Child development refers to the biological, psychological, and emotional changes that occur in humans from birth through adolescence. It involves progressing from dependency to increasing autonomy through predictable stages, though each child's development is unique. There are five major domains of development - cognitive, social/emotional, speech/language, motor skills, and physical. Child development theorists generally fall into three perspectives: maturationism views development as biologically programmed stages; environmentalism/behaviorism sees development shaped by experiences over time; and constructivism views children as active participants in learning through interactions.

2. Child development refers to the biological, psychological and
emotional changes that occur in human beings between birth and the
end of adolescence, as the individual progresses from dependency to
increasing autonomy. It is a continuous process with a predictable
sequence yet having a unique course for every child.
Child development is a process every child goes through. This
process involves learning and mastering skills like sitting, walking,
talking, skipping, and tying shoes. Children learn these skills,
called developmental milestones, during predictable time periods.

3. Cognitive Development
Social and Emotional Development
Speech and Language Development
Motor Skill Development
Physical Development

4. There are three theoretical perspectives of child
development into which early childhood educators
typically fall: Maturationist,
environmentalist/behaviorist,
constructivist/ interactionist.
Maturationist’s View of Child Development
Maturationism is an early childhood educational
philosophy asserting the child as a growing organism in which
knowledge exists. The biological process of development is the
maturing of predictable stages and programmed patterns of
behavior. The child is expected to acquire knowledge “naturally
and automatically” from external sources only as maturation
creates a readiness for it.

5. Environmentalist/Behaviorist’s View of Child Development
Environmentalists, often known as behaviorists, believe knowledge
exists outside the child and is acquired piece by piece as the child
masters a sequence of skills and sub-skills. Development is seen as
progressive changes in the child’s observable behavior as shaped by
the environment over time
Constructivists/ interactionism’s View of Child Development
Constructivists, or interactionist, view children as active participants in
the learning process as they interact both with the environment and
those around them. More importantly, development progresses through
several stages as a child is motivated to inquire and to extend
understanding and skill through the activities in which they initiate and
engage.

6. STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT
General stages
Age group Stage of development Schooling stage
From birth to 2 years Infancy
2-6 years Early childhood Pre-Primary(Nursery/Kindergarten)
6-14 years Later childhood Primary/Elementary
14-18 years Adolescence Secondary and Senior secondary
18-40 years Young Adulthood
40-65 years Matured Adulthood
Over 65 years Aged`

7. Individual needs vs. group needs
Individual Developmental need of human are:
Physiological needs
Safety needs
Safety and Security needs include:
• Personal security
• Financial security
• Health and well-being
• Safety net against accidents/illness and their adverse impacts
Love and belonging
• Friendship
• Intimacy
• Family
Esteem
Self-transcendence
Self-actualization

8. Whereas the group needs for child development are those
which allow a child to sustain in a community, to realize self
being, have a presence in group, etc. which not only give one
a great satisfaction but lead to a positive development. Which
are as follow:
Social and Emotional needs
According to Maslow following list of psychological needs:
1 to experience a sense of union with the people
2 to be secure
3 to be independent of other people
4 to be adventurous and to gain new experience
5 to know, to construct and to create
6 to experience a sense of personal worth
Intellectual needs

9. Neglected areas of child development
Creativity: this is one of the most neglected area of child
development. There are many reasons for this neglect some of which
are:
•There was a traditional belief that creativity was hereditary and that
nothing could be done to make people creative.
•Because it was believed that only few people have ability to create.
•It has been argued that the competent plodders those with high
intelligence and achievement drive are most likely to successful in life
than those who are creative.
•The traditional belief that creative people are sex inappropriate, that
creative man are sissies and creative women more masculine than
feminine, has discouraged parents from praising their children’s
creative urges
•Creativity is difficult to study and even more difficult to measure.

10. •LANGUAGE
• Language is the ability to acquire
and use complex systems of
communication, particularly the
human ability to do so, and a
language is any specific example of
such a system. The scientific study
of language is called linguistics.
*Evidence that there is a period of "speech readiness" when speech is
more easily acquired by the young child than at other times.
•This period has been found to occur between the ages of twelve and
eighteen months in most babies.
• If the baby does not make use of this period of readiness, he is likely
to become emotionally disturbed.
•This results when the child is unable to express his feelings because
of delayed or inadequate speech (Havighurst, 1953).
•Delayed speech, except in cases of marked mental deficiency,
generally results from lack of. opportunity- to learn or from Lack of
motivation to learn, even when the opportunity is present.
•Only rarely is delay traceable to delay in the development of the
speech mechanism.

11. •CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS
Concepts are not direct sensory data but something resulting from. the
elaboration and combination loaf such data, They depend upon the
individual's previous experience. They are experiences which tie together
or...link discrete sensory experiences.
' Studies of children's concepts have revealed that there is a pattern of
development similar for all children, though the time needed to/develop
concepts and the level of development attained ,_will depend partly upon
the child's intelligence and partly upon his opportunities for learning. Some
concepts are 'more highly developed than others, and some never reach the
higher levels of development, as may be seen by the fact that adults
sometimes have concepts similar to those of children (Vinacke, 1951).