Assignment about Early Brain Development

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Question 5
Early brain development
The brain development of a child starts from the birth. There are mainly three areas of
development, such as motor (Physical), dialectal and communication, social and emotional and
cognitive development1. The development of brain is a part of cognitive development. It
normally describes the way a child is grown, including learning, thinking and the problem
solving skills. Any issues in all these fields affects all the other areas of the development.
The importance of the early years for subsequent educational success
The early years are important for the development of a secure emotional attachment and
the skills which can help a children to succeed in life. Promotion and the development of the
skills along with the participation of the strengthening families are an important ways for
improving the outcome for the children. The early years of a child forms the foundation for her
future development providing a strong base for life –long learning and the various abilities of
learning including the social and the cognitive development.
Developmental theory
The developmental theories or the developmental psychology tries to comprehend the
bases and the nature of occuring in the cognitive, language and the social skills in children. There
are four prime themes that are unique to the development standpoint and that depends on issues
in early childhood education. The first one is the role of the nature versus nurture in shaping the
1 Fuhrmann, Delia, Lisa J. Knoll, and Sarah-Jayne Blakemore. "Adolescence as a sensitive period of brain
development." Trends in cognitive sciences 19, no. 10 (2015): 558-566

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development. The second question is that whether the growth of the child progresses in a stage
like fashion, which is guided by several stage theories as proposed by Jean Piaget, Sigmund
Freud and other developmental theories2. The third theme focuses on the existence of the critical
or sensitive period in the development of children. The final theme focuses on the impacts of
early experience to shape the growth and development. Various developmentalists like Mary
Ainsworth, Alan Sroufe, and Freud have developed theories regarding the emotional conflicts or
attachments predicting the psychological adjustments in the later stage.
Theories of child development
Cognitive approach (Erik Erikson)
According to Erik Erikson, the psychosocial development entails that development of personality
in child is developed by a series of stages. The theory focuses on how social experience can
describe the effect of social experience across the entire span of life3.
1. Trust vs. Mistrust (Birth-1 year)
Development of faith and trust is on the basis of the trustworthiness of the caregiver of the child.
In case, enough love and care is not provided by the caregiver, the child will not be able to trust
on anyone or depend on anyone in his or her later life.
2 Goulet, Larry Raymond, and Paul B. Baltes, eds. Life-span developmental psychology:
Research and theory. Academic Press, 2013.
3 Cherry, Kendra. "Erik erikson's stages of psychosocial development." Retrieved Juny 5 (2018):
2018.