FOUR BROAD DIMENSION OF CHILD

AND ADOLESCENT DEVELOPMENT

PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT

Prepared By : Rebecca O. Codiamat

Instructor
 PRE - NATAL

• Prenatal development is defined

as the process of growth and
development within the womb
from fertilization until birth.

• There are three stages of

prenatal development: germinal,
embryonic, and fetal. Keep in
mind that this is different than
the three trimesters of pregnancy.
 GERMINAL STAGE

The germinal stage is the shortest stage of fetal development. It

begins at conception when a sperm and egg join in your fallopian
tube. The sperm fertilizes the egg and creates a zygote. The zygote
begins its journey down to your uterus over the course of about
one week. During this journey, the zygote divides many times,
eventually creating two separate structures. One structure
eventually becomes the embryo (and later, the fetus) and the other
becomes the placenta. Cell division continues at a rapid pace.
Eventually, the zygote turns into a blastocyst. The blastocyst
arrives at your uterus and implants into your uterine lining. If
implantation is successful, your body immediately begins
producing hormones to support a pregnancy. This also stops your
menstrual period.
 EMBRYONIC STAGE

The embryonic stage lasts from about the third week of

pregnancy until the eighth week of pregnancy. The blastocyst
begins to take on distinct human characteristics. It’s now called
an embryo. Structures and organs like the neural tube (which
later becomes the brain and spinal cord), head, eyes, mouth and
limbs form. The embryo’s heart begins to develop and pulse
around the sixth week. Buds that will become arms and legs also
form around the sixth week. By the end of the eighth week, most
of the embryo’s organs and systems take shape. For a lot of
people, this is the point in pregnancy where morning sickness
begins.
 FETAL STAGE
The fetal stage of development begins around the ninth week
and lasts until birth. This is when the embryo officially turns
into a fetus. The fetus gets its assigned sex around nine weeks of
pregnancy, although your healthcare provider can’t detect it on
ultrasound yet. The fetus’s major organs and body systems
continue to grow and mature. Things like fingernails, eyelashes
and hair also grow. The fetus is able to move its limbs, although
you may not feel it until 20 weeks of pregnancy. The majority of
growth — in both weight and length — happens in the fetal
stage.
 CHILD BRAIN DEVELOPMENT

When a baby enters the world, they have 50 trillion neural

connections, also known as synapses. By the time they reach
adulthood they’ll have around 500 trillion.

As a child grows, their brains are rapidly developing new

neural connections. We're not talking about 100 new synapses a
day, either.
ADOLESCENT BRAIN DEVELOPMENT

The human brain is not fully developed by the time a person

reaches puberty. Between the ages of 10 and 25, the brain
undergoes changes that have important implications for
behavior. The brain reaches 90% of its adult size by the time a
person is six or seven years of age. Thus, the brain does not
grow in size much during adolescence. However, the creases in
the brain continue to become more complex until the late teens.
 PERCEPTUAL DEVELOPMENT

Perceptual development refers to how children start taking

in, interpreting, and understanding sensory input. Perception
allows children to adapt and interact with their environment
through the use of their senses. Children are born with the
ability to see, hear, smell, taste, and touch. While these senses
are not fully developed by birth, they quickly improve in the
first few months of life. For example, a newborn’s vision is
limited to eight to 12 inches.
Birth to 9 months

Children begin to use their senses to explore and become aware of

their environment.

Indicators for children include:

• Responds to changes in the environment, e.g., startles when hearing a

loud noise, turns head toward light
• Explores objects through senses, e.g., mouths, touches objects
• Attempts to mimic sounds heard in the environment
• Has a range of vision that extends to several feet, which in turn leads to
seeing colors and seeing objects from a distance
• Feels the sensation of being touched and looks around to identify the
source of the touch, e.g., person or object
• Recognizes familiar objects and begins to demonstrate favoritism for
certain toys
Strategies for interaction

• Provide an environment where the child can observe and explore

• Place mirrors and attractive toys in the child’s line of sight, e.g., a mobile over
the crib
• Interact with the child by singing songs and manipulating toys together
• Provide objects and experiences that encompass different colors, sounds,
textures, e.g., music box, a toy that lights up, a book with different textures
7 months to 18 months

Children begin to use sensory information received from their environment to

alter the way they interact and explore.

Indicators for children include:

• Begins to manipulate materials, e.g., pounds at play dough, squeezes finger

foods
• Begins to show a preference for or aversion to particular sensory activities, e.g.,
pulls hand away from unfamiliar objects or unpleasant textures
• Becomes aware of obstacles in the environment, e.g., crawls around the table to
get the ball
• Adjusts manner of walking depending on the surface, e.g., walks carefully
across gravel
Strategies for interaction

• Provide the child with choices for experimenting with sensory objects
• Observe the child’s reactions to objects and experiences in order to note what he or
she enjoys
• Expose the child to different textures, smells, sounds, and sights

16 months to 24 months

Children continue to work on using perceived sensory information to decide how

to interact with their environment.

Indicators for children include:

• Plays with water and sand tables; explores by pouring, digging, and filling
• Enjoys physical play, e.g., wrestling, tickling
• Recognizes situations that need to be approached cautiously, e.g., walks slowly with
a cup of water, or with food on a plate
• Adjusts approach to environment, e.g., changes volume of voice to adjust to noise
level in the environment
Strategies for interaction

• Provide opportunities for the child to experience sensory play, e.g., play dough,
water, sand
• Follow the child’s lead during play; ensure to proceed cautiously with a child
who needs time before getting involved
• Engage in activities that encourage using different sounds and movements, e.g.,
read a book that incorporates both whispering and loud voices

21 months to 36 months

Children begin to process sensory information in a more efficient manner and

use the information to modify behavior while interacting with the environment.
Indicators for children include:

• Imitates familiar adults when coloring; draws lines and/or circles

• Adjusts approach to unknown objects, e.g., presses harder on a lump of clay
• Perceives and acts accordingly when holding a fragile object, both in the actual
environment and in play, e.g., walks carefully when holding a pretend tea cup

Strategies for interaction

• Spend time with the child; draw, paint, and color together
• Prompt the child to discuss what he or she is feeling during sensory play, e.g., “How
does that finger paint feel on your hands?”
• Allow the child to explore freely and have fun while learning, e.g., child uses finger
paint to paint their face and squeals with delight

https://
www.futurelearn.com/info/courses/supporting-adolescent-learners/0/steps/46451
 MOTOR DEVELOPMENT

Motor development refers to a child's capacity to move and

interact with their environment, as well as the child's body
development and bones and muscles. The growth of a child's
motor skills is broken down into two distinct sections: gross
motor and fine motor.
FOUR BROAD DIMENSION OF CHILD
AND ADOLESCENT DEVELOPMENT
COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT
 PIAGET’S THEORY OF
COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT

Piaget identified that children actively construct their own cognitive worlds. To
make sense of the world, they organize their experiences and adapt their thinking to
include new information.

Piaget found that children adapt their schemas through two processes- assimilation
and accommodation. Assimilation means fitting new information into existing
schemas or what we already know. For example, if the child knows about the horse,
then when the first time he/she sees a camel, he/she may call it a “horse”. On the other
hand, accommodation is altering existing schemas or creating new ones in response to
new information. Children demonstrate accommodation when they add the scheme
for recognizing camels to their other systems for identifying animals. During this
process, children experience disequilibrium in their attempt to understand the world.
Gradually, they reach in a balanced state of thought known as equilibrium. This shift
in thought from one state into another is termed as equilibration.
 Four Stages of Cognitive Development According to Piaget’s theory, children
progress through a sequence of four major developmental stages: (a) the
sensorimotor stage of infancy- involving the senses and motor activity; (b) the
preoperational stage of early childhood- the stage before a child masters logical
mental operations; (c) the concrete operational stage of middle childhood- mental
tasks are tied to concrete objects and situations; and (d) the formal operational stage
of adolescence to adult- mental tasks involving abstract thinking and coordination of
a number of variables.

https://egyankosh.ac.in/bitstream/123456789/46426/1/Unit-6.pdf
 VIGOTSKY’S THEORY OF
DEVELOPMENT

Vygotsky's social development theory asserts that a child's

cognitive development and learning ability can be guided and
mediated by their social interactions. His theory (also called
Vygotsky's Sociocultural theory) states that learning is a
crucially social process as opposed to an independent journey of
discovery.

https://www.gowriensw.com.au/thought-leadership/vygotsky-the
ory#:~:text=Vygotsky's%20social%20development%20theory%
20asserts,an%20independent%20journey%20of%20discovery
.
 INFORMATION PROCESSING
THEORY

Information processing theory is a cognitive theory that uses

computer processing as a metaphor for the workings of the
human brain. Initially proposed by George A. Miller and other
American psychologists in the 1950s, the theory describes how
people focus on information and encode it into their memories.

https://www.thoughtco.com/information-processing-theory-defi
nition-and-examples-4797966#:~:text=Information%20processi
ng%20theory%20is%20a,encode%20it%20into%20their%20me
mories
.
 INTELLIGENCE THEORY

Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences is one of the most

modern theories in identifying the gifted and talented. The theory
states that there are eight specific intelligences: musical, body-
kinesthetic, linguistic, logical-mathematical, spatial, interpersonal,
intrapersonal, and naturalistic. Also, Terman invented the iq equation
(mental age/chronological age * 100). Lastly, Catell and Horn
discovered fluid and crystallized intelligence. Fluid intelligence is
the ability to think and perform a problem fast in new situations.
Crystallized intelligence is the gaining knowledge, skills, and
experience through time which you remember.

https://egyankosh.ac.in/bitstream/123456789/65121/3/Unit-4.pdf
FOUR BROAD DIMENSION OF CHILD
AND ADOLESCENT DEVELOPMENT
LANGUAGE AND LITERACY DEVELOPMENT
 Language development refers to children’s emerging abilities to
understand and use language. Language skills are receptive—the ability to
listen to and understand language—and expressive—the ability to use
language to communicate ideas, thoughts, and feelings. Children's language
ability affects learning and development in all areas, especially emerging
literacy.
 BEHAVIORIST’S THEORY

Behaviorism or the behavioral learning theory is a popular

concept that focuses on how students learn. Behaviorism focuses
on the idea that all behaviors are learned through interaction
with the environment. This learning theory states that behaviors
are learned from the environment, and says that innate or
inherited factors have very little influence on behavior.

https://
www.wgu.edu/blog/what-behavioral-learning-theory2005.html#
close
 NATIVIST THEORY

Nativist theories hypothesize that language is an innate fundamental

part of the human genetic make-up and that language acquisition
occurs as a natural part of the human experience. Nativist theorists
argue that children are born with an innate ability to organize laws
of language, which enables children to easily learn a native
language. They believe that children have language-specific abilities
that assist them as they work towards mastering a language

https://www.scientific-editing.info/blog/the-nativist-theory/#:~:text
=For%20example%2C%20no%20child%20will,sentence%2C%20h
e%20applies%20them%20correctly
.
 INTERACTIONIST THEORY
(COGNITIVE)

The interactionist theory of reasoning suggests that the main

function of human reasoning is to exchange reasons in social
contexts: to justify our actions, argue for our point of view, and
evaluate the reasons offered by others. Support for this theory
comes in part from review work in several domains of
psychology.

http://pubs.sciepub.com/education/2/10/15/index.html

https://ps.au.dk/en/current/events/event/artikel/evidence-for-the-
interactionist-theory-of-reasoning-1#:~:text=The%20interactioni
st%20theory%20of%20reasoning%20suggests%20that%20the%
20main%20function,in%20several%20domains%20of%20psych
ology
 FOUR BROAD DIMENSION OF CHILD
AND ADOLESCENT DEVELOPMENT
SOCIO EMOTIONAL AND MORAL DEVELOPMENT
ERICSON’S THEORY OF PSYCHOSOCIAL

Erikson maintained that personality develops in a

predetermined order through eight stages of psychosocial
development, from infancy to adulthood. During each stage, the
person experiences a psychosocial crisis that could positively or
negatively affect personality development.

https://www.simplypsychology.org/erik-erikson.html
 BANDURA’S SOCIAL
COGNITIVE THEORY

Bandura is known for his social learning theory. He is quite

different from other learning theorists who look at learning as a
direct result of conditioning, reinforcement, and punishment.
Bandura asserts that most human behavior is learned through
observation, imitation, and modeling.

https://educationaltechnology.net/social-learning-theory-albert-b
andura/#:~:text=For%20example%2C%20if%20a%20teacher,to
%20succeed%20in%20various%20situations
.
 LAWRENCE KOHLBERG’S COGNITIVE
THEORY OF MORAL DEVELOPMENT

Lawrence Kohlberg’s stages of moral development, a

comprehensive stage theory of moral development based on
Jean Piaget’s theory of moral judgment for children (1932) and
developed by Lawrence Kohlberg in 1958.

https://
www.britannica.com/science/Lawrence-Kohlbergs-stages-of-mo
ral-development
 CAROL GILLIGAN’S THEORY OF
MORAL DEVELOPMENT

Gilligan's theory of moral development is called the Ethics

of Care. Through her research, she found the idea of care to be
essential when considering the development of all people, and
that all humans value the ability to create and maintain
relationships.

https://
www.verywellmind.com/the-carol-gilligan-theory-and-a-woman
-s-sense-of-self-5198408
 REFERENCES

• https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/7247-fetal-
development-stages-of-growth#:~:text=Between
%20conception%20and%20delivery%2C%20there,%3A
%20germinal%2C%20embryonic%20and%20fetal.
• https://coverthree.com/blogs/research/kids-brain-development
• https://courses.lumenlearning.com/wm-lifespandevelopment/
chapter/brain-development-during-adolescence/