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Essay about Child and Adolescent Development

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Child and Adolescent Development PSY 104 6/26/2011 Introduction From birth through adolescence, a significant amount of developmental changes occur. Children grow and develop physically, cognitively and emotionally. Each individual aspect of development has an effect on the child as a whole. If a child struggles developmentally in any of the areas (physically, emotionally or cognitively), it can affect one of the other areas of development as well. For example, if a child is underdeveloped physically, they may experience emotional development issues because they may be made fun of and teased by other children. For this paper I have chosen to explore two specific age ranges and the developmental changes that …show more content…

They now begin to walk if they have not already, and are exploring their surroundings more and more. During this year, children become more independent and even start to rebel against their parents by being defiant. In this time, toddlers are able to recognize themselves in the mirror as well as in pictures and videos. Setting a good example is important in this stage because children at this age like to copy and mimic everything that is done or said. At this point, children are able to say some words and phrases and have an understanding of many things and what is being said to them. This is the stage that is important to use gates and other proofing devices to prevent injuries. They try different things to see what kind of outcomes will come from doing so. Trial and error becomes a great problem solving strategy. Finally, from eighteen to 24 months of age, now trial and error is not necessary as they can think about and perceive events. At this age, communication is produced by gestures and small words. They learn to pretend (Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 2011). From the beginning, babies are born with their own personalities. Crying is the first sense of emotion and is used to communicate many different things. Psychosocial development increases, as they are able to express more emotions. Between zero to three months of age, babies can smile. They start to become curious and show interest in certain things. By three to six months, infants can

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