This lesson explores the various aspects of growth and development in early choldhood. It goes on to examine the milestones and the significance of a red flag. The physical, cognitive, aural, linguistic, ethical, socio-emnotional aspects are dealt with in detail.

1. Growth and Development
Stages of Growth & Development
1
Lesson 3

2. Motor Development
contd..
• Motor development refers to the child’s ability
to use muscles and bones to perform different
skills
• Comparison of a child’s development with the
benchmark helps to determine whether
developmental milestones are met.
• Slight variations may be possible
• Some may show reversal of the recognized
order or skip some phases
2

3. Characteristics
of
Motor Development

4. 4
Role of Exercise in Physical and Motor
Development
• Regular exercise tends to increase the
diameter and density of bone
• Increased strength and durability
• Increased length of non-weight
bearing bones such as the arms
• Overuse injuries can be incurred by
young children who over-train
• Active children and teenagers show:
 An increase in lean body mass
 A decrease in percent body fat

5. Essentials in learning Motor
skills
• Readiness to learn
• Opportunity to learn
• Opportunity to practice
• Good models
• Guidance
• Motivation
• Skills should be learnt
5

6. Favourable
factors for
skill
development
6
Accelerated physical growth
Above average strength and energy
Better intelligence
Conducive to learning environment
Higher motivation
Creativity and ability to be different
Guidance from parents and siblings

7. Unfavourable
factors for skill
development
7
Retarded
growth
Poor health
Intellectual
handicap
Lack of
opportunity
Insufficient and
inadequate
guidance

8. Mental /
Cognitive
development
8
Perception
First fortnight
no perception of
light and colour
Slowly follows
with its eyes
Feels touch and
responds
Self concept
develops slowly
Cognitive development is the construction of
thought processes, including memory,
problem solving, and decision-making, from
childhood through adolescence to adulthood.

9. Mental / Cognitive development contd..
• Imagination and memory
• Very strong – Fairly tales
• Stick becomes a horse
• Repeatedly read or listen to the same
stories
• Love rhymes and songs
• The term "object permanence" is used to
describe a child's ability to know that
objects continue to exist even though
they can no longer be seen or heard.
• E.g.the ability of not forgetting the existence
of a toy
9

10. Piaget’s
theory of
Cognitive
Development
Piaget’s theory of cognitive development
• Stage 1 Sensori-motor birth to 2 years
• Stage 2 Pre-operational 2 to 7 years
• Stage 3 Operational stage
Concrete operations 7 to 11 years
• Stage 4 Formal operations 12 to 16 years

11. Pre-operational
Stage 2 to 7 years
• Child indulges in symbolic play
• Logic is transductive e.g. A child hears a dogbark
and then sees a train arrive. He concludes that the
train comes because the dog barks.
• Animism is the belief that things in the physical
world are alive e.g. the imaginary play using a doll
house
• Seriate – e.g. take about 5 rods of unequal
length and arrange them in increasing or
decreasing length.

12. Concrete
operations
ages 7-11
• The concept of conservation e.g. does not
understand that the total quantity does not change if
things are re-arranged.
• classify with more than 1 attribute and with
hierarchical thinking – uses logic and reasoning.

13. Mental / Cognitive
development contd..
• Concept Formation
• Quantity and Time develops
• Bigger, smaller, larger, more, less
But, tall and wide jar expt.- around 6 years
– concept of conservation by Piaget
• Time is related to his / her own
schedule
• Social concepts are rudimentary
13

14. Language Development
Language development refers to the ability to
communicate through the use of meaningful words
and sentences.
• Babbling & cooing – first 10 months
• Single word ----- Single sentences – more
complex
• Girls speak more than/ earlier than boys
• By age 5 vocabulary – 2072 words
• Parents should not indulge in baby talk
• Development is fastest till 5 years of age
14

15. Emotional Development
• Joy, anger, fear and happiness are
some of the emotions that a child
learns. Emotional development
means the ability to control
emotions and express them in a way
that is acceptable to the society.
• Until one year – all emotions are
related to biological needs
• Two stimuli generally arouse fear in
an infant – loss of support & loud
sounds
• Child learns to perceive threats and
dangers
• Anger is aroused when an activity is
thwarted
• Happiness is expressed by smiling,
gurgling and laughing.
15

16. Moral Development
• Moral development refers to the ability to discriminate between
good and bad or right or wrong.
• Small children do not have the ability to discriminate between
good / bad or right / wrong.
• Parents have to inculcate these values by being good role models
16

17. Social Development of a child refers to the ability of a child
to develop affection, love, friendship, anger and other
emotions with the people around. It also leads to
socialisation which is a process whereby the child learns to
eat, speak and play with the others.
• At birth – Self centered
• Till age one mother is
the main significant
person
• At age 2, more friendly
but still prefers to play
alone
• Gradual development to
socializing and group play
• Social development can
be hindered by parents’
Over-protective parents /
Negligent parents

18. Growth and Development
End of Lesson 3
18

19. The chapter growth and development – Early childhood
ends here.
Thank you for a patient hearing.
Go through the PPT, the notes and the question bank.
If there are any doubts get in touch with me.
principal@ppskandivali.com