What Is Child Development?
Have you ever wondered how you learned to crawl and then walk? How about language? How in the world do human beings learn to talk? Developmental psychologists seek to answer these types of questions.
Child development in My First Step refers to the process through which human beings typically grow and mature from infancy through adulthood. The different aspects of growth and development that are measured include physical growth, cognitive growth, and social growth. Child development focuses on the changes that take place in humans as they mature from birth to about age 17.
Child development in My First Step refers to the process through which human beings typically grow and mature from infancy through adulthood. The different aspects of growth and development that are measured include physical growth, cognitive growth, and social growth. Child development focuses on the changes that take place in humans as they mature from birth to about age 17.
Stages of Child Development: Infancy
Most everyone agrees that babies are cute, but what is going on with babies developmentally? The period of infancy begins at birth and ends at two years of age. It’s the most rapid period of growth throughout the lifespan. During this period of child development, human beings go from being helpless, reflexive babies to toddlers who can communicate and reason.
Specific physical milestones during this period include rolling over, sitting up, crawling, and walking. Fine motor development takes longer to develop, which is why babies generally cannot write or create refined drawings. Cognitive milestones include early problem solving and increased sensory awareness and perception. Social milestones that usually occur during this period include the development of a sense of self-awareness, or that prior to the age of 12 months, we really do not understand that we exist apart from our mothers or other caregivers.