UNIT 1

SCOPE OF HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

The scope of the study of the child development extend to the study of the child over
different phases of his life taking into account all the possible factors that may influence his
development

It involves:
1. Growth & Development
2. Approaches to understand the child
3. Developmental task
4. Developmental process at various stages
5. Factors influencing development -Heredity and Environment
6. Role of the family and teachers in fostering the development of the child
7. Major aspect of child development
8. Personality Development
9. Measurement and Evolution
10. Elementary techniques of Research
Three common research methods are the experimental method (which investigates
cause and effect), correlational method (which explores relationships between
variables), and the case study approach (which provides in-depth information about a
particular case).

SCOPE OF DEVELOPMENT:
1. Why there is a development of the child ?
-This implies significance of child development.
2. What is child development ?
-This relates to the objectives of the child development
3. Who plays role in child development?
-Parents, The teachers, Various Agencies.
4. How to develop a child?
• This involves the knowledge of the development process.
• Knowledge of capacities and limitations of the child.
5. Where to develop a child?
• Family
• School
• Community
6. What development is in the right direction ?
o This relates to Measurement & Evaluation
o Dimensions of development – physical, cognitive, social, emotional, language and
communication, spiritual, moral, aesthetic
 Dimensions of development

DIFFERENT STAGES OF HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

I. PRENATAL PERIOD

• It is period from conception to birth.

• It ranges from 0 months to 9 month 9 days or till the birth of the individual.
• Conception is state where sperms fertilizes the eggs that happens in the uterus of the
woman. This give rise to zygote -a single cell organism inside the womb of woman. This
is how prenatal stage begins.

CHARACTERISTICS

1. Heredity endowment is fixed once and for all at this time.

• Mother’s egg carries 23 chromosomes and father’s egg carry 23 chromosomes. Giving
rise to 46 chromosomes.
• So, Heredity endowment is fixed during the time of conception.

2. Favourable /unfavourable conditions of mother’s body can foster or stunt

development.
• Good Physical, mental and emotional conditions of the mother lead to good growth of
the foetus. On the other hand, lead to stunted growth.

3. Pace of development is fast.

• With 4 to 5 months, single celled organism gets the structure of the human being.

4. Foundation period for the whole life of the individual.

Strong foundation will lead to healthy human being.

5. Time of many hazards.

• Healthy issues of mother will effect the foetus in the womb.

II. INFANCY

• It has come from Latin word meaning “unable to speak”.

• Birth to 2 years period is called as Infancy stage.
• During this stage, adjusting to the new non-uterine environment becomes the major goal
or focus in the life of the neonate. Adjusting to room temperature. I breathing
independently, sucking and swallowing the milk, elimination of body , waste are prime
areas that the new born needs to master.
 CHARACTERISTICS

1. Shortest of all developmental periods.

2. Rapid physical growth-
• Hand & Legs will be weak
• Abdominal part will be strong.
• Head will be heavy and fragile which need support .
• Within 3 months head ,hands and legs gain strength.
• It starts to crawl ,sit and walk within 1 year.

3. Time of radical adjustment

• It is the time when the fetus must adjust to life outside the uterine walls of the mother
where it has lived for approximately nine months.
• Lot of adjustment happens in child in these 2 year.
• Till 9 months child was within the womb-in water. After birth, child has to breathe air.
It has to adjust to the new environment
• Getting adjusted to the new environmental conditions such as respiratory, digestive and
vascular functions themselves become a threat for the infant.

4. Period of dependency
• Child is not able to any chores by itself.Depend on its mother .

5. Period of emotional instability –

• Due to the language disability, it communicates only with the emotion of smile, giggle
and cry.

6. Selfish -It is least bothered about the environment around. It does not understand the
values. They are self-centred.

7. Unsocial-
• They do not interact with outsiders.
• They are confined to the family members. They lack social values.

III. CHILDHOOD (2 TO 14 YEARS)

Childhood extends from 2 to 12 years and is generally divided as early and late childhood.
Early childhood can be taken to range from the completion of 2 years to 6 years. Early
childhood is also called as preschool stage.

1. Physical Development
• Compared to the rapid physical development in babyhood, there is a slow down.
• Body proportions are evened out and the head heavy look is lost.
• Weight gain of about 2 Kg per year and an additional 3 inches of height are gained
on an average.
• Milk teeth are lost and the chubbiness of babyhood is replaced by a gaunt look.
• Because of all these developments the child looks rather unattractive
2. Skills of Early Childhood
• The young children learn and master a variety of skills because their immense
curiosity gets them to manipulate and learn;
• they feel no inhibition or fear of ridicule as older children would;
• in addition, their bodies are pliable and fingers dexterous and they are 'teachable'- an
essential quality for learning skills.
• Depending on the environmental opportunities and the family background children
learn a variety of skills.
3. Development of fine motor skills
• The hand skills of self feeding and dressing become perfect during childhood.
• Bathing, dressing, combing hair or even finer motor skills required for tying shoe
laces are all learnt.
• Catching and throwing a ball, use of scissors, painting, colouring, use of crayons,
drawing all become a part of early childhood years.

4. Speech Development
• Both receptive and expressive communication improve as babbling of babyhood and
crying are largely reduced.
• Normal speech development gains significant strides where they learn proper
pronunciation, making of sentences (even though with poor grammar) and building
of vocabulary
5. Emotional Development
• Emotions during early childhood are intense with frequent emotional outbursts.
• These are associated with temper tantrums, intense fears or jealousies and can be
traced to the cause of long and tiring play and too little food intake.
6. Play
• The beginning of early childhood finds children playing extensively with toys
• Play includes a great deal of imitation and dramatizing. For example, young children
behave like mothers, teachers and others.
• The imaginative play often merges reality and fantasy and is enjoyed by young
children.

LATE CHILDHOOD
• The period of late childhood ranges from 6 years to the attainment of sexual matui-ity,
around 12- 14 years.
• During this stage children develop marked negativism and because of their desire for
independence seldom obey the parents.
• The child begins going to school and learns the rudiments of knowledge essential for
successful adult life.
• The peer group assumes great significance and children of this age 'crowd together or
'gang LIP', thus earning the name gang age'.
1. Physical Development There is relatively uniform but slow physical development. The
weight gain is almost even throughout late childhood and the child gains 2-3 inches every
year

2. Skills of Late Childhood : Children develop a numbers of skills during this stage. These-
skills also differ from boys to girls.
• Self help skills of eating, dressing, bathing grooming become almost as adept as that
of an adult, with very little concentration required.
• Social skills include helping others. Cleaning and helping in daily activities at home
and helping teacher at school, sharing responsibilities with age mates at play are
important achievements of the child.
• School skills of writing reading, drawing, painting, clay modelling, crayoning become
n1ol.e proficient.
• Play skills such as throwing and catching the ball, bicycling, skating and swimming
are developed. Fine motor skills of painting and needlework are well developed
among girls while boys achieve gross motor skills of throwing a ball, kicking football
or jumping.

3. Speech Improvement
• Older children are increasingly aware of speech.as a tool for being accepted by their
peer group members.
• Radio and television serve as models for speech. There is marked improvement in
vocabulary as names of colours, numbers, money concepts, time concepts are
included.
• Secret codes used by the gang often become part of older child's communication
pattern.

4. Emotions

• During Late Childhood Older children learn to control emotional outbursts as these
are looked down upon by peer members, as immature and inappropriate behaviour.
5. Social Development The older child shows strong desire to be an accepted member of
the peer. Group
6. Play activities Play for the older child is not a mere amusement, it is the chief instrument
of socializing which provides opportunities for social skills.

7. Moral Behaviour The code of conduct and morality learnt at home is now extended to
the social group. The child makes a conscious choice to be part of the peer group.
IV. ADOLESCENCE (14 TO 18 YEARS)
• The term “adolescent” has been derived from Geek word “to grow into maturity”.
• Adolescents are also called ‘Teenagers’.
• It is periods of Meta Morphosis-Lot of physiological ,social ,cognitive and emotional
changes takes place in boys and girls.
• It is also period of Turmoil and of Turbulence. This stage is said to be
“controversial” or “ambiguous” It is due to the changes happening in this period.
Teenagers can’t grapple with the changes.
• It is also a period of Stress and Strain -Due to hormonal changes taking place in the
boys and girls. Some time, parents and teachers fail to understand their behavioural
changes .
• It is also called of Spring of Life: Before entering adolescence, children are
dependent on parents. On entering adolescence they experience freedom, liberty,
energy and vitality .They feel that capable of completing any task. It’s called spring
of Life.
• It is a Transitional Period -between childhood to adulthood .

Definition:

a. “A period between childhood and adulthood.” » Oxford’s Dictionary

b. “Adolescence is that period of life of an individual when society no longer views him
as a child but does not as yet concede him either the roles or the functions inherent in
the status of adult”. Holinshead.

STAGES OF ADOLESCENCE

a. Physiological Development or Bodily Development or Physical Development

b. Social Development
c. Moral Development
d. Emotional Development

5.ADULTHOOD (18 YEARS TO 65 YEARS)

• Adulthood is the stage where growth is complete and the person assumes various
responsibilities.
• Adulthood is a stage of psychological and personal development
• It is assumed that individuals have established their identity , being independent
responsible, self-disciplined and responsible .
a. Period of adjustment to new pattern of life.

b. Play new roles-Roles To be played by adults:

• Social Roles
• Financial Role
• Cultural Role
• Ethical or Moral Roles
• Citizenship Role
c. Reproductive age.
Economically, socially and share the experience of life with other fellow being or
new generation.

d. Period of tension.

e. Period of commitments-Personal, official or as a citizen of the country

f. Creative age-The ability are put across .It is shown during this period.

g. Vocational adjustment age-

• Having selected and trained for a career during adolescence, the adult takes up the
important task of getting a job and settling in it. As one settles, one experiences job
satisfaction or dissatisfaction.
• The vocational adjustment depends on the following factors.
i. Reasons why the job was selected
ii. Preparation for working
iii. Training and qualification
iv. Experience and expertise, skill in performance
v. Personal interest
vi. Willingness to learn and adjust- 'the attitude'
vii. Money
If these factors are more or less balanced, then the adult is vocationally adjusted. Not
only for the person, but also for the family adjustment is required.
1. Language development-
• It is foundation for the language development .
• Due to Three Language Formula -students will learn three languages /.Improves the
word vocabulary
2. Understands concepts.
• As children start their education in school start learning the concepts.
3. Pretend play.
• They tend to imitate others usually the adults around them. Thus this age is called the
'imitative age'.
• Children pretend as father ,mother ,teacher ,doctor or different role they take up.This is
very useful for child development.
4. Development of fine motor skills
• It involves movement of minute muscles present in the fingers .
• They can handle ,hold ,draw, eat .
5. Rapid intellectual development
• It help the child explore the things .
6. Develops the instinct of curiosity
He/she tries to explore the environment, hence this stage is called the exploratory stage.
Every object or situation holds such wonder for the young child that he/she is full of
questions about what, why and how-giving rise to the name 'questioning age'.
7. Learns first lessons of citizenship.
Choosing between right or wrong , moral values are the lessons for citizen.
8. Creative Their play activity includes a great deal of creativity and imagination, so this
stage also earns the additional name 'creative age'.
ADOLESCENCE (14 TO 18 YEARS)

• Transitional period.
• Period of rapid physical change.
• Problem age .
• Time to search for identity.
• Threshold of adulthood-Step towards the adulthood.