Early Childhood Development and Its Variations

Kristine Slentz

• Editorial: Routledge
• Año: 2017
• ISBN:
  9781351225564
• Edición: 1
• Categoría: Éducation
• Categoría: Éducation générale

Provides an overview of development, then describes principles and sequences of physical, cognitive, and social/emotional development at the infant, toddler, preschool, and primary levels. Individual differences and developmental norms are stressed throughout.

CHAPTER
1
UNDERSTANDING EARLY CHILDHOOD DEVELOPMENT

Children are the living messages we send to a time we will not see. . . .

Neil Postman

Chapter Objectives

After reading this chapter, you should be able to:

• Identify important concepts and processes of early development, including risk, resilience, vulnerability, and protective factors.
• Compare and contrast a variety of theoretical perspectives on early development.
• Describe causes of disability and developmental delay during the early childhood years, using "people-first" language.

As you think about and apply chapter content on your own, you should be able to:

• Refine and clarify your own views on diversity in early childhood settings, including consideration of individual differences in gender, culture, race, ethnicity, and ability
• Use a variety of developmental theories to explain and understand the behavior of young children.

Vignette 1.1: “I Don't Believe in Child Development”

A thorough understanding of the development of young children is not a desirable mission for everyone. I have a relative who once said, "I don't believe in child development." Initially. I took the statement to mean that he did not really want to hear my advice about his 2-year-old son's willful behavior. In many retellings of this story, I have always emphasized the abrupt ending to the conversation and my puzzlement as a child development specialist that any parent could overlook the significance of early learning and maturation.

As I began to think about an introductory chapter for this text, however, a more impartial interpretation of the comment came to mind: My brother-in-law is just not interested in understanding the academic theories and patterns of child development. He would rather simply observe and experience the surprise and mystery of my nephew's life unfolding, instead of striving to make logical sense of each change in his son s behavior. The inherent enigma of the growth process is more meaningful to him than any scientific, medical, educational, or developmental explanation.

I can easily accept the appreciation of mystery over understanding when I think of my own resistance to my father's attempts to teach me about wave action. Ocean waves are a phenomenon I would rather watch than know about, appreciate rather than analyze. I want to experience the thrill and surprise of not being able to predict and to presence the intense wonderment of not knowing how or why the waves behave the way they do.

Readers of child development texts, however, do not have the luxury of relying solely on romantic, poetic, or mysterious explanations of early growth. Early childhood professionals have a responsibility to each and every child they serve that requires acquisition and application of knowledge about the process of development. (Kris Slentz)

Who Is a Child and What Is Child Development?

A child's existence has as many different meanings as there are people involved in his or her life. To parents, children might be the culmination of careful planning or the surprise of a lifetime; dreams come true or shattered; reflections of themselves and entirely puzzling personalities. Grandchildren provide new opportunities for grandparents to make use of parenting expertise, new roles for themselves and their own children, and the promise of ongoing youth during the aging years. Peers become instigators, pals, and confidants. Each boy or girl brings another perspective and ingredient to group interactions: sometimes a calming and comforting influence, sometimes an element of risk and creativity. Neighbors can see young children as a special connection in the community or as surrogate family members or perhaps develop a "Dennis the Menace" relationship.

Likewise, studying the growth and development of children can be undertaken from many perspectives. Developmental psychology, for example, applies theory and research to understanding the causes and effects of age-related changes in children's behavior. Child neuropsychology is a scientific perspective on the influence of brain structure and function on behavior, whereas pediatrics emphasizes the unique medical needs of young people. Child advocates focus their energy on laws that relate to minors and on the legal process as it involves children in the court system. Religious leaders attend to the spiritual and moral aspects of children's lives, and teachers strive to support physical, cognitive, and affective growth through the educational system. Family and friends come to know and love individual children through the daily routines of home and community life and promote independence through caregiving and nurturing. All this and more frames the development of each child, providing a backdrop and an organizing scheme for evolution of the person the child eventually becomes.

People who influence the lives of children have preferred methods, areas of authority and influence, resources, current recommended practices, and often strong beliefs and opinions. Professional disciplines have related but distinct content areas for training, research, and literature. In the everyday lives of young girls and boys, however, there is no objective "truth" about child development from any one perspective. The events and interactions of each child's days create a rich mosaic, a work in progress. The intent of this book is to integrate research, theory, and practice as they relate to children from birth to 8 years old and apply the resulting knowledge to school, home, and community environments. As a result, you should find the presentation of the information to be objective, professional, and grounded in the daily routines and activities of young children and the adults who are responsible for their well-being.

Early Childhood Educators and the Need to Know about Development

For most parents, the changes in young children's lives are more meaningful as an ongoing process of growing up than as a field of study. Parents' beliefs, opinions, and explanations of development evolve from unique experiences with their own children, as illustrated in Vignette 1.1. Nothing could provide a better foundation for parent-child relationships.

On the other hand, it will one day soon be your job to provide care, instruction, and guidance to babies, toddlers, preschool, or primary school boys and girls. The field of early childhood education and the people who represent the profession are often underestimated and undervalued in our society and in educational circles. Many of us have heard how nice and patient we must be, to spend time with young children all day. We are too often considered by many to be glorified baby-sitters, who "just play" with children, as opposed to the "real teachers" of academic content. Wages in child-care programs reflect the sentiment that the only qualifications required are enjoying children, mothering, and being older than those in your charge (Howes, 1987; Cost, Quality & Child Outcomes Study Team, 1995). Few people outside the profession acknowledge the intelligence, competence, and creativity necessary to design and implement curricula across such widely divergent ages and skill levels. Such attitudes exist despite the fact that a number of the more progressive educational practices currently being promoted in public schools originated in early childhood settings. Multiage groupings, team teaching, integrated curricula, activity based instruction, and multicultural curricula have for decades formed a strong foundation for working with young children in groups.

Teachers occupy an important role in the lives of young children, especially during the early years when adults have more influence than peers. Those of us who have chosen careers in early childhood have a responsibility to recognize the general agerelated changes in children's behavior, analyze and explain deviations from expectations, and support ongoing learning. Knowledge of child development, rather than just personal opinion and experience, is a critical foundation for working with youngsters, their families, and other professionals. The information contained in this book provides you with clear expectations for early development, but the knowledge will only be meaningful if applied to understanding the behavior and guiding the learning of each individual girl and boy you encounter. The best early childhood professionals are those who understand child development as a process that all children undergo, while retaining an appreciation of the beauty and mystery of every child's life as it unfolds within unique family and cultural contexts.

The Concept of Development

The development of young children during the first 8 years is an elaborate passage that ordinarily proceeds on its own without much attention to the subtle and complex aspects of the process. We take it for granted that in the short space of one year, newborn infants will become upright, mobile, and able to communicate. We expect toddlers to develop a sense of self and a working knowledge of the world around them. It does not surprise us that by kindergarten, most youngsters have mastered a majority of the fundamental motor, language, social, and self-care skills required for successful life as adults. Primary school curricula are organized on the presumption that children will become literate and able to use reading and writing as a foundation for subsequent learning.

Although we speak generally of development as a necessary and anticipated component of growth and learning, it is a concept worth discussing in more detail. For purposes of this book the term development refers to the gradual, cumulative, and orderly changes, both physical and psychological, that result in increasingly sophisticated behaviors and interactions during the course of a person's lifetime. This book covers development from birth to the age of approximately 8 years. The reader is referred to any of the many excellent developmental psychology texts listed at the end of the chapter for a thorough discussion of reproduction, prenatal development, and the birthing process, as well as later childhood and adolescence.

An understanding of child development is often equated with knowledge of developmental theory or research, with a focus on the changing behaviors, attitudes, and abilities of boys and girls over time. Young children, of course, grow and learn within the context of families and communities, so the concept of development is far more complex than a simple list of milestones that describe individual functioning of children (Katz, 1996). There is a variety of contrasting opinions about the factors that control development and even concerns about the usefulness of the concept as a knowledge base for early childhood educators (Goffin, 1996). In this chapter we explore some of the issues basic to a more expansive and inclusive concept of development. The more you read about and work with young children, the more refined your own thinking about early development will become.

Resiliency and Vulnerability

Central to the notion of development are the related concepts of resilience and vulnerability. These terms describe the complex combination of biological makeup and environmental conditions that establish the relative balance between positive (resilient) and negative (vulnerable) developmental outcomes. Resilient children tend to do well in life and develop skills, attitudes, and behaviors that allow them to be successful even in the face of adverse life experiences. Vulnerability implies a less advantageous course of development, especially in the event of biological or environmental hardship. Vulnerable children are more likely to struggle for achievement and experience less success at home, in school, and in the community. Bee (1997) describes vulnerable children as those who can thrive only in optimal, supportive settings, whereas resilient children seem able to prosper across a range of supportive and nonsupportive l...