Children Development in Different Ages - Paper Example

Question 1: Infancy and Toddlerhood

Since Tabitha is one week old, she is going to experience several changes in both the physical, cognitive, and emotional & social before the age of 2.

Physical development

Physical growth is defined as the changes that occur in body size, shape, and appearance, the functioning of the body systems as well as perceptual and motor capacities and the physical health in general. The first year and half of Tabitha is going to encounter growth and development in weight, height, teeth, vision, taste, smell, hearing and reflexes.

Regarding weight, Tabitha might be ranging from about 5 to 10 pounds. After the growth within the two years, her weight may have tripled, and she might be weighing around 30 pounds.

Teeth: Tabithas all twenty deciduous teeth, and a few permanent teeth are developing. The development she can experience here is the appearance of the first teeth at around the age of seven months. This is usually a front lower teeth. By the age of around sixteen months, new teeth erupt to aid chewing.

Height: at her1 week old age, Tabithas height ranges from about 18 to 22 inches. By the end of the two-year period, her length should have increased by about 50 percent.

Taste: Tabitha at her early age of 1 week experiences the sense of taste which develops quickly. At her second week, Tabitha can be able to tell what is bitter and sweet. At the age of one, her taste buds increases and at about the age of two she can be able to have likes and dislikes that are related to food.

Vision: Tabitha at her one week age can see the light, dark and color around her environment. She can be bale to see objects best at an average length of between 8 to 12 inches away. At around the age of two, Tabitha can see details in her environment.

Hearing: at her age of 1 week, Tabitha might tend to prefer such as low frequency sounds like gentle singing and humming. At around the age of 3 weeks, Tabitha can recognize that voices can go with particular people and at about five months old, she can be able to distinguish between the higher voices of the mother from the lower voice of the father.

Reflexes: crying is one of the behavior reflexes that Tabitha may have at her early age of infant to alert the parents to meet particular needs. Other reflexes between the first 3 and six months include sneezing, yawning, and short quick breaths.

Cognitive development

Cognitive development is the process that involves changes in the intellectual abilities of the infants. These capabilities may include; learning, reasoning, thinking, creativity, problem-solving, memory and language development. As of Tabitha, her learning during this period primarily will come from the sensory experiences. At her early months, she can undergo a series of stages at which she interacts more with her environment and hence she becomes more intentional in her actions. At around 12 months, Tabitha can move from relying on survival-based reflexes to making more clear choices about desired results.

Social Emotional Development

After the first few months of her birth, Tabitha can experience a wider range of emotions ranging from fear of loud noises. By 15 months of age, Tabitha can be afraid of dark rooms, animals, foreign persons. Also, Tabitha may show displeasure when she is wet or even hungry, and she can demonstrate anger through loud, intense crying. Also at around six months of age, Tabitha may show affection by smiling and reaching adults faces and mouths. Finally, curiosity can be exhibited by Tabitha by her examining objects by throwing them using her hands.

Question 2: Early childhood (2-6 years)

Physical development

At two years: Sean gains weight and is 23-30 pounds in weight, he also grows to 32-35 inches in height. He is capable of controlling his bowel and bladder. Sean can run, build a three cube tower, and kick a ball.

At 2-3 years:

Sean increases his weight and weighs 32 pounds, and he also grows to 37 inches in height. He can jump off a step, draw using crayons, build eight cube tower, and ride a tricycle.

At 3-4 years:

Sean gains more weight and is 38-40 pounds in weight and also grows to 40 inches in height. He can now perform many house routines by himself without assistance such as dressing. He can jump up and down, is stable enough to stand on one leg, draw different shapes e.g. a circle.

At 4-6 years:

Seans weight increases again and he is 42 pounds in weight, and grows to 43 inches in height. Seans motor skills such as jumping, running and climbing increase at this age and he can coordinate more activities well as compared to when he was a toddler.

Cognitive development:

At this point, Sean undergoes through the following development;.

He plays with partners are of the same sex.

He develops ideal companion during this stage.

He has the knowledge and understands that the world exists whether he can see it or not.

He is self-centered and does have worry much about others.

At this stage, he has not developed rational thinking.

He believes that both non-living and living things have feelings and possesses life.

Indulges in fantasy and also make-believe play.

His attention is not even.

His memory is limited.

He acquires basic knowledge about some concepts such as color, numbers, size, days and shapes.

His level of curiosity increases and he pokes so much.

He can now make full sentences and can now speak fluently and practice proper grammar.

He develops magical thinking during this stage for example when he talks to her mom on the mobile phone, he asks for a gift, and he expects the gift to reach to him through the phone.

Social and emotional development

Emotional

At two years: Sean does not like new babies. He tends to develop a negative attitude.

At 2-3 years: Sean does not like separation from other children.He can now differentiate his facial expressions of anger, sorrow, and joy. He develops the sense of humor.

At 3-4 years: Sean is very affection and attracted to his parents. He develops imaginary fears and is afraid of the dark and monsters.

At 4-5 years: Sean starts developing and understanding feelings of responsibility and guilt. He has a sense of pride if he accomplishes a goal.

Social Development

At two years: Sean develops a habit of doing contrary to what he is told.

At 2-3 years: Sean learns and starts copying his parents behavior. He depends on his parents so much and is clinging. He starts possessing things. He is comfortable, social, and enjoys playing with a child.

At 3-4 years: Sean is no longer self-centered, and he learns to share. He is very cooperative and plays with other kids. He starts identifying himself with his father.

At 4-5 years: Sean prefers and is excited when playing with other children. He starts competing with his fellow children.

Question 3: Middle Childhood

Physical development

During this period Jenny gains around 6 cm per year and also gains a weight of 3 Kgs on average the growth takes place at a slower rate. She matures faster compared to boys on the same stage at the age of 11, and her bones are developing at this juncture and gain strength. Jenny starts shedding her milk teeth, and permanent teeth develop during this period. At this age, she has gained a lot of energy, and she is always moving and playing with friends. It is during middle childhood where Jennys develops more fat around her bones than muscles. During 6-11 she can run, throw a ball at a considerable distance, and maintain balance on one foot for longer periods.

Cognitive development:

Some of the developments that are likely to occur are as follows:

Jenny can differentiate between fantasy and reality for example at around four she is made to believe babies are bought in the hospital, but at this age, she can know that children are not bought. Jenner understanding of other peoples point of view will develop, and she can sympathize with others, and the ability will continue improving as she grows. Her brain will develop further, and she can reverse things as compared to when she was smaller. She can apparently think backward and can perform activities that she had seen before. She can identify that the physical properties of objects do not change. For example, a younger age if you put arrange ten coins nearer to each other and arrange the same coins further apart, she thinks those further apart are more, but now she knows all of them are the same. She also adopts the use of vocabulary during communication.

Social and emotional development:

She makes more friends and also has best friends who spend most of the time with her. She joins an organized team and the play together as a group. During this period she does not go playing with anyone around. She acquires ethics and morals according to her interaction with children and people around her, and her environment determines how she behaves. Peer influence affects and changes her thinking since they share experiences with her peers who help her cope with life. Peer relationship during 6-11 years shapes and may determine her future. She can take responsibilities, and she is not over dependent on her parents to do everything for her because when she goes to school, her parents are not there with her.

Emotional:

Jenner can now have a better control of her desires and builds up patience and grows the ability to cope and understand is everything does not go according to their wish. At this stage, Jenner starts to acquire and develop self- esteem, and confidence according to how the parents will accept and treat her. If her parents believe and are confident in her, she will gain more self-esteem, but if they do not, then she develops a low self-esteem. Jenner will notice and differentiate success as well as failures because she gains more knowledge from parents and school. She can differentiate the two because if she does right, she is congratulated but when she does wrong, she is punished. She will gain a crucial skill of learning how to handle and cope with her emotions.

Question 4: Infancy through middle childhood

There are several facts about the growth that infants undergo as from birth to through to the age of 11. They include;

Development in patterns: patterns helps babies to organize their actions. It is interesting to learn that children organize their eye movement with their hand movements by looking at what they are holding.

The sequence in development: it is interesting to know that infants learn to use their mouths, ears, and eyes before they can grasp objects by their hands.

I have learned that infants can be able to see the light, dark and color from birth. I find this interesting since I thought that at birth the babies do not see anything, to me, I thought they just experience dark vision.

At birth, an infant can be able to identify people by odors. It is an interesting fact since one can see a baby crying given to the mother keeps quiet since he/she identifies the mother by smell and sound as well.

One fact that I find helpful about the infants and toddlers is the issue of play that gives them a better understanding of the world and helps them build new concepts by developing critical thinking skills.

Language development: I find it interesting to learn that language proficiency in girls grows faster than in boys in childhood. I thought that language development was equal to all children regardless of gender.

Intelligence: I have learned that to know if a child is intelligent, he or she speaks earlier and more skillfully. I always had the idea that all children start talking at the age of 18 months and 24 months, but I have learned that some can go past this age.

At the age of two most children can understand the concepts of today and tomorrow. Being part of the cognitive development, I hav...