Answer 23

New neurons and synapse formation
Rapid
res[psobile for decision making, self-control, social behaviour

Question 24

What happens during stage three of brain development?

Answer 24

Growth rate slows down
Existing neural connections/networks are regined
Prefrontal cortex continues to develop
Language and social skills flourish

Question 25

What happens during stage four of brain development?

Answer 25

Pruning = weak or unused connections are eliminated More sophisticated problem solving and decision making

Question 26

What happens during stage 5 of brain development?

Answer 26

Maturation and stabilisation of the prefrontal cortex Planning, organising, abstract thinking becomes fully developed.

Question 27

What are the key physiological changes in infancy?

Answer 27

Rapid growth in weight Develop from basic reflexes to more complex movements like crawling Senes like vision and hearing improve significantly.

Question 28

What are the key physiological changes in childhood?

Answer 28

Grow steadily in height and weight Cognitive - language, memory and problem solving skills improve Motor - fine skills become more refined

Question 29

What are the key physiological changes in adolescence?

Answer 29

Hormones changes leads to sexual maturation and growth spurts Prefrontal cortex develops greatly

Question 30

What are the key physiological changes during adulthood?

Answer 30

Reached full physical maturity Maintenance of health and managing gradual decline that comes with age.

Question 31

What are the key influencers of physiological development?

Answer 31

Nutrition - quality and quantity Physical health - acute or chronic Fatigue - concentration, memory and cognition Age - needs and capabilities Environment conditions - temperature, noise, lighting when asked to perform tasks Hormonal balance - regulates mood, energy levels and cognitive functions.

Question 32

What are the different behavioural stages of development an =d their ages?

Answer 32

Sensorimotor - o to 2yrs Preoperational - 2 to 7yrs Concrete operational stage - 7 to 12 yrs Former operational stage 12-18yrs Continued development - 18+

Question 33

What are the features of the sensorimotor stages of development?

Answer 33

Explores through senses - hearing, vision, touch Object permanence Stanger danger develop Cause and effect logic

Question 34

What are the features of preoperational stages of development?

Answer 34

Egocentric Not logical, struggles to generalise - empirical thinking Make-believe play and symbolism

Question 35

What are the features of the concrete operational stage of cognitive development?

Answer 35

Logical problem solving -> conservation and inductive reasoning Able to understand different perspectives

Question 36

What are the features of the formal operational stage of cognitive development?

Answer 36

Adolescent can use logical operations Abstract thinking - concepts of love and justice Understand theories, hypothezie

Question 37

What is toddlers diarrhoea?

Answer 37

Chronic diarrhoea seen in younger children, typically resolves at 5-6yrs Due to rapid transit time of stool in toddlers, often contains bits of undigested food from recent meals. Child is otherwise well has no faltering growth.

Question 38

How to treat toddlers diarrhoea?

Answer 38

Typically does not require treatment Monitor for dehydration or faltering growth It may suggest having enough fat in your diet, not too much fruit juice, and sufficient fibre in the diet.