Development: Children and Adolescence Flashcards
What are the social and cognitive aspects of child development?
cognitive
- psychomotor skills
- perception
- memory
- language
- reasoning
social
- attachments
- how to behave -rules
- relationships
- peer friendships
Describe Piaget’s and Erikson’s developmental approaches
Piaget
- children progress through a series of fixed stages
- related to brain growth
- brain not fully development until late adolescence
Eriskon
- ascribed psychosocial rather than sexual stages of development
- each stage has a normative crisis struggle between 2 conflicting personalities
What cognitive and social characteristics would you expect to see from birth to 2yrs?
cognitive
- babies = reflexes
- toddlers = goal oriented
social, sucking, grasping
- primary social interaction is with mother, trust in life sustaining care
- 1-2yrs = primary social interaction with parents, potty training, beginnings of autonomous will
What cognitive and social characteristics would you expect to see from 2-7yrs?
cognitive
- aware of immediate environment
- though remains empirical rather than logical
- development of locomotion
- differentiate poorly between selves and outside world
- magical thinking
- cannot conceptualise internal parts of the body
- confuse physical and psychological causes of illness
- developing language skills
- do not understand permenance of death
social
- primary social interaction with nuclear family
- start of oedipal feelings e..g attraction to friends
- gender indentificatin
- enjoys group play
- development of conscience a governor of initiative
6 - puberty = primary social interaction is outside home
What cognitive and social characteristics would you expect to see from 7-12yrs
cognitive
- clear differentiation between self and others
- understand more than one dimension of situation
- can still only understand phenomena from real world and not hypothetical situations
social
- primary social interaction is outside home
- enjoys peer relationships of the same gender
- impressed by older role models
- learns behaviours from parents, peers and role models
What cognitive and social characteristics would you expect to see from 12+?
cognitive
- begin to think hypothetically and abstractly
- fill in gaps in knowledge with generalisation from prior experiences
- differentiate selves from external world
social
- primary interaction with peers/heterosexual relationships
- identity crisis
- consolidation into a coherent sense of self
- sexual intimacy and self exploration
- preocupied with self presentation, physical maturity
distancing from family, making own decisions
What social characteristics would you expect to see in early adulthood, middle age and old age?
early adulthood
- primary social interactions intimate relationships
middle age
- primary social concern is establishing and guiding future generations
old age
- primary social concern is a reflective one: coming to terms with ones place in the world and with relationships with others
What are examples of features that would lead to concern in a child up to 24 months in terms of language?
at any age - loss of skills or language by 12 months - no babble or gesture e.g. pointing by 18 months - no single word by 24 months - no two spontaneous words
What are examples of features in a child 2 and 3 years onwards that would lead to concern?
- communication problems (little or no smiling or social response)
- lack of eye contact
- extreme emotional reactions and aggression
- over or under sensitivity to stimuli (e.g. light, sound, touch)
What are three reasons for variation in development?
individual differences
environmental factors
developmental or congenital disorder
What are some possible signs of physical and emotional abuse?
- unexplained or repeated injuries, shape of an object, not likely to happen given the age or ability of the child
- different explanation of injury from parent and child
- obvious neglect e.g. dirty, undernourished
- fearful behaviour
- aggressive or withdrawn behaviour
- afraid to go home
What are some possible signs of sexual abuse?
- difficulty in walking or sitting
- stained or bloody underwear
- genital or rectal pain, itching, swelling
- bruising
- soiling or wetting pants or bed after being potty trained
- withdrawing from activities and others
- talking about or acting out sexual acts beyond normal sex play for age
Define adolescence
What are the features of adolescence?
chronological age often used as a marker. WHO = 10 years
marked by the onset of puberty
- attainment of reproductive maturity
- secondary sexual characteristics
- period of numerous hormonal changes
- dramatic physical and psychological changes
- continued brain development
- increasing interdependence and sexual curiosity
What defines the start of puberty in males and females?
first period and first ejaculate
What is precocious puberty?
What are the problems associated with it?
When puberty comes too early
hypothalamus signals the pituitary gland to release hormones that stimulate the ovaries/testes to make sex hormones
- induce early bone maturation and reduce eventual adult height
- emotional and social consequences
- can be harmful to children who mature physically at a time when they are immature mentally
- develop a sex drive inappropriate for their age
