Child Development

Child Development An overview in two parts. 35 minutes

How children develop

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hn0O_L6lfI&list=PLUjwYeVC3WAZZJdPkM0NaTNp1wGo8Ehs4&index=2https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hn0O_L6lfI&list=PLUjwYeVC3WAZZJdPkM0NaTNp1wGo8Ehs4&index=2 Twentieth-century philosopher George Santayana once reflected, “Children are on a different plane. They belong to a generation and way of feeling properly their own.” Let’s explore what that plane is like.

Childhood V adulthood • In medieval times children were treated like miniature adults. • How are children differentiated from adults in modern Ireland? • Education system • Judicial system • The labour force • Within the family

6th - 15th centuriesMedieval period • Preformationism: children seen as little adults. • Childhood is not a unique phase. • Children were cared for until they could begin caring for themselves, around 7 years old. • Children treated as adults (e.g. their clothing, worked at adult jobs, could be married, were made into kings, were imprisoned or hanged as adults.)

16th CenturyReformation period • Puritan religion influenced how children were viewed. • Children were born evil, and must be civilized. • A goal emerged to raise children effectively. • Special books were designed for children.

Each child develops partly like all other children partly like some other children and partly like no other children

Psychologists who study child development however look at the child in terms of their shared characteristics as opposed to their uniqueness

17th Century Age of Enlightenment • John Locke believed in tabula rasa [the human mind, especially at birth, viewed as having no innate ideas] • Children develop in response to nurturing. • Forerunner of behaviorism

18th CenturyAge of Reason Jean-Jacques Rousseau children were noble savages, born with an innate sense of morality; the timing of growth should not be interfered with. Rousseau used the idea of stages of development. Forerunner of maturationist beliefs

Children are the legacy we leave for a time we will not live to see. Aristotle Greek Philosopher, 4th Century B.C.

So what do Bono, JK Rowling, Pope Francis and Aristotle have in common with your good self?

They all walked at about a year • Engaged in fantasy play as children • Developed an extensive vocabulary by sixth class • And they were probably all terrible teenagers [especially Bono]

According to Santrock 2007 Development is the pattern of biological, cognitive,and socioemotional changes that begins at conception and continues through the life span. Most development involves growth, although it also eventually involves decay (dying).

What is child development According to the World Health Organisation Early child development (ECD) encompasses physical, socio emotional, cognitive and motor development between 0-8 years of age

Santrock says the early years are critical, because this is the period in life when the brain develops most rapidly and has a high capacity for change, and the foundation is laid for health and wellbeing throughout life.

Nurturing care care that is provided in a stable environment that is sensitive to children’s health and nutritional needs with protection from threats opportunities for early learning and interactions that are responsive, emotionally supportive and developmentally stimulating is at the heart of children’s potential to develop.

According to WHO New 2016 estimates reveal that 250 million, or 43%, of children in low- and middle-income countries are unable to realize their full development potential

Just what do psychologists mean when they speak of a person’s “development”? Development is the pattern of biological, cognitive,and socioemotional changes that begins at conception and continues through the life span. Most development involves growth although it also eventually involves decay (dying).

Overview Part 2

Approaches • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-rSlES1YG8 • There are different ways to study child development • We will look processes of development • We will look at periods of development • We will look at perspectives of development • We will finally look at the different debates about development

processes • We view child development in terms of processes • Biological • Changes in weight, height, hormones, motor skills

Cognitive processes • Changes in thinking • Changes in intelligence • Changes in language • Progression from sounds to words, • from mimicking to comprehending • From the concrete to the abstract

Socio – emotional process • Changes in how we relate to each other • The evolution of personality • Self esteem • Self image • A dancing toddler compared to a dancing teenager

We need to explore how all these processes are interlinked and when one process lags behind how does it impact the other process? For example when biological processes are impaired how does that impact socio-emotional processes?

The prenatal period Weeks leading up to conception Now why would we look at that time period? 40 weeks from conception to birth

infancy • Characterised by dependency and intense growth language development symbolic thought sensorimotor coordination social learning are just beginning to emerge

Early childhood • 2-6 years AKA the preschool years • Independence skills are emerging now • Learning to use the toilet, to eat independently, developing school readiness skills • Developing social skills • This period ends when the child reaches junior infants

Middle to late childhood • Primary school years • A good time to learn reading, writing and maths { ask me why?] • The circle has widened now to include the wider world

The teen years • 11-19 yrs • Massive growth spurts re height weight and physical changes • Sexual maturation • Pursuit of identity • Abstract and idealistic ideas abound

The debates • Nature V nurture [maturation and experience] • Early V late experiences • Continuity V discontinuity

Early V late experiences • Freud believed early experiences played a crucial irreversible role in child development. • The infant’s experiences formed the blueprint for later life • Bowlby [1989] agreed unless infants experience warm, nurturing caregiving in the first year or so of life, their development will never be optimal

Plato believed that infants who were rocked became better athletes • Nineteenth-century New England ministers told parents in Sunday sermons that the way they handled their infants determined their children’s future character

Later experience theorists • proponents of the influence of later experience argue that development ebbs and flows like an ocean • They say that children are capable of change and that later competent caregiving is just as important as, or more important than, early competent caregiving.

Nature V Nurture • Maturation is the orderly sequence of changes dictated by the child’s genetic blueprint • it can be disrupted but even when it is the genetics win out • We walk before we talk • speak one word before two words • grow rapidly in infancy • less so in childhood • experience a rush of sexual hormones in puberty after a lull in childhood

Maturation basic growth tendencies are genetically wired into the child’s makeup.

Nuture • The nurture camp believe that experiences can throw a spanner in the works irreparably damaging the child despite the blueprint mother nature provided • Any form of child abuse • Childhood accidents • Poor nutrition or medical care • Unhealthy social environments

The great debate • The great controversial question is simply put • Who is stronger nature or nurture • Will the child’s overriding experiences permanently damage it’s development • Or will mother nature’s carefully prepared plan be formidable enough to withstand anything the world throws at the child.

Continuity V discontinuity

Slow gradual change Or Distinct changes

This theory is closely linked to nature V nurture • Piaget fell in with the nature group, children develop in distinct stages like the butterfly • Vygotsky preferred the nurture idea believing that children grew like the great oak with social and cultural influences feeding into the overall result. Development is gradual, it happens so slowly you can’t pinpoint the moment

Western culture tends to side with Freud and early experiences being key • Eastern cultures believe that experiences in the elementary-school years are more important than earlier experiences. • This stance stems from their view that the key changes in children’s cognitive skills and their ability to reason occur after the infant and early-childhood years.

PERSEPCTIVES • There is no one theory that covers it all • The psychoanalytic like Freud focus on emotions • Learning perspectives focus on behaviours • The cognotive perspective focuses on thought processes • Contextual or social constructionists focus on culture and social relationships

psychoanalysis • Freud, Klein, Erikson, Winnicott and Miller • Early life experiences, especially with our parents shape our adult lives • Our behaviours are a result of our early experiences

Learning or behaviourist theorists • Skinner, Pavlov and Watson • Development results from learning and not the other way around • Learning occurs as we adapt to our environments

Ethological or maturationalist perspective • The survival of the fittest • Charles Darwin followed by Bowlby • Our species has evolved over time by natural selection • Characteristics that are advantageous to a species survive passed down from generation to generation to increase the odds of survival

Cognitive perspective • Children construct understanding by studying the world around them • Children are not vessels waiting to be filled • They take in, process information and make it their own • Think Piaget

Contextual or social constructionist perspective • Vygotsky takes the cognitive perspective one step further • He agreed that children construct knowledge • But he also realised that social experiences and culture also play a part in how the child constructs their own knowledge

So what does it all mean? • Chances are it’s a bad idea to rely soley on nature v nurture • Or early v late • Or even continuity v discontinuity • Not a good idea either to believe Freud to the exclusion of Vygotsky or to look at perspectives to the exclusion of periods

The danger in choosing one theory over another is that it will colour how you care for children • How so?

Child Development