Child development occurs in distinct periods from prenatal to adolescence. It involves physical, cognitive, and social/emotional growth. During the prenatal period, the zygote develops into an embryo and fetus. Fetal development includes the growth of organs and reflexes. Infancy spans birth to 2 years and involves motor and language milestones. Toddlerhood from 1.5-3 years sees the development of autonomy and gender identity. Jean Piaget's theory of cognitive development describes stages from sensorimotor to formal operations. Attachment theory proposes that early relationships impact later relationships.

1. CHILD
DEVELOPMENT
Presented by DR : Hossam El Sayed

2. CHILD DEVELOPMENT
 Definition:
 Change in the child that occurs over time that moves
toward greater complexity and enhances survival.
 Periods of development:
 Prenatal: from conception to birth
 Infancy and toddlerhood: birth to 2.5 years
 Early childhood: 2.5-6 years old
 Middle childhood: 6-12 years old
 Adolescence: 12-18 years old

3. DOMAINS OF DEVELOPMENT
Development is described in three domains, but growth
in one domain influences the other domains.
 Physical Domain:
 body size, body proportions, appearance, motor development, coordination,
perception capacities, physical health.
 Cognitive Domain:
 thought processes and intellectual abilities including attention, memory,
problem solving, imagination, creativity, academic and everyday knowledge,
and language.
 Social/Emotional Domain:
 self-knowledge (self-esteem, sexual identity, ethnic identity), moral
reasoning, understanding and expression of emotions, self-regulation,
temperament, understanding others, interpersonal skills, and friendships.

4. PRENATAL DEVELOPMENT AND THE
NEWBORN
 A single sperm cell penetrates the outer coating
of the egg and fuses to form one fertilized cell.
 A zygote is a fertilized egg with 100 cells that
become increasingly diverse. At about 14 days
the zygote turns into an embryo.
 At 9 weeks, an embryo turns into a fetus.
 Teratogens are chemicals or viruses that can
enter the placenta and harm the developing
fetus.

5. FETAL LIFE:
1- Behavior
 Women usually detect fetal movements 16 to 20
weeks into the pregnancy
 The fetus may be able to hear by the 18th week,
and it responds to loud noises with muscle
contractions, movements, and an increased heart
rate.
 Bright light flashed on the abdominal wall of the
20-week pregnant woman causes changes in fetal
heart rate and position
 Eyelids open at 7 months. Smell and taste are
also developed at this time

6.  Some reflexes present at birth exist in utero:
 grasp reflex : 17 weeks
 the Moro (startle) reflex, which appears at 25
weeks
 the sucking reflex, which appears at about 28
weeks.

7. 2- NERVOUS SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT

9. 3- Effect of maternal stress
 Maternal stress correlates with high levels of
stress hormones in the fetal bloodstream
which act directly on the fetal neuronal
network
 Mothers with high levels of anxiety are more
likely to have babies who are hyperactive,
irritable, and of low birthweight
 fever in the mother causes the fetus's
temperature to rise.

10. 4- Genetic counseling
 The diagnostic techniques used include
amniocentesis,ultrasound examinations, X-ray
studies, fetoscopy fetal blood and skin
sampling, chorionic villus sampling, and alpha
fetoprotein screening.
 In about 2 percent of women tested, the results
are positive for some abnormality

11. 5- Maternal drug of abuse
 Alcohol
 Smoking
 Marijuana , cocaine and heroin
 Radiation : woman exposed to severe radiation
between weeks 2 and 15 of pregnancy, the baby
will be born with gross deformities or develop
cancer later in life.
 Medications as : tetracyclines, valproate
[Depakene], carbamazepine [Tegretol],
phenytoin , progesterone-estrogens, lithium ,

12. FETAL ALCOHOL SYNDROME

13. INFANCY : 0 – 15 MONTHS
 The average newborn weighs about 3,400 g
 Premature infants are defined as those with a
gestation of less than 34 weeks or a birthweight
under 2,500 g
 Such infants are at increased risk for learning
disabilities, such as dyslexia, emotional and
behavioral problems, mental retardation, and child
abuse.
 Postmature infants are defined as infants born 2
weeks or more beyond the expected date of birth.
 postmature baby typically has long nails, scanty
lanugo hair, more scalp hair than usual, and
increased alertness.

14. DEVELOPMENTAL LANDMARKS
 Reflexes: rooting , grasp , planter , abdominal ,
startle , tonic neck reflexes are present at birth.
 Survival systems: breathing , sucking ,
swallowing , circulatory and temperature
homeostasis are functional at birth.
 Sensory organs : are incompletely developed
but at 1 day : can detect the smell of mother’s
milk and at 3 days: distinguish the mother’s
voice
 Language and Cognitive Development
 At birth, infants can make noises, such as
crying, but they do not vocalize until about 8
weeks.
 By the end of infancy (about 2 years), infants

16. JEAN PIAGET
Schemas are mental molds into which we pour our
experiences.
Example: living things move

17. ASSIMILATION AND
ACCOMMODATION
The process of
assimilation involves
incorporating new
experiences into our
current understanding
(schema). The process of
adjusting a schema and
modifying it is called
accommodation.
Jean Piaget with a subject
BillAnderson/PhotoResearchers,Inc.

18. PIAGET’S COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENTAL
STAGES
18
Age Stage Description
0-2 Sensorimotor senses
2-7 Preoperational intuition
7-11 Concrete Operational beginning logic
12+ Formal Operational abstract logic

19.  Emotional and social development
• By the age of 3 weeks, infants imitate the
facial movements of adult caregivers
• These imitative behaviors are believed to be
the precursors of infants' emotional life.
• The smiling response : endogenous –2
months.
exogenous - 4

20.  Temperamental Differences
 There are strong suggestions of inborn
differences and wide variability in autonomic
reactivity and temperament among individual
infants.
 Chess and Thomas identified nine behavioral
dimensions
Activity level , distractibility , adaptability
, attention span , intensity , threshold of
responsiveness , quality of mood ,
rhythmicity.

21.  Stranger anxiety is the fear of strangers that
develops at around 8 months. This is the age
at which infants form schemas for familiar
faces and cannot assimilate a new face.
 Margaret Mahler’s stages of separation –
individuation…till reach object constansy
based on watching interaction of children and
their mothers.

22.  Origins of Attachment
 Harlow (1971) showed that infants bond
with surrogate mothers because of bodily
contact and not because of nourishment.
 Like bodily contact, familiarity is another
factor that causes attachment.

23. TYPES OF ATTACHMENT
 Placed in a strange situation, 60% of children
express secure attachment, i.e., they explore
their environment happily in the presence of
their mothers. When their mother leave, they
show distress.
 The other 30% show insecure attachment. These
children cling to their mothers or caregivers and
are less likely to explore the environment.
• Insecure / Avoidant attachment
• Insecure / Ambivalent attachment

24. MEASURING
ATTACHMENT
 Ainsworth Strange Situation
 Child + Mom in novel
environment
 Stranger enters
 Mom leaves
 Mom returns, stranger leaves
 Mom leaves child alone
 Mom returns
24Video (4 min):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWsyIVVvDdw&feature=related
1913-1999

25. DEPRIVATION OF ATTACHMENT
What happens when circumstances prevent a
child from forming attachments?
In such circumstances children become:
1. Withdrawn
2. Frightened
3. Unable to develop speech

26. PARENTAL FIT AND GOOD ENOUGH MOTHERING.
 Parental fit describes how well the mother or
father relates to the newborn or developing
infant; the idea takes into account
temperamental characteristics of both parent
and child
 Difficult children : 10 percent.. Must be
recog.
 Easy children : 40 percent
 The other 50 percent of children are
mixtures of these two types.

27. TODDLER PERIOD:15 MONTHS – 2 ½ YEARS
 The second year of life is marked by
accelerated motor and intellectual
development.
 The ability to walk gives toddlers some
control over their own actions
 Parenting: Parents need to balance between
punishment and permissiveness and set
realistic limits on a toddler’s behavior.

28. DEVELOPMENTAL LANDMARKS
 Language and Cognitive Development
create new behaviors from old ones (originality) and
engage
in symbolic activities.
 Emotional and Social Development
 pleasure and displeasure become further differentiated.
 Social referencing is often apparent at this age; the child
looks to parents and others for emotional cues about how
to respond to novel events.
 Toddlers show exploratory excitement, pleasure in
discovery and in developing new behavior (e.g., new
games)
 organized demonstration of love and of protest

29. SEXUAL DEVELOPMENT
 Through imitation & reward children assume the
behaviors that their cultures define as
appropriate for their sexual roles
 Children exhibit curiosity about anatomical sex.
 When their curiosity is met with honest, age-
appropriate replies… sense of the wonder of life
and are comfortable with their own roles.
 If the subject of sex is taboo and children's
questions are rebuffed…shame and discomfort
may result.

30.  Gender identity, the unshakable conviction of
being male or female, begins to manifest at 18
months and is often fixed by 24 to 30 months.
 Gender role describes the behavior that society
deems appropriate for one sex or another
• Boys are more likely than girls to engage in
rough play
• Mothers talk more to girls than to boys
• by the time the child is 2 years of age, fathers
generally pay more attention to boys.
• girls want to play with dolls, boys with guns.

31. SPHINCTER CONTROL AND SLEEP
 Control of daytime urination at age of 2.5
 control of nighttime urination at age of 4
years.
 Toddlers may have sleep difficulties related
to fear of the dark,managed by using a
nightlight.
 Most toddlers generally sleep about 12 hours
a day, including a 2-hour nap
 reassurance before going to bed