The basic Principles of Child Development

THE BASIC
PRINCIPLES OF

child developmnet

EDUP3023: CHILD DEVELOPMENT

BY: FATIMAH AZZAHRAH BINTI SULAIMAN
2021302340296

Introduction

The series of physical,
language, mental, and
emotional changes that occur
in a kid from birth to the
beginning of maturity is
referred to as child

development.

During this process, a child progresses from
dependency on their parents or guardians to
increasing independence. Child development
is strongly influenced by genetic factors
(genes passed on from their parents) and
events during prenatal life. It is also
influenced by environmental facts and the
child’s learning capacity.

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Chapter 1

What does child
development include?

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Child development encompasses the whole range of
skills that a child acquires during their lifetime,
including:

Cognition
– The ability to learn and problem solve

Social interaction and emotional regulation
– Interacting with others and mastering self-
control

Speech and Language
– Understanding and using language, reading
and communicating

Physical skills
– Fine motor (finger) skills and gross motor
(whole-body) skills

Sensory awareness
– The registration of sensory information for use

(Copple & Bredekamp, 2009)

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There are differences between child development and
child growth.

1. Growth:
Refers to an increase in some quantity over time.
The quantity can be physical (e.g.: growth in
height)

2. Development:
Development is systematic and orderly change,
organisms experience as they live and either gain
or lose abilities. It can be physical, psychological,
spiritual, social, and emotional development.

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Characteristics of Growth

Growth takes place all through the lifetime, but
variably. The rate of growth is faster until an entity
matures. After attaining maturity, growth is gradual
and slows down before it ceases.

Changes in growth are quantitative and the changes
from one level to another are observable, measurable,
and predictable over time. Growth is influenced by
genetic or hereditary, maturity, parental health, and
individual environment. Normal changes usually stop
after a certain age as Individuals’ growth varies
differently from stage to stage

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Characteristics of Development

At each stage of development, children gain skills in
four main domains. These domains are:

1.The communication and speech domain.

Children have to learn to communicate with
everyone around them. As well as learning the
language, they learn about taking turns in conversation
and categorizing the world around them. This can be
extremely difficult, and leads to interesting errors; for
example, when a child learns that a round object is a
‘ball’, they have to work out if that means everything
round is also called a ball. Is the moon a ball, and why
not? It takes time to understand what separates one
word from another.

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Characteristics of Development

2. The physical domain.

The body increases in skill and performance over
time, going through gross motor development
(learning to use large muscles, such as the arms and
legs), and fine motor development (learning to use
muscles to make precise movements, such as the
hands and fingers).

3. The social and emotional domain.

Children’s identities, self-images, and perceptions of
feelings evolve as they grow. They also develop
relationships with others and learn how to socialize
and follow social etiquette.

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Characteristics of Development
4. The cognitive domain.

‘Cognitive processes’ are higher-level functions of the
brain, including thinking, knowing, remembering,
judging, and problem-solving. As they develop,
children increase their understanding of the world,
improve their memory, gain better concentration, and
refine their problem-solving skills.

All of these areas of development interlink at every
stage – children can’t progress in one area without
progressing in another (Sword, 2021)

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Chapter 2

What are the principles of
child development and
growth?

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The principles
of

development

1. Development is continuous process.
2. Gradual progress step-by-step fashion.
3. Rate of development vary among children
4. Proceeds from the general to the specific.
5. Development proceeds from the head downwards
6. Shows an increase in complexity.
7. Relatively orderly / sequentially
8. Takes place gradually
9. Constant interaction between all factors of development
10. Influenced by both hereditary & environment factors

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The development process takes effect according
to the rules. For example, a baby in the early stages
can sit with help, then crawling followed by
standing ability, and then walking. Besides that,
development is also from concrete to abstract. This
can be seen especially in cognitive and linguistic
development.

Children develop from general to more specific.
For instance, a baby can grasp the object by hand
before learning to use the fingers. This is because
the big muscles grow first before gradually turning
to fine muscles. We must also acknowledge that
child development is a continuing process. In the
process of developing, a child will add to the
existing skills. The skills available to him today are
also the basis for achieving new skills.

Patterns and rules of development are almost the
same, but the rate of human development is
different for each individual. Some children can
walk at the age of 10 months while others can only
run for 18 months. This is one of the factors that

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lead to the difference between the people we can
see in a classroom.

The development depends on the interaction
between maturity and learning. Maturity is the
emergence of existing potential within an
individual, such as crawling, sitting, walking, and
then running. It is influenced by genetic factors.

Learning is the result of training, imitation, or
identification process and requires effort. The
learning process helps individuals develop potential
existing within them. For example, perfect muscle
and nerve development allow a person to swim but
he or she can only swim if practicing or replicating
the ways of swimming.

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The principles
of

growth

1. Specific direction
2. From general to specific
3. Comprehensive
4. Continuous development
5. Speed rate differs
6. Development stages staggered

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Specific Direction is a stage in children's growth. It
could be observed from the growth of head to toe
(cephalocaudal). The growth starts from head to
foot, and the process begins from the embryonic
stage. Before and after birth: the size of the head of
the child grows first than the body, legs, and hands.
For instance, babies can control their headfirst
before other members of the body. Faridah (2014)
explained that at the age of two to six months, the
baby should be able to control head movements, lie
ahead, move forward, and lift his arms by arm. At
the age of six to 12 months, the baby can crawl,
stand, practice, and then walk.

Next is the growth of the middle to the edges of
the body (proximodistal) The principle states the
growth from the center of the body to the outside
of the body. The spinal cord of the child develops
first from other parts of the body. When the head
and body are formed in the mother's womb, the
member's feet and hands are just formed BUT have
not formed perfectly. Gradually, hands will lengthen
and develop into hands and feet.

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For the general to specific growth principle, child
growth occurs from large muscle movements to
smaller muscle movements. Before walking
normally, a child may be standing first and this
pattern will not change for all children around the
world. Children should be able to grasp something
with their hands first, then they learn to use the
fingers. The development pattern is quite the same
and only varies in terms of time either fast or slow.

Comprehensive principles show that in the early

stages of life, a baby can only respond totally to a

stimulus because the bones and muscles have yet

to reach maturity. For example, if a baby tries to

pick something up, his entire body moves along

with his arms and arms because his fingers are still

unused. Upon maturity, the movement of

something takes only a finger without moving most

of its body. Emotions in children also take place as a

whole. Usually, at an early stage, children's fears

are shown thoroughly. Then, his fears are only

about certain things, and this explains that

developments occur according to the different

processes.

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Individual self-development occurs continuously
from the stage of fertilization to the end of life.
Children build new knowledge and skills based on
past knowledge and experience Individuals will
build and collect the knowledge gained and
experienced throughout life gradually beginning
from the stage of infancy, children, adolescents,
adults, and adults.

Other than that, the patterns and developments
in the development of children are the same,
HOWEVER, the growth and development rates of
each domain, namely cognitive domain, affective
domain, and psychomotor domain vary from one
child to another. For example, there are children
who have a high level of intellectual development
compared to the level of physical and emotional
maturity. Children are categorized as intelligent
smart children and have high intellectual
intelligence compared to their chronological age.
This situation makes it difficult for children to adapt
to other children with whom they are older.

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The development is also staggered, and each level
can be distinguished by a clear nature. Individual
growth and development features can be
determined according to specific stages. The
individual nature and circumstances of each level
provide a unique form of human development. Five
stages of child development, namely:

1. prenatal stage
2. the infant's stage
3. the early stages of the child
4. the middle and final stage of the child
5. adolescent stage

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Chapter 3

What are the factors
influencing child
development?

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Many factors influence child development.
Basically, there are TWO which are genetic and
environmental. Genetic factors are out of our
control while environmental factors are within our
control.

Genetic factors refer to the biological
characteristics or genes inherited by parents to
their children through the combination of the
sperm cells and the ovum cells. An individual will
inherit an inherited genetic code from a parent.
Genetic factors will determine the inheritance of
sex, inheritance of physical attributes, level of

intelligence, personality, trait, or
personality as well as illness
from parents to children.

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Environmental factors influence child
development. Examples of environmental factors
are family or school (Refer to Bronfenbrenner’s
Ecological Theory) Healthy and harmonious
environment can expand the ability of the child's
physical, cognitive, emotional, and social potential
to a maximum level. Generally, there will TWO
factors here which are Biological environmental
factors (nutrition and nutrition, drugs, medicine,
and healthcare) and social environment factors
(family, peers, culture, and media).

Happiness, love
and Joy

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References

Copple, C., & Bredekamp, S. (Eds.). (2009)
Developmentally Appropriate Practice in Early
Childhood Programs Serving Children from
Birth Through Age 8. 3rd ed., Washington,
DC: National Association for the Education
of Young Children, (pp. 10-15).

Nazir, F. (2014). Perkembangan kanak-kanak.
Penerbitan Multimedia. Kuala Lumpur.
Malaysia.

Sword, R. (2021, January 14). Early Child
Development: Stages & Characteristics. The
Hub | High-Speed Training https://ww
w. highspeed training.co.uk/hub/child
-development-in-early-years/.

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THE BASIC
PRINCIPLES OF

child developmnet

EDUP3023: CHILD DEVELOPMENT

BY: FATIMAH AZZAHRAH BINTI SULAIMAN
2021302340296