Learning About Children Chapter 1 1 Child development

Learning About Children Chapter 1 1

• Child development is a fascinating subject • Constantly changing and discovering • How does studying children help you? ? 2

• Help understand them and yourself • See the changes children go through • Helps learn positive ways to care for children 3

• Child-centered society– society that sees children as important and works for their good • Some children experience neglect and abuse • Need safe environments • Chance to grow and promote health and well being 4

Why Study Children? • To understand yourself – Appreciate all that goes into a first word or step – Gain insight into your own growth, development, and personal priorities 5

To Be A Responsible Parent • Parents need to know stages of development • Know the best ways to respond to those needs • Have realistic expectations 6

• Parents responsible for: • 1. Physical needs – right diet, well fitting clothes, need shelter, and physical protection 7

• 2. Intellectual needs – good experiences for their children • Develop skills needed to survive • Creative needs recognized 8

• 3. Social Needs – learn to form relationships • Need strong relationships from parents • Need a sense of belonging • Socialize– train a child to live as a part of a group, such as the family, culture, or society • Teach child about their culture– way of life within the group 9

• 4. trust needs –need to feel they can cope with demands of family, friends, and society • Able to trust parents • Gain confidence 10

• • • 5. love/guidance needs Need love and support Listen to children Set limits Share reasons for limits Character– inward force that guides a person’s conduct 11

Protect Children’s Rights • • Easily hurt They are physically weaker Cannot reason as adults do Convention on the Rights of The Child – set out the rights of every child – 11 major categories 12

Convention on the Rights of the Child • 1. an identity – protect children’s names, family ties, nationalities • 2. a family – able to live with their parents unless this is not in the child’s best interest 13

• 3. express themselves and have access to information • Children have the right to express their views, freedom of thought, conscience religion, obtain information • 4. a safe and healthy life – right to live, to survive and develop, access to medical services, decent standard of living 14

• 5. special protection in times of war – refugees are entitled to special protection, under 15 should not take part in armed conflict • 6. an education – primary education free and required for all, secondary should be accessible to all children 15

• 7. special care for the disabled – have the right to special care, education, training • 8. protection from discrimination – rights apply to all children, practice their own religion, culture, languages • 9. protection from abuse –government shall have laws that will protect 16

• 10. protection from harmful work – right to rest, leisure, play and participation in cultural and artistic activities, protected from having to work that threatens their health, education, development • 11. special treatment if arrested – respect their rights 17

In the United States • • Parents have the rights of guardianship Determine their children’s upbringing Control religious and moral taching Each state makes laws and policies – School attendance, child labor, illegal drug sales 18

• State protect children from the results of their own lack of judgment • Cannot make a contract • Treated differently in court than adults • Local laws can be enacted also – curfews 19

Working with Children • Careers focus on only one area of child’s needs • School cook – nutrition • Teacher -- intellectual 20

What is Child Development • Development – gradual process of growth through many stages, infancy, children, adolescence, and adulthood • Child development – scientific study of children from conception to adolescence 21

• Child development focuses on changes that occur in children over time • Do research to gather information 22

Individual Life Cycle • Is a description of the stages of change people experience thoughout life • Stages based on changes in growth and behavior • Exact ages may vary • Basic idea where the stage begins or ends 23

• Prenatal –begins at conception and ends about 9 months later at birth • Fastest rate of growth 24

• Neonatal – birth through the second week • Baby physically adapts to life outside of the mother’s body 25

• Infancy – two week until the first birthday • Develops the foundation for motor, thinking, language, and social skills 26

• Toddler stage – begins at 12 months and ends at 36 months • Great strides in motor, thinking, language skills and begins to test his or her dependence on adults 27

• Preschool stage – begins at three years and ends at six years • Spends hours play exploring social and physical world • More self sufficient • Rather stable self-concept 28

• School age stage – begins at 6 years and ends at 12 years • Typical ages of elementary school • Master the basics of reading, writing, math • Interact with more peers • Learn by group instruction 29

Factors that Influence Growth and Development • 1. each child has unique, inborn traits • 2. child’s surroundings also play a large role 30

• Heredity – sum of all the traits that are passed to a child from blood relatives • Environment – sum of all conditions and situations that affect a child’s growth and development 31

• Heredity • Genes—sections of the DNA molecule found in a person’s cells that determine the individual traits the person will have • Genetics –study of the factors involved in passing of traits from one generation to the next 32

• Genes influence your growth and development – Genes’ instructions are lifelong – Genes affect some parts of growth and development more than others (color of eyes, skin, teeth, mental ability) – Some genes determine whether a person will have a trait 33

• Other genes affect the range of traits • Height, athletic ability • Whether a person will show or use the trait to its potential depends on the person’s life • Poor nutrition = not achieve full potential • Good nutrition = reach potential height 34

Environment • Affects growth and development • Food and rest part of environment • These condition shape the experiences children have • Studies show that babies’ brains develop at a slower rate if no one holds or talks to them 35

Heredity & Environment Combined • Working together • Genes control how quickly a babies muscles and bones grow (heredity) but a proper diet is important also (environment) 36

Brain Development • Brain research with high technology and advances in biochemistry • More information available now 37

Basic Wiring Occurs • Brain responsible for controlling most body functions • Neurons – cells that send and receive electrical impulses amongst each other that direct the various tasks of the brain • Wiring – network of fibers that carry brain signals between neurons • See page 30 figure 1 -11 38

• Axons – long, thick cables that transmit all the signals from a neuron to other neurons • Dendrites – short, bush cables that allow each neuron to receive signals sent by other neurons 39

• Synapse – tiny gap between a dendrite of one neuron and the axon of another across which electrical impulses can be transmitted • Pruning – process of weeding out underused or weak connections between neurons 40

Heredity & Environment Interact • Heredity affects how many neurons a baby will have throughout life • All neurons present at birth • Overtime, brain continues to strengthen used pathways, but begins to weed out unused ones • Pruning – process of weeding out underused or weak connections between neurons 41

• Rich sensory experiences create new dendrites, builds new networks for learning • Rich experiences, hugs, hearing music, learning a skill, exploring a toy • Strengthen and refine brain’s wiring 42

Windows of Opportunity • Timing is an important concept when it comes to brain development • Window of opportunity = prime period in a child’s life for developing a particular skill if given the chance to do so • Some windows are large while other are not 43

• Language development is a good example • Some windows are small like vision which is completed in a few months • Once passed, more difficult to acquire • Skills are learned at the same time with windows of opportunity 44

Brain Plasticity • Ability of the brain to be shaped and reshaped, which is greatest early in life • Positive and negative effects • Depends on environment • Great deal of stimulation increases strength of the wiring 45

Positive Environment for Young Children • Best experiences are interaction with loving adults engaged in daily tasks/family type activities • Children need choices in what and how to learn – let them choose toys, story • Children need time to practice and master skills (repetition) 46

Brain Plasticity • Easily injured by abuse, neglect or other negative experience • Stress has a harmful effect on brain function • “fight or flight” chemical change like an acid bath washing over brain wiring 47

Plasticity • Lessens with age • 3 yr old is far less changeable than at birth 48

• 1. infant and toddler years are times of great brain activity and learning • 2. children who have developmental delay, live in unsafe environments, or lack stimulating experiences need early professional help to overcome these obstacles 49

• 3. a good early environment provides the best foundation for all areas of development • Early years are the most important for all areas of growth and development 50

Differences in the Rate of Growth and Development • Developmental acceleration – when a child performs like an older child • Developmental delay – when a child performs like a younger child 51

• A child may be developmentally accelerated or delayed in one area 52

Principles of Growth & Development • Statements of the general patterns in which growth and development take place in people 53

Growth & Development are Constant • Traits controlled by heredity do not change • People often live in the same environment for years • Tall 2 year old will be a tall adult • Good at school in elementary will be good at high school 54

Growth & Development are Gradual and Continuous • Changes take place in little, unbroken steps • Tells us that if people don’t develop they may do so later • If the window has closed it may be possible to learn but extremely hard if possible at all 55

Growth & Development Happen in Sequenced Steps • Steps in growth and development that follow one another in a set order • Teachable moment – time when a person can learn a new task because the body is physically ready, caregivers encourage and support, and the child feels a strong desire to learn 56

Growth & Development Happen at Different Rates • Experts know when fast and slow periods of growth and development occur • • Vary from one child to another Need a good environment If lacking they may lag behind Some children eager to learn, others are not 57

Growth & Development Have Interrelated Parts • All aspects are interact 58

Theories of Growth & Development • Most famous researchers • • Erikson Jean Piaget Others: Havighurst and Abraham Maslow 59

Havighurst • Theory of Developmental Tasks • Developmental tasks – skills that should be mastered at a certain stage in life • Educator and behavioral scientist • Believed achieving developmental tasks lead to happiness and success with later tasks • Failure to achieve leads to unhappiness and problems with later tasks 60

3 Sources • 1. physical growth – a baby comes into the world as helpless, as body matures learn new skills • 2. social pressures – rewards and penalties society pressure child to master task seen as important 61

• 3. inner pressures -- actual push to achieves comes from within children 62

Maslow’s Theory of Human Needs • Noted psychologist • Believed that development is a result of meeting personal needs • All people work to fulfill basic needs and higher-level needs • See page 42 figure 1 -19 63

• 1. Basic needs – physiological and psychological • 4 basic categories • 1. physiological • 2. psychological • 3. belonging/love • 4. esteem 64

Higher Level Needs • Self actualization – needs that at to grow and feel fulfilled as a person • Drive to pursue talents, hobbies, gain skills and learn more about the world • Education meets self-actualization • Complete self-actualization is a lifelong process 65

Hierarchy of Human Needs • Lower level needs ( basic needs) must be somewhat fulfilled before high level needs can be pursued • Further up the hierarchy a person can go, the more growth and fulfillment he or she will seek • Sees humans as drive by need to become more fulfilled 66

Observing Children • Oldest, most common and best way to learn about human behavior • Observing adults who work with children, you can learn to imitate their successful behaviors • Senses are main tools in observation 67

• Observation skills must be learned 68

What Do Researchers Want to Know? • May think of another idea to study • Want to know more about a behavior and decide to observe further • May look for causes that affect behavior • Helps you to better interact with children 69

Ways to Observe • Observe directly • Direct observation—watching children in their natural environments • Play groups, child care programs, schools 70

• Indirect Observations –asking questions of parents, teachers, or children • Observe products children make, 71

Guidelines for Observing • 1. protect the rights of the subject and the observer • See page 45, 46 figure 1 -22 72

Making Observations • 1. list examples of culture you have observed being handed down from one generation to another. 73