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PHYSICAL, COGNITIVE, AND SOCIOEMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT IN EARLY CHILDHOOD

Learning Outcomes

• Identify physical changes in early childhood.

• Describe three views of cognitive changes in early childhood.

• Summarize language development in early childhood.

• Evaluate different approaches to early childhood education.

PHYSICAL CHANGES

Body Growth and Change

• Height and Weight:

  • Average child grows 2½ inches and gains 5-10 pounds per year.

  • Girls slightly smaller and lighter than boys until puberty.

  • Growth Hormone Deficiency: absence of growth hormone from the pituitary gland.

Brain Development

• By age 3: Brain reaches 3/4 of adult size.

• By age 6: Brain reaches about 95% of adult size.

• Myelination: Fat cells cover nerves, increasing speed of information travel in the nervous system.

Motor and Perceptual Development

Gross Motor Skills

• Age 3: Enjoys simple movements (hopping, jumping).

• Age 4: More adventurous activities (scrambling over jungle gyms).

• Age 5: Even more adventurous than at age 4.

Fine Motor Skills

• Age 3: Ability to pick up small objects with thumb and forefinger.

• Age 4: Significant improvement in fine motor coordination.

• Age 5: Further improvement—better eye-body coordination.

Sleep

• Recommended 11-13 hours of sleep each night.

• Sleep issues include narcolepsy, insomnia, and nightmares.

Nutrition and Exercise

Overweight Young Children

• Serious health concern in early childhood.

• Improvement strategies: joint meals, modeling nutritious choices, reducing distractions.

Malnutrition

• Affects 11 million preschool children, linked to poverty.

• Common problem: Iron deficiency anemia, causing fatigue.

Exercise Recommendations

• 15 minutes of activity per hour, totaling about 3 hours daily.

Illness and Death

• Leading cause of accidental death: drowning, followed by vehicles, homicide, suffocation.

• Tobacco exposure increases asthma risk.

COGNITIVE CHANGES

Piaget’s Preoperational Stage (2 to 7 years)

• Children represent the world through words and images.

• Symbolic Function Substage (Ages 2-4): Mental representation of absent objects; egocentrism and animism.

• Intuitive Thought Substage (Ages 4-7): Focus on reasoning; increasing interest in questions; centration and conservation issues.

Vygotsky's Theory

• Knowledge constructed through social interactions; tools provided by society shape thinking.

• Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD): Tasks challenging without assistance.

• Scaffolding: Adjusting support based on child's performance.

Language and Thought

• Children use speech for social interaction; inner speech aids task-solving.

• Teaching strategies include assessing ZPD and fostering context-rich learning environments.

Information Processing

• Attention: Focusing mental resources on information.

• Memory: Retention of information; short-term memory lasts up to 30 seconds.

• Various factors can influence memory accuracy among young children.

Theory of Mind

• Awareness of mental processes in oneself and others develops from 18 months to 3 years, including understanding perceptions, emotions, and desires.

Language Development

• Children develop phonology and morphology skills, understanding syntax and semantics including fast mapping.

SOCIOEMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Emotional and Personality Development

• Initiative Versus Guilt: Children explore and take initiative; balancing initiative with conscience based guilt.

• Self-Understanding: Awareness of one's physical activities and personal traits.

Emotional Development

• Young children express and understand emotions better, reflecting their psychological sophistication.

• Self-Conscious Emotions: Awareness of pride, shame, and guilt influenced by parental responses.

Moral Development

• Involves thoughts about rules and behaviors; early moral feelings involve anxiety and guilt according to Freud.

• Stages of Moral Reasoning: From heteronomous morality (ages 4-7) to autonomous morality (about age 10).

Parenting Styles

• Authoritative Parenting: Encourages independence with limits; promotes social competence.

• Authoritarian Parenting: Limits child’s independence; associated with social incompetence.

• Neglectful and Indulgent Parenting: Uninvolved or overly involved, both linked to social incompetence.

Peer Relations and Play

• Peer relations provide external comparison; play supports socioemotional development.

Types of Play

• Sensorimotor/Practice Play: Exercises sensorimotor skills.

• Pretense/Symbolic Play: Transforms environment into symbols.

• Social Play: Interactive play increases during preschool years.

• Constructive Play: Merges symbolic representation with self-regulated creation.

REFERENCE

• Santrock, J.W. (2019). Life-Span Development, 17th Edition, McGraw-Hill.