Lesson 16. CHARACTERISTICS OF EARLY CHILDHOOD

Early childhood

-        Extends from two to six years

-        The age when dependency is practically a thing of the past and is being replaced by growing independence

-        Begins at the conclusion of babyhood and end at about the time the child enters first grade in school

-        The period of the development of initiative

-        Foundation for all aspects of development are laid during this stage

-        Teachable stage

1.     Names used by parents

-        Problem age

-        Troublesome age

-        Toy age

2.     Names used by educators

-        Preschool age

3.     Names used by psychologist

-        Pregang age

-        Exploratory age

-        Questioning age

-        Imitative age

Lesson 17. DEVELOPMENTAL MILESTONE

1.     Control elimination almost completed

2.     Normal babies learned to walk, learned to take solid foods, self-feeding and doing things without much help

3.     Development to motor skills

4.     Acquisition of adequate vocabulary to communicate his thoughts and feelings, correct pronunciation, comprehend

5.     Concepts of right and wrong, foundation for conscience

6.     Learn to be outer-bound instead of self-bound

Physical development

Body proportion

All parts of the body grow, but at different rates. The forehead area develops faster than the lower parts of the face.

The trunk grows longer and broader. The arms grow much longer between babyhood and age six. The legs grow at a slower rate than the arms. They are also thin and the muscles are not well developed. The feet grow broader and longer and the toes are proportionately too short for the rest of the foot.

The bones are still soft and can easily be deformed. When they are broken due to accidents they can be rehabilitated easily.

Adipose or fatty tissue develops faster than muscle tissue.

Physiological habits

-        Develop marked food likes and dislikes

-        Learned to eat their meals at regular times

-        Sleep less hour

-        Bowel control is established

Motor development

-        Ideal age to learn skills because they enjoy repetition, they are adventuresome and they learn easily and quickly

-        Children from poor environment, generally master skills earlier and in larger numbers than children from more favored environments

Handedness – established between three to six years. It is the tendency to used one hand in preference to the other. Where one hand is the dominant and the other as auxiliary hand.

Leg  skills

1.     Walking

2.     Skipping

3.     Hopping

4.      Jumping

5.     Riding a tricycle

6.     Galloping

7.     Climbing

8.     Swimming

9.     Balancing

10. Skating

11. Dancing

Hand skills

1.     Eating

2.     Dressing

3.     Making something

4.     Writing

5.     Brushing/combing hair

6.     Bathing

7.     Throwing and catching balls

8.     Use scissors

9.     Mold clays

10. Draw

11. Sew

12. Make cookies

13. Paint

Improvement of speech during early childhood

-        Most of the prespeech forms of communication have been abandoned

Improvement in speech skills

-        Pronunciation of words, vocabulary building, forming sentences

Improvement in comprehension

-        Greatly influenced by how attentively children listen to what is said to them

-        Attentive listening thru radio and television

Reasons to learn to speak

1.     It is an essential tool in socialization

2.     It is a tool in achieving independence

Content of speech

1.     Egocentric – they talk about themselves, their interest, their families and their possessions

2.     Socialized speech – they talk about other people as well as themselves

3.     Unsocialized speech – criticisms of others, unkind derogatory comments, name-calling, boasting

4.     Question – asking behavior

5.     Personal likes and dislikes

Intellectual development

Preoperational phase – two to seven years old

Subperiods

1.     Preconceptual period(2-4 years)

2.     Intuitive(4-7 years)

Development of understanding

-        young children’s understanding of people, objects and situations increases rapidly

Emotional development

-        Emotions are intense, a time of disequilibrium, children are out of focus, easily aroused to emotional outburst, difficult to live with and guide

-        Heightened emotionality, felt more strongly and expressed more openly

-        Temper tantrums, intense fear, unreasonable outburst of jealousy

Common emotions

1.     Anger

2.     Fear

3.     Jealousy

4.     Curiosity

5.     Envy

6.     Joy

7.     Grief

8.     Affection

Social development

-        The process by which children become participative and functioning member of society.

-        Children find social contacts with member of their own sex more pleasurable than opposite sex.

Early forms of social behavior in social situation

1.     Social behavior patterns

-        Imitation

-        Rivalry

-        Cooperation

-        Symphaty

-        Empathy

-        Social approval

-        Sharing

-        Attachment behavior

2.     Anti or unsocial behavior pattern

-        Negativism

-        Aggressiveness

-        Ascendant behavior/bossiness

-        Selfishness

-        Egocentrism

-        Destructiveness

-        Sex antagonism

-        Prejudice

Patterns of early socialization

1.     Parallel play – play in which children play independently beside other children rather than with them. The earliest form of social activities.

2.     Associative play – play in which children engage in similar, if not identical, activities with other children.

3.     Cooperative play – play in which children are part of the group and interact with group members.

4.     0nlooker

Companions in early childhood

1.     Associates – any sex, any age

2.     Playmates – prefer their own sex, pleasurable activities

3.     Friends – can communicate

Substitute companion

1.     Imaginary friend

2.     Pets

The role of the family

          The family plays a very crucial role in the growth and development of the child. In this age of crisis and confusion it is more important that parents learn how to effectively perform their roles and responsibilities.

1.     Support

2.     Model

3.     Identity

4.     Love

5.     Encouragement

Family relationships

The family remains the most important socializing influence. Contacts are closer and warmer.

1.     Parent-child relationship – changes begins during the second year.

2.     Sibling relationship

3.     Relationship with relatives

Moral development

Discipline in early childhood

Discipline – is society’s way of teaching children the moral behavior approved by the social group.

Goals:

1.     To know what behavior is approved and disapproved

2.     To motivate to behave in accordance with the standards

Elements of discipline

1.     Rules and laws which serve as guidelines for approved behavior

2.     Punishment for willful violations of rules and laws

3.     Rewards for behavior or attempts to behave in a socially approved ways

Types of discipline

1.     Authoritarian

2.     Permissive

3.     Democtatic

Children misdemeanors – mild forms of breaking rules or misbehavior

1.     Capriciousnes

2.     Thumb-sucking

3.     Bed-wetting

4.     Temper tantrums

5.     Lying

6.     Destructiveness

7.     Cheating in games

8.     Dawdling

Personality development

Personality patterns begin to take form. Self-concept which is the core of the personality pattern formed within the womb of the family relationship.

Conditions shaping the self-concept

1.     Parental attitude

2.     Child-training method

3.     Aspirations of parents

4.     Ordinal position of child

5.     Minority group identification

6.     Sex-role identification

7.     Environmental insecurity

Lesson 18. HAZARD OF EARLY CHILDHOOD

Psychological hazards are more numerous than the physical hazards.

Physical hazards

1.     Mortality

2.     Illness

3.     Accidents

4.     Unattractiveness

5.     Awkwardness

6.     Obesity

7.     Left-handedness

Psychological hazards

1.     Speech and comprehension

2.     Emotional

3.     Social

4.     Moral

5.     Personality

6.     Play

7.     Concept development

8.     Sex-role typing

9.     Family relationship

Lesson 19. CHARACTERISTICS OF LATE CHILDHOOD

          Late childhood

-        Extends from the age of six years to the time the individual becomes sexually mature.

-        Period for learning the basic skills of life

-        The stage of the child’s initiation to roles in society

-        The period for the development of personal friendship

1.     Names used by parents

-        Troublesome age

-        Sloppy age

-        Quarrelsome age

2.     Names used by educators

-        Elementary school age

3.     Names used by psychologist

-        Gang age

-        Age of conformity

-        Creative age

-        Play age

4.     The period for learning the basic skills in life.

5.     The stage of the child’s initiation to roles in society.

6.     The period for the development of personal friendship.

Lesson 20. DEVELOPMENTL TASKS IN LATE CHILDHOOD

1.     Learning physical skills necessary for ordinary, group and organized games.

2.     Building a wholesome attitude toward oneself as a growing organism.

3.     Learning to get along with age-mates, family and

4.     Beginning to develop appropriate social roles

5.     Developing fundamental skills in reading, writing and calculating

6.     Developing concepts and skills necessary for everyday living

7.     Developing a conscience, a sense of right and wrong of morality and a scale of values according to culture

8.     Developing attitudes toward social groups and institutions

9.     Achieving personal independence to perform life skills

10. Developing a healthy self-concept

Lesson 21. DEVELOPMENTAL MILESTONE

Physical development in late childhood

          Growth trends in height of Filipino children and youth follow the general type of growth curve showing a steady increase from early childhood to pre-puberty, followed by a period of accelerated growth lasting through the early part of adolescence. The girls are taller until the boys catch up with them.

Skills of late childhood

-        Depends on their environment, on the opportunities given them for learning, on their body build, on what is vogue among their age-mates, on socioeconomic status

Categories of skills in late childhood

1.     Self-help – eat, dress, bath, groom

2.     Social-help – relate to helping other, such as making beds, dusting, sweeping at home and washing chalkboards at school

3.     School-skills – writing,drawing, painting, dancing, sewing, cooking, etc

4.     Play-skills – throwing and catching ball, swimming, etc

Speech improvement in late childhood

1.     Vocabulary building

2.     Pronunciation

3.     Forming sentences

Emotions and emotional expressions in late childhood

-        Unpleasant emotions is socially unacceptable to age-mates

-        Temper outburst is babyish

-        Withdrawal reaction to fear is cowardly

-        Hurting others in jealousy is poor sportsmanship

-        Punish for “not acting their age”

-        Emotional expressions are pleasant one

-        Express their anger in moodiness, sulkiness

-        Temper tantrums is less frequent

Healthy ways of expressing emotions

1.     Label emotions

2.     Help the child interpret emotions

3.     Separate mixed emotions

4.     Differentiate between emotions and actions

5.     Describe some simple tactics

6.     Help children express the emotions

Companions in late childhood

1.     Associates

2.     Playmates

3.     Friends

Motor development

Play interest and activities in late childhood

-        During play children develop numerous social skills that enable them to enjoy group membership in the community of peers.

1.     Constructive play

2.     Exploring

3.     Collecting

4.     Games and sports

5.     Amusements

Intellectual development

Crystallized intelligence – consist of continuously acquired patterns of adaptation to one’s culture depending on one’s age and experience.

Mental development – characterized as behavior or qualitative patterning.

Intelligence – a complex accumulation of knowledge, abilities and skills acquired as the individual meets, cope and interacts with his environment.

Moral development

Children moral concept are no longer as narrow and specific as they were earlier.

Role of discipline in moral development

1.     Aid in building a moral code

2.     Rewards

3.     Punishment

4.     Consistency

Lesson 22. HAZARDS IN LATE CHILDHOOD

Carry over from earlier years, though often take new forms

Physical hazards

1.     Illnesses

2.     Obesity

3.     Sex-inappropriate body build

4.     Accident

5.     Physical disabilities

6.     Awkwardness

7.     Homeliness

Psychological hazards

The one that affects children’s social adjustments such as speech hazards, emotional hazards, social hazards, play hazards, conceptual hazards, moral hazards, family relationship hazards, hazards associated with interest, hazards in personality development etc.

Effects of psychological hazards

1.     Dissatisfied with themselves

2.     Habitual withdrawal

3.     Excessive excitability

4.     Resentment against authority

5.     Chronic depression

6.     Diffuse hyperactivity

7.     Excessive egocentrism

8.     Chronic anxiety

9.     Emotional deadining

UNIT VI – PUBERTY

OVERVIEW:

          Most people have recognized puberty as a time of importance in the life span of every individual. It is customary for them to observed various rites in recognition of the fact that children are emerging from childhood into maturity. After successfully passing the test that are significant part of all puberty rites, boys and girls are granted the rights and privileges of adulthood and are expected to assume the responsibilities that accompany that state. Among the ancient Greeks, puberty was recognized as a time of physical as well as behavioral changes.

          In spite of the fact that puberty is a short period that overlaps the end of childhood and the beginning of adolescence, it is a time of rapid growth and change. It occurs at different ages for boys and girls and for individuals within each sex group.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES: At the end of the unit, the students should be able to:

1. Define puberty, growth spurt and deviant.

2. Explain the stages of puberty.

3. Discuss the important physical changes of puberty.

COURSE MATERIALS:

Lesson 23. CHARACTERISTICS OF PUBERTY

Puberty

-        The period when the child changes from an asexual to a sexual being.

-        A stage in development during which maturation of the sexual apparatus occurs and reproductive capacity is attained. It is accompanied by changes in somatic growth and psychological perspective.

-        Pubertas; age of manhood

-        Refers to the physical rather than the behavioral changes which occur when the individual becomes sexually mature and is capable of producing offspring.

-        The point in the development of man at which the individual becomes physically capable of sexual reproduction. It covers the time during which the primary and secondary sex characteristics of the body emerge.

-        Menarche for girls

-        Nocturnal emission for boys

-        A point in which a person reaches sexual maturity and is capable of fathering/conceiving a child.

Puberty is a unique and distinctive period and is characterized by certain developmental changes that occur at no other time in the life span.

1.     An overlapping period

2.     A short period

3.     Divided into stages

Prepubescent-one who is no longer a child but not yet an adolescent

Pubescent-the dividing line between childhood and adolescence

Postpubescent-overlaps the first year or two of adolescence

4.     A time of rapid growth and change

5.     A negative phase

Phase-suggest a period of short duration

Negative-suggest that the individual takes an anti attitude toward life

6.     Occurs at a variable age

Lesson 24. IMPORTANT PHYSICAL CHANGES

1.     Changes in body size – in terms of height and weight

2.     Changes in body proportion – certain areas of the body become proportionally too big because they reach their mature size sooner than other areas.

3.     Primary sex characteristics – growth and development of the primary sex characteristics(sex organs)

4.     Secondary sex characteristics – these are the physical features which distinguish males from females.

Rapid/fast maturers – have greater spurts of rapid growth, their period of accelerated and halted growth come abruptly and they attain adult proportions quickly.

Slow maturers – have less intense period of accelerated growth, growth is more even and gradual and continues for a longer time.

The puberty growth spurt

Growth spurt – refers to the rapid acceleration in height and weight that marks the beginning of adolescence.

1.     Girls – between 9 - 12, average of 12.5

Many girls gain as much as 3 ½ inches in height and 20 pounds in weight.

2.     Boys – between 12 - 16, average of 14.5-15.5

Many boys gain as much as 4 inches in height and 26 pounds in weight.

Effects of puberty changes

Normally it is only temporary, they are severe enough while they last to bring about a change in habitual patterns of behavior, attitudes and personality.

1.     Physical well being

2.     Attitudes and behavior

Deviant maturing

Deviant – is different to what is considered normal.

Deviant maturers – one whose sexual maturation deviates by a year or more from the norm for the individual’s sex group.

Early maturers – children who mature sexually earlier than their sex group

Late maturers – children who mature sexually later than their sex group

Rapid maturers – children who require less than the normal time for their sex group to complete the maturational process

Slow maturers – children who need more than the normal time for their sex group to complete the maturational process

Lesson 25. HAZARDS OF PUBERTY

Serious in terms of the long-range consequence

Physical hazards

1.     Actual illness is less common

2.     Mortality, accidents and deaths are  infrequent

3.     Slight or major malfunctioning of the endocrine glands that control the puberty growth spurt and the sexual changes that take place at this time

4.     Insufficient growth hormone, gonadal hormone

5.     Excessive supply of gonadal hormone

Psychological hazards

1.     Unfavorable self concept

2.     Underachievement

3.     Lack of preparation for puberty changes

4.     Acceptance of changed bodies

5.     Deviation in sexual maturing