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WHAT ARE KEY ASPECTS OF CHILD DEVELOPMENT?

Seidee Diaz

Anabel Garcia-Santos

Amanda Penta

Leneth Santana

EDP 3273-Spring 2019 Group 5

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WHAT ARE KEY ASPECTS OF CHILD DEVELOPMENT?

An important aspect of a child’s development is intelligence. A term that some may be

familiarized is IQ but there is also an EQ which is based on emotional intelligence and both are

just as equally important. Intelligence can be passed down genetically and can be enhanced with

study, but it can all be shaped by environment and study habits. The Multiple Intelligence Theory

explains how a child could develop their intelligence based on their learning environment and

how the child is educated. Emotional Intelligence is just as important because with a high EQ the

child will transition better into a young adult and then an adult, being able to express their needs,

desires, and frustrations verbally which is adapted from their early childhood. While genetics

may also play a role on a child’s emotional intelligence, it can change throughout time by being

exposed to coping exercises, techniques and solutions in order to help change any possible

negative temperament affecting their EQ.

There are various factors that can affect a child’s development. Some factors that

influence a child’s development include those which are part of the child’s surrounding

environment like the child’s family, culture, and community. Below you’ll find out more about

these three topics and how they influence a child’s development. First, let’s discuss the child’s

family. A child’s family doesn’t necessarily have to be a biological parent, remember some

children are adopted or raised by others. Most of the time a household with children will have a

head of the family. The heads of family are the ones who are in charge of the child and the ones

who nurture/care for the child by providing food, shelter, and love, without these things’ the

child won’t have a safe and healthy childhood. If children aren’t nurtured properly then they are

likely to have developmental problems. For example, a child’s basic needs include food and

water, without it the child’s health is likely to decline. Another aspect that the family plays a role
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in, is the socialization of children. Children learn what behaviors are appropriate from the

encouragement they have from family. They also learn which behaviors are unacceptable when

parents or family discourage them from doing them. Telling children which behaviors are wrong

and which are right teaches children how to act and think in society. Children also learn from

observing their family’s behavior. Parents should be aware of their actions in situations and

remind themselves that their children are watching and learning from their behaviors.

Next, we have culture which is defined as “the values, traditions, and symbol systems of

a long-standing social group.” A family’s culture may also have a great influence on a child’s

development as they grow up. Children learn and familiarize themselves with routines that are

typical for their culture. Some cultures may have different beliefs from others. For example,

some cultures celebrate holidays like Christmas, and some do not, and most cultures have

different religious beliefs. Some cultures are individualistic meaning they value and encourage

qualities like being independent, competitive, self-assertive, and prioritizing their needs over the

groups. This belief is common with families from Western Europe and the United States. On the

other hand, there is also the collectivistic cultures where they value obedience towards authority

figures, dependence, cooperativeness, and they prioritize the groups needs over theirs. Overall,

culture provides great meaning to the activities and goals that children have in their lives. Keep

in mind there are also children who are part of more than one culture so they might have beliefs

from both cultures.

A community includes the surroundings you encounter in life besides home like the

neighborhood you live in, school, the park, or maybe even the library. A child’s community is

going to influence a child because it contains those who they interact with, like their friends,

peers, and teachers. Children tend to spend most of their time near and around their home, so it’s
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bound to have some impact on them. Something to consider is the type of neighborhood the child

lives in. For example, children who live in low economic neighborhoods are likely to attend

schools with bad conditions and may interact with those who take part in illegal acts. When

children have bad influences in school, they may learn these behaviors because they see peers

partaking in such acts. Living in neighborhoods that are not safe also means children may start to

show negative behaviors like bullying others, lying, cheating, misbehaving in school, and

becoming violent. However, if children have help from family, they can overcome any of these

disadvantages. Apart from the surroundings the resources a parent provides to their child is part

of their community and has great influence as well. Some parents have good average salaries,

while others have high salaries, and others have low salaries. The higher the salary the better the

parents will be able to meet their child’s basic needs like food and shelter. However, parents who

work excessively and do not have time to spend with their child can have negative effects.

Children then might not have emotional support, advice, and supervision when needed.

Then there is language, which is an important part of a child’s life, without it they can’t

communicate with others around them. In the early stages of life, children communicate by

crying, using gestures, pointing but eventually they communicate by speaking and through

writing. Children usually say their first word by the time they reach 12 months, some might

speak earlier or even later. Learning to use a language by speaking and understanding it is a

challenge that children are faced with. To master language children must acquire four

components, phonology, semantics, syntax, and pragmatics. Phonology involves the organization

and relationship of sounds that produce a word, semantics involves knowing the meaning of

words, and syntax is involves the rules and structure of sentences.

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Children first master phonology in language. They have to know how words sound and

then they try to produce them, then children try to learn the semantics of their language. Children

tend to already understand some words meanings as early as 8 months although it does vary

among children. Some infants and toddlers sometimes need adults to repeat words for them

before they can fully understand them. Some infants try to infer a new words’ meaning when

used in conversation. Once children are a little older about 3 years old, they can infer a word’s

meaning after being exposed to the word only once. This is what they call fast mapping. As

children grow older, they are repeatedly exposed to words and their understandings become more

and more refined. As their semantic abilities develop so does their abilities to think abstractly.

There are many ways in which parents and those around children can support semantic

development. One strategy that can help children understand a word’s meaning is by talking to

them regularly. If children hear the language, they are encouraged to use it. Parents, family, and

teachers should use rich language because they tend to use similar language that they hear.

Using mature language means a child’s vocabulary will be more sophisticated and they will learn

more words meanings. Another strategy can be to give children examples of new words. For

example, if they don’t know a certain animal the caregiver can show them several pictures of

what the animal is. Showing them examples can help them understand and give meaning to

words. Also, show children non-examples of what the animal isn’t.

There are also ways in which teachers and parents can promote syntactic development.

First, parents can help with a child’s telegraphic speech. When a child uses basic or immature

words when speaking, the parent can expand by responding with more complex syntactic

sentences. Another way to foster syntactic development is by categorizing the different types of

sentence structures. Teachers should have students practice different sentence structures because
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like that children can provide variety in their writing. Sentence structure can also help children

who are learning other languages.

An important part of language also involves a child’s listening skills. Here we present

some tips so children can become great listeners. One way to help children develop such skill is

to read to them regularly. When children listen to stories, they will have to pay attention to

understand the story. One should ask them questions while reading to see if they were paying

attention to details. Literature offers children the opportunity to learn new vocabulary and

exposure to mature language. Teachers can also provide children with tips they can use to

understand and give meaning while reading. For example, when reading teachers should

encourage students to ask questions when they don’t understand something. Also, if it is

necessary teachers should repeat instructions or display them on the board or through a written

handout. Another way to help with children’s listening skills is for teachers and educators to

keep verbal presentations short and concise since children tend to have short attention spans.

Giving too much information to a certain age group of children can be overwhelming.

There are many strategies that teachers and parents can use to help children with their

speaking skills. First, they can encourage children to speak by inviting and making them feel

welcome in conversations. However, we must remember to not force them to speak because this

can be discouraging. Next, to promote speaking we must inform children when we don’t

understand them. When children are aware that we are confused they will try to communicate

better or differently to get their message across. Lastly, we can also have children tell stories so

they can learn to express themselves well. They are practicing their speaking skills when they tell

narratives. There are many other ways to support speaking these mentioned are just a few.
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Cognitive development is the development of knowledge, skills, problem solving and

dispositions. Cognitive development has to do with how children think, explore, and figure

things out and also includes brain development. This is how children develop an understanding

of the world and the tools necessary to figure out what they don’t understand.

According to Piaget, there are four stages to a child’s cognitive development;

“1. Sensorimotor Stage: Birth through about 2 years. During this stage, children learn about

the world through their senses and the manipulation of objects.

2. Preoperational Stage: Ages 2 through 7. During this stage, children develop memory and

imagination. They are also able to understand things symbolically and to understand the ideas of

past and future.

3. Concrete Operational Stage: Ages 7 through 11. During this stage, children become more

aware of external events, as well as feelings other than their own. They become less egocentric

and begin to understand that not everyone shares their thoughts, beliefs, or feelings.

4. Formal Operational Stage: Ages 11 and older. During this stage, children are able to use

logic to solve problems, view the world around them, and plan for the future.”

Every child has different cognitive strengths and weaknesses, but they can always be built upon.

Some children will be strong at logic and reasoning and some will have strong memory skills.

One child might be extremely organized and always remembers to do their homework but might

also have weak attention and retention skills. There are activities and ways to strengthen weak

cognitive skills.

Cognitive development is something that parents should encourage from birth. This is

extremely important because it creates the foundation necessary for them to further develop as
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they grow and enter school. Studies show that a child who can distinguish sounds by six months

of age will be much better at learning how to read by the age of.

It is important that you encourage your child or student to figure things out on their own.

Let them find the answers. You can even create activities or scenarios that they need to figure out

to encourage this thinking. Give them choices that force them to make thoughtful decisions. Ask

them why they came to that conclusion and if there are other conclusions or other ways to solve

the problem. Encourage different problem-solving methods and give them light guidance but

ultimately let them figure it out on their own. This should be an everyday practice and should be

implemented into daily activities. There are many ways of doing this; talking with your baby and

naming commonly used objects, letting your baby explore toys and move about, singing and

reading to your baby, exposing your toddler to books and puzzles, expanding on your child's

interests in specific learning activities. For example, your toddler might show an early interest in

dinosaurs, so you can take him/her on a trip to the natural history museum to learn more about

the time that these creatures roamed the earth and answering your child’s “why” questions. That

last one is extremely important. As a parent, it is easy to get into the habit of “I said so”

especially if your child is questioning something, they were told to do but how about explaining

to them why you are asking them not to jump on their bed. Help them understand why so that

they may develop their own understanding of why aside from “because I was told to do so”.

Development is the process that starts in human infancy and continues into late

adolescent concentrating on gross and fine motor skills as well as puberty. Physical development

involves developing control over the body, particularly muscles and physical coordination.

Physical Development describes the changes in size, shape and physical maturity of the body

including, physical abilities and coordination. The stages of physical development follow a
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certain pattern. Babies can crawl, sit up and hold their heads up by the age of two. Walking,

running, jumping, climbing stairs with help, building blocks, and finer motor skills like holding

crayons are learnt between ages two and four. The different stages of physical development are

Infant, Toddler, Preschooler, & School-Aged Child. Each stage is organized by primary tasks of

development for that period.

During the first few weeks and months of an infant's life, their movements are reflexive

or involuntary in nature. Some reflex actions exhibited by the newborn infant include the startle

reflex, which is shown by sudden loud sounds or position changes. The grasp reflex, which an

infant instinctively grasps objects that are put into their hands or feet. Between the ages of 1

month and 1 year, a child should be able to hold their head up on their own, sit without support,

creep or crawl, walk, grasp objects on their own and pick up small objects with their thumb and

forefinger. A toddler is between the ages of 1 and 3 years old. At this time, a child's physical

development should include being able to walk without help, jump in place, go up a staircase,

hold a cup of water, scribble with a crayon and copy a circle. During this period, a child should

also be able to ride a tricycle and build a tower of blocks.

The preschool years occur between the ages of 3 and 5 years old. The preschooler attains

physical skills at this point that should include standing on one foot for ten seconds or more,

hopping or skipping, swinging and climbing, throwing and catching a ball, using a fork and

spoon and drawing a person with a body.

School-Aged Child:

A child between the ages of 6 and 12 years is considered a school-aged child. The

movements of the school-aged child are more graceful and coordinated. School-aged children
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have good hand-eye coordination and are able to engage in activities like cutting and pasting,

swimming, soccer, basketball, hiking and playing video games.

Ways to boost Physical Development in Toddlers and Preschoolers:

• Walk with the kids and provide them with the opportunity to run and jump and use their

large muscles.

• Prepare a simple obstacle course for your child to jump over and run around in your

backyard or in the house.

• Play catch with balls. You can also play games that will help the child learn to kick and

throw the ball.

• Have a mini dance party at home. Put on some music and dance with your child,

especially to nursery songs that stimulate fine motor skills like the ‘Itsy bitsy spider’.

• Play pretend games like laying a tightrope on the ground and trying to balance on it.

• Get creative with art. Provide your child ample opportunities to draw in and around the

house.

• Get some child-safe scissors and teach your kid some craft work.

• Have a block building contest.

• Get toys that can boost physical development in your child like a tricycle, basketball

hoop (child-sized) or hula hoops.

• Have a water pool in the backyard and encourage your child to splash or paddle under

supervision.

• Get your child to help with simple fun chores like bathing the dog or washing the car.

• Ensure that your child has adequate sleep to enable overall development.

• Take the child for a routine check-up to catch any issues early
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When children aren’t doing activities (like rolling over, sitting without support, or walking) that

other children their age are doing. Developmental delays can be a sign of a serious health

condition, so it’s important to talk with your child’s pediatrician about them. Gross motor skills

are the abilities usually acquired during childhood as part of a child's motor learning. By the time

they reach two years of age, almost all children are able to stand up, walk and run, walk upstairs,

etc. Other examples: throwing a larger ball and pushing themselves using their feet on a riding

toy. Fine motor skills are necessary to engage in smaller, more precise movements, normally

using the hands and fingers. Fine motor skills are different than gross motor skills which require

less precision to perform. Examples: holding a pencil/crayon, build tower blocks, and mold clay

into shapes. Remember the sequence at which a child develops is orderly and predictable, but

different children develop at different rates.