Child Development Course Analysis

The majority of lifespan development theories analyze growth and development from two major possibilities, that is, development as a continuous process and development as a discontinuous process (Berk, 2007). Continuous development is defined as the process where an individual builds on the same skills exhibiting at an early age while the discontinuous development is the process that allows individuals to exhibit new and different ways of understanding and responding to different situations and occurrences (Berk, 2007; Koren, 2011). The lifespan development theories that explain growth and development as a process of stages follow a discontinuous development perspective (Berk, 2007).

Lifespan development is a scientific approach to questions about growth, change, and stability in physical, cognitive, social, and personality characteristics at all ages from conception to death (Feldman, 2014 Seventh Edition). In reading the chapter I found three theories very interesting evolutionary, cognitive, and psychodynamic. The reason I find evolutionary perspective because I feel as though this perspective or theory is the base of study. When we are born we have genetic make-up for two people with two family trees. The blending is sometimes a hard transition. We all have been around child and seen their parents’ characteristics in the child. Evolutionary perspective attributes to the genetic inheritance from our ancestors, contending that genes determine not only traits such as skin and eye color, but certain personality traits and social behaviors (Feldman, 2014 Seventh Edition). We all see and new edition in a family and sit and try and pick out which parent the child looks like. We are a very diverse place. The traits and genetic studies are a constant for new developments and updated current practices. Education on social norms of new populations are a must. As we learned throughout history change is a shock. We need to educate and adapt to the societal new comers. Problems occur in the lag between establishment of new members and educative process which has caused some havoc for community members. With more and more cultural differences and blending there

Another 6 million attend private schools. But if you read the newspapers, you know it's not that simple anymore. Several new types of schools have appeared in recent years. What's the difference between a magnet school and a charter school? Parochial and proprietary? Which one is best for your child?

The average life expectancy in the United States is seventy-eight years old. You might be thinking “wow, that is a long time.” One could only imagine the development that occurs during those years. Santrock (2014) defined development as, “a pattern of movement or change that begins at conception and expands all through an entire lifespan,” (1-4). Development is life-long, multidimensional, multidirectional, plastic, multidisciplinary, contextual, as well as a process that involves growth, maintenance, and regulation of loss (Santrock, 2014, 1-5). All in all, these characteristics of the lifespan perspective explain how development happens at all stages of one’s life in different contexts while the brain expands as we learn new things and grow

Development happens to people which, of course, goes without saying, but does development stop at a certain stage or does it continue throughout one's lifetime. The development of the person does not happen overnight, and it has been the purpose of many researchers to determine exactly how far development extends. The theories of lifespan development are among the most complete at attempting to codify development, but even they are not complete in and of themselves. That is why many different theories exist. This paper examines the lifespan theory of development, summarizes two of the theories, and looks at the influences of heredity and environment.

Life is created when one man and woman come together to perform the arts of love, and nine months later a precious infant is born. The child will grow up to learn the ways of life. They will learn how to response to their environment from the time they open their eyes to the time they pass on. Life is an advantage with many obstacles and learning opportunities. As years have passed, many scientists have developed studies and theories to explain the stages of life and why people act or response to certain things like the way they do. This is my developmental history and how these theories helped me understand my life from the time I was conceive to my adulthood

As a professional in the early child development field, my understanding of the child development, from before conception to early childhood, has a great positive impact on my thoughts on child development and my perception of the child education. The course, Early Child Growth and Development offered essential information such as risk factors of prenatal development and child development. In addition, the course explained importance of nurture in child development. Moreover, the course created the opportunities to learn and research the important theories in early child development. Therefore, I gained the essential knowledge and confidence as a professional educator, and I can apply the knowledge in my work.

Development can be defined as a gradual process of change and differentiation from a simple to a more advanced level of complexity (Mosby, 2010). Human development is a process that is unique to each individual, with many internal and external factors responsible for shaping the characteristics of the individual. In this essay, we shall explore my own development from the perinatal stage through to young adulthood. Focus will be placed on the different domains of change, namely; physical, cognitive, social and emotional. Throughout this essay various theories and concepts will be discussed in relation to my development.

After the thorough examination of different developmental theories, my understanding of life span development can be summarized in three words: multifacetedness, relativism, and holism. Everything from the conception to death continuously changes, moves in different directions and with different pace. The modeling of human nature is relative and holistic, because the aspects of our growth cannot be view in isolation from biological, cognitive, social and cultural contexts, and also consider separately from other scientific disciplines.

The different theories and different developmental stages of the child, should allow educator’s to be able to provide a rich & positive learning environment in which, it allows the children to make most of their own potential & also to their best ability in order for them to meet the different development stages from birth and not be rushed. Sociocultural theorists believe that the family, education, religion and educators (Kearns, K. 2013) all play important roles in the development of the children and also help to enable cognitive growth, also that the child themselves are unique in their own ways of development. Listed above, they are influenced by them which means that they’re learning through their different social cultural environment

The development of a child is viewed from a number of different perspectives by several developmental theorists. While some say that development continues throughout the life, others would hold an opinion that children stop to develop as soon as they mature. Therefore, lifespan developmental theorists have focused on a number of areas while studying the development of an individual. Some of these areas include cognitions, social development, sexual development, moral development and more. Each of these theories is important in order to completely analyze the process whereby which a child matures and transitions into an adult.

Jean Piaget’s theory of cognitive development is a theory used to analyze and understand human development and behavior. His theory is broken up into four stages: Sensorimotor, which lasts from 0 to 2 years of age, Preoperational, which lasts from 2 to 7 years of age, Concrete Operational, which lasts from 7 to 11 years of age, and lastly, Formal Operational, which the child enters at 11 years of age and stays in throughout adulthood (Santrock, 2010, p.24). Piaget’s theory of cognitive development is important because it stimulated the entire field of research and it still remains the most influential theory of cognitive development. Throughout my study, I will be focusing on the Preoperational stage, and more specifically, the concepts of

The life span perspective in Paul Baltes ' view is the "study of constancy and change in behaviour throughout the life course from conception to death.” (Baltes, 1987, p.611). Being a development psychologist, Baltes constructed seven frameworks that shows that development is multi directional, which means different processes of change all through the lifespan. Secondly, development is multiply influenced by a person 's development, an effect brought about from both biological and environmental factors. Thirdly, understanding development requires multiple disciplines, development that analyse in all directions so that it can be understood through many perspectives

From the day we are born to the day they die, development is a continuous process in which we grow as an individual and develop our sense of self. The various factors that contribute to shaping us into the way we are, such as our memories, experiences, the way we were raised, even our culture has the strength to impact who we are to become. Throughout a person’s lifespan, there are many obstacles one must face in order to acquire certain skills that will be of use as we transitions from one stage to the next. The idea of moving from one stage to a another was derived from developmental theorist, Erik Erikson, it was his belief that one’s personality and sense of self develops in a series of stages. Additionally, the lifespan serves as a foundation for social development, occurring in stages from infancy to adulthood. (Berk) The necessary conflict provided by each stage serves as a developmental milestone, in which a psychological quality will or will not be gained.

Personal biological and developmental growth was normal in everyday standards. All developmental milestones met or exceeded normal standards. Being the youngest of four children, I excelled in areas, such as tying my shoes and kindergarten entry requirements. Asthma runs in the paternal side of my family, which I have had my entire life. Additionally, I was born with a birth defect in my heart, that was misdiagnosed until the age of 21. Because of my lung challenges and my heart problem, I was sick a good portion of my childhood, usually spending numerous weeks each year hospitalized.