General child Development Flashcards
child development can be divided into four groups of skills:
Physical(motor) skills, cognitive skills, social-emotional skills, and communication skills
Physical (motor skills)
development includes both physical growth in the size of a person as well as the increase in motor control.
Cognitive
include the ability to organize, store and retrieve information. We see the evidence of this skill in a person’s ability to solve a problem and to generalize learned skills to new situations.
Social-Emotional development
refers to the perception of one’s self and others. In early childhood development, we know that children with good social-emotional skills have good self-control, have the drive to initiate things for themselves and are well-attached to important people in their lives.
Communication
described as the development and use of linguistic symbols and speech to transfer information.
Physical Development
Physical Development is the area of development including growth and the use of gross and fine motor skills.
Gross Motor Skill
Movements using large muscles of the body
Fine Motor Skills
Movements using small muscles of the body
a person’s ability to jump, sit, and run would require gross motor skills,
True
whereas a child needs fine motor skills to write, play an instrument, and hold a fork.
True
Social-Emotional Development
an area of development that includes a person’s ability to think about themselves separately from others, demonstrate autonomy, and create relationships.
The three types of social-emotional skills
Attachment, Initiative, and self-control
Attachment
the ability to create a deep and enduring bond with another person
Initiative
the ability to assert one’s power over their environment
Self-Control
the ability to self-regulate emotions, thoughts, and behavior in the context of temptations and impulses
Cognitive Development
Cognitive development is an area of development that includes a person’s ability to compare and contrast, look for patterns, solve problems and accommodate new information.
Example of Cognitive Skill Development
Cognitive skills are those which make it possible for us to learn new information. They reflect the function of both our perceptual skills as well as our higher-level thinking skills. You see this most clearly when you introduce a puzzle to a child for the first time.
Think of an inset puzzle, where all of the shapes are separated. If you present the puzzle with one piece out, to the side, what does the child need to be able to do in order to put that piece back in? He must first recognize that something is missing, he must match the piece to the open slot. Once he picks up the piece and tries to put it in the puzzle, he’ll likely just set it on top, and (hopefully) wonder why it isn’t going in. Then he must create a strategy for how he will make it fit. Does he try a different piece, turn it over, spin it around?
These strategies all need to be developed in order to finish the puzzle. Now, think of the increased level of cognitive skill once a child moves toward jigsaw puzzles. The strategies become more elaborate. I sometimes identify children with poor cognitive skill by looking at the way they navigate a chair. Can they walk around from either side, do they try to climb over the back? What are the limits on their perspective? This ability to compare, contrast, find patterns and remember these strategies for next time are essential.
Communication Development
Communication Development is an area of development including a person’s ability to use speech and language to express and understand ideas.
Example of Communication Development
The ability to conceive, encode, transmit, and decode the intended message is all required for communication. If you think about it, even babies communicate by using a variety of cries and facial expressions. Granted, the responsibility for most of the process is on the adult in those situations, but, as we will learn about in the next lesson, communication development begins to develop very early on - even in utero.
Jean Piaget’s 4 stages of development
Sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational
Sensorimotor
(0-2 years old): Learning is reactionary and experiential
The main ways in which children experience the world around them is by feeling it and reacting reflexively to it. When you see a six-month-old grab everything that is around them and put it in their mouths, Piaget considered learning. As they feel more, and gain the ability to remember and compare it, they learn more.
Preoperational
(2-7 years old): Learning is categorizing and developing symbols.
At the pre-operational stage, when children are enjoying their first years of school, they are being active and intentional participants in their environment, developing concepts and abstract symbols needed for language.
Concrete Operational
(7-11 years): Learning is self-directed and deliberate.
At the Concrete Operational stage, logic begins to be more reliable. The rules of how one compares and contrasts ideas become more obvious. Children in this stage begin to realize what they do not know—which according to my high school history teacher is the beginning of true learning.
Formal Operational
(11 years-adult): Learning is a mental puzzle.
Once the Formal Operational Stage begins, children, young adults, and adults develop the ability to think abstractly about the world - comparing ideas not just physically but using their metacognitive skills in order to critically analyze ideas. This, according to Piaget, is the highest level of learning skill.
Three levels of Social play
Solitary play, parallel play, and cooperate play
Solitary play
Solitary Play occurs when children start interacting with objects independently, even with other people present.
When a child begins to demonstrate some understanding that the world itself has some rules which make it predictable, that he can have an effect on the world and that he can try different things to make different results, you start to see this child use solitary play. This skill, emerging around one year, is seen when a person interacts with objects for a purpose but does so without regard to the people around him.
Parallel play
Parallel Play occurs when a child interacts with objects next to other people, imitating the actions of that person.
This skill emerges when a child is two years old. At this stage, you see a child imitating the play of another, using similar objects in a similar way. Some lists of play skills include “associative” play, wherein a child is using the same materials as another child.
However, in my practice, I have not seen that as a particularly useful term, since any adult can give a child a toy that matches what a second child is doing and claim it as an improvement. All the while, the child really is just playing by himself. While you see solitary emerge before parallel, solitary play continues throughout life. If you’ve ever decided to do a craft project on your own, that too is solitary play. But the key to parallel play is that there is some imitation happening.
Cooperate Play
Cooperative Play occurs when a child Interacts with materials with another person with a common goal.
Here we see at least two children verbally or nonverbally deciding on a goal together and acting upon it. This could be anything from holding a jump rope together to creating a dramatic play. You may even see some toddlers doing this by building blocks with an adult, but it’s rare to see two toddlers building a block tower together unless they have been coached to do it - and it usually doesn’t last long.
Six types of play
Constructive play, Manipulative play, exploratory play, symbolic play, functional play, and imaginary play
Constructive play
Putting small pieces together to create a whole thing.
Manipulative Play
Using two different objects together (puzzles, utensils, stringing beads).
Exploratory Play
Putting your hands in something to see what it does and how it makes you feel.
Symbolic Play
Using an object in a way it was not intended -like a block for a car or a banana for a phone. This 12-month skill is one you should always be looking for.
Functional Play
Using an object for its intended purpose (often a precursor to symbolic play).
Imaginary Play
Pretending. It can be as simple as pretending to sweep the floor or it can develop into dramatic performances.
Manipulative Play
A boy playing with a puzzle
Exploratory Play
A child playing in slime
Constructive Play
A girl putting beads together to make keychains
Symbolic Play
A kid pretending to talk on a banana (retrieved from
Imaginary Play
A girl sitting in the car pretending to be her mom on the phone driving
Functional Play
A small boy putting leaves in a dump truck
