Early Childhood Development Stages and Theories

This assignment delves into the complexities of early childhood development, covering topics such as prenatal exposure to phthalates, cognitive developmental milestones, and the interrelationships between motor, cognitive, and language skills in children with and without intellectual disabilities. It also touches on the impact of neighborhood physical environment on child health and development, as well as the role of touch-screen technology in learning. The assignment includes a range of sources, from academic articles to online resources, providing a comprehensive overview of early childhood development theories and practices.

CHILD DEVELOPMENT
FROM BIRTH TO THREE

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
Significance of Physical Development .......................................................................................1
Cognitive development from birth to three years of age ............................................................3
Social and emotional development..............................................................................................5
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES ...............................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Child development is an integral part for overall growth and progression and assists in
understanding and learning abilities from infancy until three years. It also emphasizes on the
physical, social, emotional, intellectual and moral development of children which requires time
and proper attention to make the newborns to be transformed into an able child. This is also
related to the four developmental stages and consists of sensorimotor stage, pre operational
stage, concrete stage and operational stage. This assignment is based on understanding the
various aspects of both sensorimotor and pre operational stages for children in achieving the
goals in terms of symbolic thought processes and object permanence. It focuses on gaining
insights about the physical, cognitive and social with emotional development of toddlers who are
dependent entities and is in need of constant support. Moreover, it describes about each
developmental stage in context to the social construction and overall maturation.
MAIN BODY
Significance of Physical Development
The first three years of a child's life has been classified into several sub sections that has
shed light on its complete brain development. It is connected with the emotional aspects, motor
skills, linguistic abilities, cognitive thinking and social progression with passing time.
Additionally, it has also demonstrated that the child is able to learn the fastest and quickest
during the first three years and remember things learnt during this phase till a longer time. The
entire focus is on developing the child's brain and sensory parts to help the child grow into a
complete human by channelising the neural connections. There is also a need to shape the child
into a responsible and morally sound person to promote sustainable live in the society (O’Connor
and Fotakopoulou, 2016,). The child must be given proper guidance and monitoring to help them
understand in expressing and thinking and also help in learning for their bright future
Physical Development is one of the important developmental stages which shed light on
the overall formation of attributes and features in a toddler. This is a long process and consumes
time and has an impact on the development by outlining the timeline for complete
transformation. The sensorimotor stage is that stage which starts from six months to two years
and is primarily related with motor activities. Next is pre operational stage which focuses on the
children from two years up till seven years. However, before commencing the analysis part for
these stages, one must build an understanding where the infants require the most undivided
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attention. The transitional changes have been embarked in the most visible manner in this range
only and differs from one another. The phase from the birth until first quarter is the most crucial
and emphasis on more than half of the brain development.
The first sub section starts from the day of a child's birth till six months in which their
physical attributes are continuously in developmental levels. Gradually, their eyes and other
sensory organs get developed to help in sustaining the life in better ways. Nevertheless, the
muscles' growth with the movements are in tender state and primarily the focus is on the
development of motor control occurs. Herein, the infants try to control and response to the
surrounding sounds (Christian et al., 2015). It also focuses on movement of the arms, trunk
section, legs and feet parts. Their reflexes are in constant motion and is in continuous interaction
with the environment. For instance, the infant would be able to move arms and hands and might
also turn heads when kept sideways or backwards. They are able to clasp things and respond
when put on some flat locations. Along with, the infants learn to control their sensory motions
with the surroundings and assist in learning about the people and several objects.
Next is the sub section which focuses on the six months till two years of age. In this, the
baby between six to eight months can sit either with the help of support and able to try to walk or
sit without assistance. At eight to nine months, the baby tries to crawl first and this helps in
making the muscles of hands and knees stronger and support in the overall cognitive
development. It is linked with the surrounding sounds and their responses rate which later proved
beneficial in developing their social and emotional sides. By the time, the child turns one, the
baby is able to speak few words and start identifying things and surroundings (Goldstein and
Bloom, 2015). It is effective measure in understanding the physical strength of the growing child
whether he is able to move, jump, stretch and kick or throw the legs, feet, hands or arms.
Last sub section to be examined for the physical development lies between two to three
years which is refereed as the fluctuating range. This is mainly due to better control and effective
balance while doing activities and daily chores under guidance of any adult. Here, the child is
completely in sync with its surroundings and have complete control on the walking or talking.
This clearly shed light on the linguistic development and the emotional competencies. For
instance, a child who is silent during this time is not necessarily going to remain same for the rest
of the life (Li et al., 2015). There are higher chances that the kids learn faster and act upon the
ambience in more contributing levels.
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Therefore, the stages like sensorimotor and pre operational are essential for making
concrete physical changes in positive manner and the parents must try to devote the time,
resources and energy to help the child grow into a completely functional and active person. The
physical development moreover is connected with the development of the complete bodily
functionalities. It includes social skills with language and motor skills as well which defined the
child's complete progression in context to the usage of gross motor and fine motor with effectual
coordination skills. Henceforth, this is the foremost steps to make the child ready for the worldly
affairs.
Cognitive development from birth to three years of age
Cognitive development is defined as the formation of thought process which includes
problem solving skills, ability to make decision and remembering activities. Cognitive
development of child begins right from the birth and continues till adulthood. It was assumed
that children do not have any cognitive abilities when they are born because they are not able to
process or think complex ideas due to lack of language skills (Kochanska, 2017.). However, even
form the birth the active learning phase of children initiated which is often accompanied by their
social and physical development.
The cognitive development process refers to the process that how an individual
understand, think and perceives the world. It is not possible without interaction of genetic factors
and other nurturing or learned factors. Piaget's theory is one of the most effective way to explain
and analyse the cognitive development process. According to Piaget's theory the cognitive-
development can be divided into two stages for the children up to 3 years. The first phase is
known as the Sesnsorimotor stage. It can be considered as the duration from birth to one year of
age. The development in age group 18 to 36 months can be explained with the help of pre-
operational stage (Cherry., 2019).
Sensorimotor stage:
It is also known as infancy and is influenced by both nature and nurture elements. In this
stage new born child demonstrate its intelligence through motor movements. Thus, genetic
biological factors contribute to this ability. Infants does not have knowledge and understanding
of symbols but their physical interaction with their mother and other family members. At around
7 month children are also able to make physical movements and it helps them to develop
intellectual capabilities.
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When child is born, their senses help to recognise the world. With the help of these
sensory abilities children can follow and focus on moving objects By the three months the
children learn the ability to recognise face and facial expressions. Children also give response to
sounds, smiles or frowning which demonstrate their cognitive development. With the time the
intelligence and remembering abilities of the child are also groomed. At the age of six months,
voice recognition and fear from strangers are observed.
The remembering skills are developed at nine to twelve months. In this period the child
can provide gestures and test the parental response. For instance child throw objects on floor to
observe the response from parents to remember that if parents give same response as earlier or
not. At the end of this development stage child is also capable to have separation anxiety when
they are carried away from parents (Gascon et.al., 2015). In this development stage child also
learn to speak few words or to identify the body parts, ownership like their blankets or objects.
The physical development also assist in this development phase. For instance the movement of
child, ability to pick up and throw objects is accompanied by their understanding of the direction
as well development of physical movement.
Pre-operational stage:
In this phase the child extensively use its knowledge and symbols to demonstrate its
intelligence. Though in this phase imagination and memory are also developed but child has
illogical and non-reversible thinking. Thus, the egocentric thinking is predominant among
toddlers. For instance the children in the age group of 18 months or above starve for freedom
which creates a challenge for their parents in terms of safety (What are Piaget's stages of
development and how are they used, 2019). Since the cognitive development is at peak in this
phase, so social construction element is also involved in this stage. The parents and other
guardians try to teach children discipline and other norms of behaviour. For instance the use of
words like “thank you or please” so that child can also learn the basic social ethics.
The cognitive development has been interrelated with the other development forms. The
movement capabilities of the child help to understand the aspects such as remembering and
understanding the directions, searching for parents as well as moving objects. The social and
emotional assistance can improve the cognitive abilities of the child. For instance when parents
create an environment in which child is able to make choices or to take thoughtful decision the
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development can occur with better outcomes. Like when child is encouraged to search for new
things like solving puzzles then it enhances their thinking abilities.
The support, patience and guidance from their parents can motivate child to try such
things (Arregoces et.al., 2015). On the other hand if parents are not supportive and does not help
child in learning such things then it is quite possible that in further stages also child may not
consider such challenging task as interesting. The involvement of both the parents in games can
develop a better interaction between child and parents. There has been debate between nature
versus nurture in cognitive-development of child.
It has been observed that there is an interaction between gene activities and environment
experiences or nurture practices. Thus, any one element cannot be considered as the responsible
for the cognitive evolution of the child. Another significant element which influences the
cognitive development is motor development (Intellectual and Cognitive Development in
Children and Teens, 2018). The children who experiences neurodevelopmental disorders have
disturbed cognitive abilities. As a result motor development of such children is also affected. The
part of the brain called cerebellum is responsible for the motor skills and also has critical role in
the cognitive functionalities of the child.
Social and emotional development
Social and emotional development is defined as the capability of child to response and
interaction with the social environment. This ability grow and changes with the time, however
for up to 36 months of age all types of child development are related to each other. There are
several aspects which influences this development aspect of the child. The factors such as
attachment, social competence, emotional regulation and temperament are major factors which
regulates the social development of child (Black et.al., 2017). For the toddlers the parents and
family is their first society which teaches them that how they are required to behave.
Thus, social development is strictly related to nature as well as social constructions. The
strong and lovely bond between infants and toddlers provide them feeling of comfort, safety and
encouragement. When toddlers observes their parents that they are communicating in lovely tone
with child then, the child tends to give the same response. The positive relationships help
children to develop compassion, sense to judge correct or incorrect and empathy. When the
toddlers are given regular care, love and affection it leads to strong self esteem among children.
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At the age of the 6 years when mother plays with the child with different sounds and
objects then the developing cognitive abilities of child help children to understand that relations
and interactions are pleasurable and satisfying. The care and concern provided by mother make
child emotionally strong and realise that needs and desire of child is important for mother. The
new born children are not able to feed themselves thus when they need milk or are in discomfort
their crying indicates mother that child needs help. It develops an emotional communication
between child and mother and teaches child that in order to fulfil they will have to cry or make
physical movements.
The physical movements play equal importance in emotional development. For instance
the toddlers are able to make the movements of hands and gestures (Tavassolie et.al., 2016).
Thus, their eye contact with the other family members or actions of holding hands give them
warmth and feeling of security. The actions such as hug, talking and cuddling makes child feel
lovely. The facial gestures like smiling or crying faces made by the parents help children to learn
that these are the ways to show their emotions and to communicate with the others.
At the age of 20-36 months children is capable to easily recognise the other family
members and does not hesitate to play with them. Thus, the children uses the same gestures like
smile or crying gestures to gain the attention of parents. The secure and strong emotional bond
with the child promotes the positive growth opportunities for social and emotional development.
Around 9-12 months the exploration skills of the child are developed. The children began to
point objects and to give response to nurturing caretakers. Thus, through complex interactions
children learn to point or expand their participation with other objects.
The social development stage receives more growth among children between 9-18
months. This age group children also develop sophisticated understanding of their own. An 18
month baby is capable to recognise the difference between mirror image and reality. The feeling
of security are also developed during this time (Marcovitch et.al., 2015). For instance when the
father or caretakers move leaves the house or room they toddlers begin to search or even cry for
them. They feel anxiety on separation. The age of two years can be consider as the most visible
state which demonstrate the social development. It can be explained by stage of autonomy vs
shame and doubt.
According to Erikson in this development phase children have keen desire for the
autonomy and show their interests and drives. For example they become able to choose
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themselves that which food they want to eat or which clothes they like. Similarly, when children
of this age group are given punishment then it is retreated as doubt or shame by the child. The
patience level of the parents and their response to the activities of child greatly affects this stage
in social development. The children between 24-36 months try to push the limits set by their
parents (Houwen et.al., 2016).
The development of cognitive and physical abilities can make this development stronger.
For instance when this age group child are refused to take any object then child become stubborn
or highly negative. They can also show their emotion by aggression and continuous crying. The
social and emotional pleasure developed in these initial years helps child to form social relations
in later years of life as well. For example 24-36 child may get too excited to see other children
and may try to play with them. In order to gain more independence child may show defiance or
may copy others (Arregoces et.al., 2015). The children in this period also copy their parents or
others and begin to show concerns towards others. This development helps child to understand
the social norms. Like when child observes the activities of their parents then through cognitive
development they learned that they are also required to follow the same behaviour and activities
as other are following.
The social constructions are important elements in emotional development of child. For
instance it is possible that when the child lives in nuclear families in the age 0-3 years then they
tend to have limited exploration to the social interactions. On the other hand having regular
interaction with the other relatives or social groups can enhance the emotional development of
the child. The traumatic conditions or improper care and nurture environment can cause delay in
the emotional development of child (Miller et.al., 2016). Thus, it is vital for the parents that they
must focus on social and emotional development as well.
CONCLUSION
It can be concluded from the study that experience of young child in their early and
toddler years are very critical in terms of child health and learning. The skills learned by the
child in these years are the coping skills which helps for the entire life. It has been also analysed
form the above discussion that safe and caring parenting can help child to learn and grow
rapidly. It has been also evaluated that the early development years are important for all
developing aspects such as social, cognitive, emotional as well as physical. It can also be
concluded from the report that the better knowledge and learning of these development phases
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can help parents to understand the needs of their child. It can also help parents and health care
service providers to resolve the child development related issues.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Arregoces, L., et.al., 2015. Countdown to 2015: changes in official development assistance to
reproductive, maternal, newborn, and child health, and assessment of progress between
2003 and 2012. The Lancet Global Health. 3(7). pp.e410-e421.
Black, M.M., et.al., 2017. Early childhood development coming of age: science through the life
course. The Lancet. 389(10064). pp.77-90.
Christian, H. et al., 2015. The influence of the neighborhood physical environment on early child
health and development: A review and call for research. Health & place.33.pp.25-36.
Gascon, M., et.al., 2015. Prenatal exposure to phthalates and neuropsychological development
during childhood. International journal of hygiene and environmental health. 218(6).
pp.550-558.
Goldstein, T.R. and Bloom, P., 2015. Characterizing characters: How children make sense of
realistic acting. Cognitive Development.34. pp.39-50.
Houwen, S., et.al., 2016. The interrelationships between motor, cognitive, and language
development in children with and without intellectual and developmental
disabilities. Research in Developmental Disabilities. 53. pp.19-31.
Kochanska, G., 2017. Mutually responsive orientation between mothers and their young
children: Implications for early socialization. In Interpersonal Development (pp. 141-
159). Routledge.
Li, Z., et al., 2015. A statistical skull geometry model for children 0-3 years old. PloS one.10(5).
p.e0127322.
Marcovitch, S., et.al., 2015. A longitudinal assessment of the relation between executive function
and theory of mind at 3, 4, and 5 years. Cognitive development. 33. pp.40-55.
Miller, A.C., et.al., 2016. How consistent are associations between stunting and child
development? Evidence from a meta-analysis of associations between stunting and
multidimensional child development in fifteen low-and middle-income countries. Public
health nutrition. 19(8). pp.1339-1347.
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O’Connor, J. and Fotakopoulou, O., 2016. A threat to childhood innocence or the future of
learning? Parents’ perspectives on the use of touch-screen technology by 0–3 year-olds in
the UK. Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood.17(2). pp.235-247.
Tavassolie, T., et.al., 2016. Differences in perceived parenting style between mothers and
fathers: Implications for child outcomes and marital conflict. Journal of Child and
Family Studies. 25(6). pp.2055-2068.
Online
Cherry., K., 2019. Cognitive Developmental Milestones. [Online]. Accessed through
<https://www.verywellmind.com/cognitive-developmental-milestones-2795109>
Intellectual and Cognitive Development in Children and Teens. 2018. [Online]. Accessed
through <https://childdevelopmentinfo.com/child-development/intellectual-and-
cognitive-development-in-children-and-teens/>
What are Piaget's stages of development and how are they used. 2019. [Online]. Accessed
through <https://www.healthline.com/health/piaget-stages-of-development>
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