FREE ESSAY ON CHILD DEVELOPMENT

CHILD DEVELOPMENT

Infants grow at a very rapid rate during the first one and a half years of life.
Developing not only physically, but mentally, emotionally, and socially as well, this
development has been evident in providing a strong background for further development in
life. 
Physical development refers to a baby's increasing skill at utilizing various body parts.
During development, there are three basic developmental rules:
"Rule one states, that baby's develop in the head region first, followed by the upper
body, followed by the trunk portion, and lastly the legs and feet. For example, a baby
can hold up their heads first before they can grab an object with their hand.
Second rule refers to motor skills. Motor skills are the child's ability to control
movement. The two basic classifications in motor skills are large motor skills and fine
motor skills. Large motor skills deal with all the large muscles, whereas fine motor
skills deal with smaller muscles in the body.
The 3rd developmental rule is Brain development. As the brain develops a child responds
more and more to sight and sound, which prepares them for further development
(www.babycenter.com)."
At birth an infant's vision is limited by the immaturity of the brain, beyond 7-12 inches
an infant's world is a total blur. Infant's eyes unlike ours do not contain a fovea. A
fovea is the area of the retina in which the images are focused. Their eye movements are
very slow and are jerky at times. They are able to see color but prefer the sharper
contrast of black and white. Although babies can't see small objects that are far away,
infants can see large objects that are close up. "An adult's perfect vision is estimated
to be 20/20 and infant's vision is estimated to be around 20/600" (psychology, pg 387).
By the end of the first year a baby's vision nearly matches that of a grown adult
(psychology, pg 387). 
Newborns actively use their senses from the time that they are born. When they are little
their attention span is very limited. In the first two months, they can only focus on an
edge of an object, however by the end of the 2nd month they can scan a whole object. This
is important because it shows that a baby's attention span is very limited and they are
not able to focus on an object for a long period of time (www.drkoop.com).
At the time of birth newborns can hear soft voices as well as loud voices and can also
notice differences between different sounds that are made. Infants are not able to listen
or hear selectively. When babies hear speech they tend to open their eyes wider and look
for the speaker. Infants love the sounds of children since their voices are higher in
pitch. This is why they like to hear "baby talk" which is used by most adults all over
the world (www.drkoop.com).
In the first 2 weeks after birth, infants have developed some reflexes. Babies begin to
explore their grasping reflex where they can hold tightly to an object. Many of these
behaviors evolved because they are important for a child's survival, without these a
child would not be able to physically develop. The absence of reflexes in a newborn are
signals of possible problems in brain development (psychology, pg 388).
Newborns are brought into this world having some sort of reflexes in order for them to
adapt to their surroundings. One of the most basic reflexes is the rooting reflex. This
reflex helps an infant turn its head to any object the stimulates a cheek, such as a baby
bottle for feeding. A newborn also will have a very strong grasping reflex. If you place
your finger in a baby's finger, generally anywheres from one-week old and on a baby will
have a very strong grip. Motor skills also allow a baby to sit, crawl, stand, and walk.
Some motor skills such as sitting up come a lot earlier than walking. 
Cognitive development relates to the reasoning and logic of an infant. Jean Piaget among
all researchers dedicated his life to a search for the ideas behind cognitive
development. "He was the first person to chart the journey from the simple reflexes of
the newborn to the complex adolescent" (psychology pg. 390)." Piaget believed that all
children's thinking progresses through the same stages, in the same order without
skipping, or building onto previous stages. "He also believed that the thinking of
infants is different from the thinking of children and the thinking of children is
different from that of an adolescent" (psychology, pg 390). To explain how infants move
to higher standards of understanding and knowledge Piaget introduced four stages of
cognitive development: sensorimotor (0-18 months) , preoperational (2-7 years), concrete
operational (7-11 years)), and formal operational (over 11 years) ( psychology, pg 390).
The first 18 months of development is the sensorimotor. In this stage infants develop
schemas or basic units of knowledge. During this stage infants can form schemas only of
objects that are present. They cannot think about absent objects because they can't act
on them. Key to the sensorimotor intelligence is the emergence of what Piaget called the
object concept, or the concept of object permanence. According to Piaget, a very young
infant does not seem to recognize that objects have a permanent existence outside of his
or her interaction with it. Early in infancy, from birth to around 4 months of age babies
will naturally look at a toy, follow it with their eyes and try to grasp it. As soon as
the object is out of sight babies mentally think it know longer exists. They do not have
the concept of knowing it's there, if it's out of sight. For example, if an Infant drops
a toy they mentally think it's no longer there, because they have not yet acquired the
knowledge to look beyond what they see. Infants will begin to develop object permanence
at around 4 months. Also, at this part they are beginning to learn that a disappearing
object may still exist. Infants between 4- 8 months not only begin to turn their heads to
follow a moving object, but continue to look along it's path after is have vanished,
however they will not search for it. From about 8-12 months infants for the first time
searches manually for an object that disappears out of their sight. When children reaches
this stage they can follow all the visible movements of an object (Psychology, pg 391). 
Social and emotional learning is an important concept for parents to be aware of. A
nurturing environment can build pathways that encourage emotional stability, while
repeated stress may create many problems in further development. Infants learn from the
people around them the most. Infants learn how to handle a situation through what other
people are doing. During the first hour after birth an emotional tie begins. From an
early age infants are receptive to the people around them. They prefer to look at
children and more at attractive faces. Infants also socially communicate through their
feelings, not only by crying and screaming, but more subtly. Turning away and sucking
their thumbs can be an indication that they want to be left alone. A baby that smiles and
is looking around are generally showing signs that they want to interact with others. Not
responding to an infant's emotional sign can slow down their social development. It's at
this point that they also develop a sense a trust. This strong sense of trust is the
foundation for a lifetime. Without this a baby may have problems communicating with
others later on in their development. Often at 5 through 7 months infants also develop a
"fear" or "shyness" of strangers. This is completely natural and often is a result of the
development of object permanence. Infants at this age will sometimes cling to their
parents and not want to be touched by people who they see as being unfamiliar
(www.amazingbaby.com) 
From 0-4 months babies show the majority of their emotions through crying. They have many
cries in which they show different emotions. Over time parents can tell the difference
between them and know what they want through each cry. From 4-8 months infants begin to
express a wider range of emotions. Pleasure, happiness, fear, and frustration are shown
through gurgles, cools, and wails. They also show movements such as kicking, arm waving,
rocking and smiling. From 8-18 months it's at this time they develop a sense of self.
They begin to recognize their image in a mirror and start to become more and more
independent. Babies at this stage have a wide range of emotional states. One minute they
could be happy and playing and the next minute they could be kicking and screaming
(www.amazingbaby.com)
Moral development begins early in an infant's life. An infant enters this world as an
immoral being. Moral develop depends on the type of training and attention an infant gets
through it's parent's. If they are disciplined early enough in age they will grow up
knowing things that are right and wrong. If a parent ignores a child and lets them think
that the bad things are ok to do then they grow up having no morals taught through their
parents. Children most likely will first learn to respond to the words such as "no" and
"hot". 
Building onto Piaget's work, Lawrence Kohlberg believes that there are 3 stages to moral
development. These are preconventional, conventional, and postconventional. According to
Kohlberg, moral development begins with preconventional thinking in which children obey
in order to avoid punishment. What determines a child's position in these stages is not
whether they choose whether what they have done is right or wrong, but by what reasoning
he or she uses to make the choice. Kohlberg believes that all children go through all 3
stages (psychology, pg 391). 
Speech development beings within the first week after birth. Your child's first form of
communications is crying. Crying is a baby's way of usually saying that they are hungry,
tired, or need to be changed. By 3 months of age babies begin all the gurgles and "woos".
Although these may mean nothing to us, however this is their way of communication and
their development of vowel sounds. By the age of 5 to 6 months most babies will begin to
babble and may even slip out the words "ma", or "da." Even though they babies may say
these words they are unable to attach them to a certain individual. 10-15 months toddlers
can understand a few more words. Proper names and object words are the most easily
understood. The first words that are understood most easily are those that they are
usually in contact with on a regular basis, these words include: mama, dada, cookie,
doggy, and car. At this stage in communication babies also learn inflection, which is
raising your voice when asking a question. For example saying "Up-py?" when they want to
be carried. At 18-24 months their vocabulary has immensely increased and toddlers are
most likely to repeat any word they hear. Their vocabulary may include as many as 200
words or more. From this stage on they begin to put words together and can eventually
speak a sentence (www.kidsource.com).
There are many factors that also contribute to the development of a child. Many things
that can slow down the development, are low birth weight, prematurity, and drug use.
Birth weight is an important factor associated with an infant's overall development and
health. Children who were born under 5 ? pounds are more likely to have serious medical
problems and to also have developmental delays. 
In conclusion, a baby's development is very important for a strong healthy life. Without
the care and responsibility needed for a child to develop this can effect them for life.