Course Name: The principle of Child development

Chapter 4. Conception: Nature and Nurture/ Heredity and Environment

This chapter discussed the development of the brain and the factors that affect the brain. In child development, hereditary and environmental factors influence the behavior of children. The adults that work on the development of child need to know about the conception time. The children contain some hereditary characteristics such as skin, eyes, color, and hair. When the conception occurs environment start influencing on a child. Hereditary and environment influence the behavior of the child. Hereditary is limited, but the environment is not limited to the development process.

Hereditary activities can be managed by environment activities, and brain development can be controlled by genes such as brain stores, use and create new things from the environment. The brain is ready to learn, and the environment provides the condition of learning. The twins are different because of some factors such as both are in the different area of the uterus and their umbilical cords attached with the different placenta. The circulatory system of both is different and receive different nutrients from the mother. The genetic factor is related to the heredity characteristic of living organisms. Genetic show that if any parent has some disease, then there is the possibility of occuring the same disease in their child (Charlesworth, 2004).

A germline gene therapy is used to remove the disease and disability genes form the child. Genes are present in each chromosome and chromosomes are responsible for the heredity. Genetic information is contained in the substance called DNA. Genotype is a unique conception of the individual, and phenotype includes environment and genetic factors. The human had 46 chromosomes and paired 23. Women have XX chromosomes and men has X-Y chromosomes. Genomes are the master set of the human genes. Genomes provide information for the better study of the genes in the human body. This also provides information about diseases, treatment, and cures. Genetic counseling help to parents to think about childbearing.

Some organization such as WHO plays play an important role in providing a safe environment for children. Unhealthy environment affects the development of children. Many children face several diseases because of the environment such as malaria, dengue fever, and cholera. The other harmful factor for the health of children is poor housing, a chemical in toys, polluted environment, and unhygienic food. Drugs and alcohols are very dangerous for children and stressful for parents. Parents and teachers can play an important role to keep away their children from drugs (Charlesworth, 2004).

Some environmental factors are affecting the fetus such as nutrition, personal habits, and drugs/ diseases. Nutrition is very important for the fetus. I the mother takes proper nutrition then the baby is born healthy. The mother’s diet contains 20% protein, 30% fat and 50% carbohydrates. Personal habits of the mother also affect the behavior of the baby. During pregnancy, the mother must be happy and stress-free. Maternal characteristics such as physical health, age, emotional stage and state of fatigue affect the fetus. Drugs and diseases can damage the development of the fetus.

Genetic counseling is necessary before pregnancy. Women must complete physical checkup before pregnancy. Fertility is the ability of the successfully fertilization and conception. The gestation period is referred to a period of pregnancy, and it is mostly 9 and a half month or less than. The stages of Gestation are Zygote, Embryo, and Fetus. The next period is a neonatal period in which the baby is born, and his skin is pale to pink. The relationship between parents and child affect the temperament of the child (Charlesworth, 2004).

Chapter 5. Theory of development

This chapter discusses the different development theories of the child such as Erickson, Freud, Bandura, Maslow, Rogers, Piaget, and Vygotsky. Erickson’s theory says that during the development of children are passing different crisis. The crisis is related to the trust of children. Freud’s theory is related to the nutritive and nonnutritive experience that affect the child’s personality. The positive and negative relations with the other humans are also established during this stage.

Bandura’s cognitive theory is related to the social experience of child and child build an image on these experiences. Maslow and Rogers give theory which states that positive feeling of parents and caregiver are very important for the child. Parents can understand the basic needs of their child after birth. Piaget gives the four stage of the development, and he explains all stage are related to each other. In these four states, Piaget explains how a child can grow and develop their abilities and understandings. Vygotsky’s theory is same as the Piaget’s theory. (Charlesworth, 2004).

Perception is a process of know what is happening outside from bodies such as smell, touch, hearing, taste, and sight. These senses are not working same as the adults because the senses of children are in developing process. babies are following their adults and try to do same as them. For example, when adult smile then the child is also smiled. Some children are born without senses and disability to sense anything. Vygotsky’s theory says about disability that any disability affects the development of the child. To resolve this problem some program and organizations are built.

The environment must support a child for full development process such as proper nutrition, social attachments and stimulate an environment that can help to use senses. Father is responsible for the proper development and growth of the child. Fathers can help their child to improve skills such as academic skills, social skills, and self-regulation skills. father’s involvement in a child’s development can increase the child’s esteem, empathy, and achievements. It is very difficult for working parents to provide proper development to their child because of the work hour and over time. The employed parent doesn’t give time and attention to their child. Some parents feel it as a burden and get separate from each other, and anyone parent can take care of the child. It is very stressful for the employed parents to provide the appropriate environment to their child. They can hire one trustable caretaker and play material such as toys (Charlesworth, 2004).

Culture and social factors are very important for the development of the child. Development can affect by things and object surrounding the child. The poor families are not able to give appropriate health and nutrition care to their child. Different peoples have different culture and values, and parent must teach their child to respect all cultures. This is related to social and cultural development.

Good nutrition’s and health are very important for the development of the child. Nutrition helps to increase physical and mental strengths. All mother needs to make a nutrient chart for baby and give diet to their child in 4-5 times in a day. Diseases in children can be decreased by the immunization. Immunization is required for each stage such as early care, educational program, and schools. Adults are aware of the diseases of the children and give treatment to their child. Proper medicines and checkup are required for the treatment.

Chapter 6: Infant cognitive learning and development

In this chapter, the author describes the cognitive learning and effective elements of infant development. The cognitive development is a construction of thought processes involving problem-solving, remembering, as well as decision making from childhood through adolescence to adulthood. With the help of integration of sensory and motor skills, infant attains information that they might be used to construct the knowledge among the world and this construction of knowledge mostly called cognitive development. It is a field of study in neuroscience and psychology that focused on the development of children in terms of conceptual resources, language learning, perceptual skills, and information processing.

In this, the six sub-stages of sensorimotor development are described that should be progressive from reflexive actions to mental problem-solving. The performance and recognition are first stages of children’s development. The managing an object performance is a major developmental milestone in the life of children. Basically, it could start to develop during four to seven months of child age including their understanding that when some things disappear. However, the object recognition stage is referred to the key output of deep learning as well as machine learning algorithm.

Another stage of child development is categorization in which objects and ideas are recognized and differentiated. It allows us to sort as well as group items the basis of similar attributes. The categorizing behavior of child development might be observed in preschool age and kindergarten age. The higher – level cognitive ability is planning that helps to implement good ideas on specific things. Effective planning helps to provide ways to solve the specific problem before going on it. There are several different aspects of growth as well as development that are necessary to measure such as physical growth, social growth, and development growth.

With the help of development stages, Childs can touch, feel, and examine everything visually that they want to get. The object manipulation is also necessary for infant development that is a form of performance in which infants physically interact with a number of different objects or attributes. It might be based on the ability of infants towards reaching, explore, grasping, and solutions to solve the problem. These kinds of skills are attained through children in his earlier or fourth month of age.

The development of infants also exists in the communication area. When a child is shucking and rooting through her mouth moments and sounds, then these situations are integrated into child language. After one month of childbirth, they make to start crying in different ways that indicate her feelings as well as requirements like anger, pain, hunger, sleepiness, and other more. The labeling seems like another important component of infant development during the ten – year age of the child. This basically plays a major role, when a child starts to speak certain conventional words.

The brain development starts by birth of a baby in infant development that have different kind of behavior as well as cognitive functions. In cognitive development, the social resources and interactions are more important due to which infants gather information from others to understand the events and behave in an effective manner. The attachment of the infant with her caregiver makes the strong relationships and sense of truth. The emotional development is also important because infants need to be understood as well as regulate the emotions toward others.

Chapter 7. Autonomy

This chapter described that young child have full curiosity, enthusiasm, and ultimate energy. The time when a child moves from independence to dependency is called toddlerhood. It is time when a child learns new skills and movements. Toddler period before age 2. Parents help their toddler to move towards independence. Ericson, Freud, Bandura, Piaget, Vygotsky, and skinner described the toddler’s period on their own thinking. Ericson says that after 8 months toddler is feeling shame and doubt autonomy. Freud is dealing with the anal stage in which the toddler get experience about the toilet training. Bandura described the motor skills, and higher-level cognitive skills are developed and enable better use of energy in observational skills. Piaget says that during the development of motor skills cognitive growth and language development take place. In Vygotsky’ theory, he described that age one to three focus on the object manipulation.

Health and nutrition are a very important factor for physical and mental development. Many families are lived in poverty and don’t able to provide appropriate food and nutrient. In some country’s government provide appropriate food to poor parents that contain protein, calcium, iron, and vitamins. Adults can help children in physical and mental development by providing proper nutrient and health care. Some schools and care centers provide proper food and nutrients to the child. Drugs abused, and alcohol abused by parents can cause serious issues for the young child such as smoking in home and drugs taking by mother during pregnancy. The children are less developed physically that take more fast food, soft drinks, and snacks. Children must eat fruits, vegetables, and juices. Watching too much television and the computer can also decrease physical development (Charlesworth, 2004).

Physical and motor development are related to balancing, sitting, standing, eating and playing activities. The abilities of movement and speaking are increased after the age 1 and half year. Toileting habit is considered as the important physical and motor development that is developed after the toddler period that is after age two. The child spent more time on motor skills. The coordination and use of hands are learning during the toddler period. A toddler learns about eating, pick up the objects and crayons.

Effective guidance is very important in the mental and physical development of the child. Behavior modification and prevention is very important in effective guidance and follows by adults. Prevention means provide a safe and healthy environment to their child. Behavior modification means toddler learn about the desired and undesired behavior. In behavior modification, parents must give attention and award to a child for the desired behavior so that toddler repeats the positive behavior and not focus on negative things. It is very important in effective guidance to become child socialized, and it is a process of patience and positive behavior. Some toddlers have some disabilities then adults can help them to complete their basic needs. The disabled toddlers need more patients and positive behavior from the adults (Charlesworth, 2004).

Cognitive development is a combination of curiosity and independence related to the development period. The toddler learns in cognitive development about how to play with objects and things. According to Vygotsky, in cognitive development, the language and speaking skills are also developed. The toddler is a busy full day and learns about new objects and things. Hippocampus development is related with the memory. In this development, the toddler learns to use memory to remember objects and repeat the same process n future. The toddler also begins to learn about classification and categorization. The holophrastic stage is related to the development of speech skills and language development. At this stage toddler speak short words such as mom, dad, cat, car, and dog but after some time toddler speaks all words and learn their language. The toddler tries to speak the same word that is speaking by his parents and parents can help toddlers to speakeasy words and then earn about culture and literacy (Charlesworth, 2004).