Paeds: Child Development Flashcards
What skills develop in childhood?
1) Motor
2) Perceptual
3) Language
4) Cognitive
5) Social
What biological factors influence development (nature)?
1) Genetics
2) Prenatal - health status and health related behaviours of mother, what happens in uterus
3) Neonatal - birth complications
4) Childhood illness
What are social/environmental influences on development (nurture)?
1) Pollution e.g. impact on developing lungs, asthma and other respiratory conditions are difficult to manage
2) This can lead to loss of time at school/with friends, less time outside playing and gaining motor skills and access to environments that prompt development
3) If living somewhere where worried about crime might not let child out the child centres or outside
4) Primary caregiver might not be there a lot to allow child to develop fully
Why is the interaction between biological and environmental factors (nature and nurture) complicated?
Because environmental factors can directly influence biological growth e.g. brain growth and genetic factors can influence the child’s environment e.g. a sociable child producing different reactions from others than an antisocial child
What are critical periods?
Defined periods where appropriate stimulation is required to ensure development e.g. development of language skills or emotional attachments (rooted in early childhood) - but evidence of plasticity
What are cohort effects?
Group specific changes influenced by historical/cultural factors
What are the 4 domains of child development?
1) Gross motor
2) Fine motor (and vision)
3) Speech and language (and hearing)
4) Social (and emotional)
What is each development domain characterised by?
The acquisition of more complex skills (in a typical manner)
What are the 4 stages of child development?
1) Infancy (0-2)
2) Early childhood (2-6)
3) Middle childhood (6-12)
4) Adolescence (12-18)
What are the features of infancy?
1) Attachement
2) Maturation of sensory, perceptual and motor functions
3) Understanding objects through senses
What are the features of early childhood?
1) Locomotion
2) Fantasy play
3) Language development
4) Sex role identification
5) Group play
What are the features of middle childhood?
1) Friendship
2) Skill learning
3) Self-evaluation
4) Team play
5) Understand cause, effect and conservation
What are the features of adolescence?
1) Physical maturation
2) Emotional development
3) Peer group and sexual relationships
4) Understand abstract thinking
What are the six gross motor milestones in order?
1) Sitting without support (4-9 months)
2) Standing with assistance (5-11.5 months)
3) Hands and knees crawling (5-13.5 months)
4) Walking with assistance (6-14 months)
5) Standing alone (7-17 months)
6) Walking alone (8-18 months)
What is the progression in head and trunk control from newborn to 6 months?
1) Newborn - head lag
2) 2 months - some head control but no trunk control
3) 6 months - can pull up head and trunk
What is the progression of fine motor skills from newborn to 24 months?
1) Newborn - palmar reflex
2) 6 weeks - hands to midline and into mouth
3) 3 months - holds rattle
4) 15 months - palmar grasp, draws to-fro scribbling
5) 18 months - transitional grasp, circular scribble
6) 24 months - tripod grasp, copies vertical lines
What are the 5 stages of language development?
1) Preverbal communication
2) Phonological development
3) Semantic development
4) Syntax and grammar development
5) Pragmatics development - hidden meaning in words that have been used
Describe the progression of language development from newborn to 1 year
1) Newborn - responsive to language (interactional synchrony)
2) Early months - universal babbling
3) Pre-verbal communication - pointing
4) Towards end of first year - narrower range of sounds
5) At approx. 1 year - first words
Describe the stages of rate of word learning from 9 months to 6 years
1) 9-13 months - first words
2) 12-18 months - learn about 3 new words a month
3) 18 months - know ~ 22 words
4) Naming explosion - learn 10-20 new works a week
5) 6 years - know 10,000 words, 5 new words a day
What are two features of perception in infants?
1) Babies are able to fixate their gaze, focussing on areas of contrast
2) Evidence of active not passive - information seeking
Describe the progression of perceptual development
1) At 4-5 months babies demonstrate a preference for faces
2) Move onto scanning the environment
3) At 6 years they develop appropriate selective attention - learn which environmental cues warrant perceptual attention