The Range of Skills and Abilities in Early Childhood - Essay Example

Observation Early childhood entails a period of extraordinary cognitive, physical, social, as well as, emotional development. At birth, an infant has limited abilities and skills. However, the range of skills and abilities do change as the child grows and develops novel, cognitive, motor social and language skills (Feldman, 2012). These tremendous changes astonish parents and caregivers. Therefore, it is important to study, learn, and observe child development since it enables people appreciate the physical, emotional, social, cognitive, as well as, educational growth stages children pass through from birth to early adulthood stage. In order to learn more about child development, I observed my younger brother aged 3 years old developing over time. Each instance of the observation took around 30 minutes and I assessed various development changes in a variety of situations such as during meals, playing, talking, crying and when in different environmental surroundings. In the observations, I employed the use of various child development theories to assess John’s development. The theories included Cognitive child development, Behavioral development, and social child development theories. Cognitive Child development theory Jean Piaget, a psychologist by profession advanced the theory. According to him, children go through four key stages of cognitive development (Feldman, 2012). These stages are marked by shifts in the manner they understand the world. Thus, he believed that kids are little scientists who actively try to discover, as well as, make sense of the world and everything around them. After observation of his kids, he introduced a stage theory of intellectual or logical development with four different stages. These included the sensorimotor stage; from birth to 2 years old, preoperational stage; from 2 years old to 7 years, concrete operational stage; age 7 to 11 years and lastly, formal operational stage; commences from adolescence through adulthood (DeRobertis, 1997). The sensorimotor stage- begins at birth to 2 years old and kids acquire knowledge by the help of sensory experiences as well as by manipulating objects. The preoperational stage – begins from 2 years to 7 years old and children in the stage gain knowledge by pretend play. However, they do struggle with logic and do not take viewpoints of other people thus are egocentric. The concrete operational stage – commences from age 7 to 11 and kids start experiencing logical thinking, which can sometimes be very rigid. Moreover, they do struggle with hypothetical and abstract concepts. The formal operational stage – commences from adolescence through adulthood and is characterized by increased logic among the kids. Consequently, people in the group have the capability of deductive reasoning, as well as, an understanding of conceptual ideas. Social child development theories The major contributor of the social learning theory was Albert Bandura. He argued that people do learn new information, as well as, behaviors by studying other people in the environment (Thomas, 2005). He called it observational learning, and it explains variation in behaviors among children and people in different environments. These form the three basic concepts in social learning theory and include; observational learning, mental state influence in the learning process and finally, that learning something does not necessarily mean that it will influence behavior of an individual. Behavioral development theories Behavioral child development theories focus on the environmental influence on behavior of a child. Various theorists such as Ivan Pavlov, B.F. Skinner, and John B. Skinner have immensely contributed to the advancement of the theories. Thus, the theories only focus on observable behaviors. Moreover, the theories associate development of a child to reactions towards reinforcements, stimuli, punishments, and rewards (DeRobertis, 1997). However, I do not agree with the Behavioral theory since it does not consider the impact of feelings and internal thoughts on the development of a child (Feldman, 2012). I do agree with their believe that experience shapes human beings. However, other factors such as feelings and internal thoughts do influence and shape the personality of an individual. The first observation on the child entailed demographics. The child was named John; a Caucasian and three years old at the commencement of the observation exercise. In appearance, John was approximately 1 meter tall, weighed 10 kilograms and put on black jeans trouser with white cotton T-shirt. Consequently, he was a healthy and happy boy. Just like other kids of his age, my brother John experienced tremendous physical development. Within the first month of the observation, I noticed that John was adding more weight. His weight increased to 11 kilograms. In the second month, I realized that his height was also gradually increasing. Thus, he was experiencing normal physical development of a child. Moreover, in relation to cognitive development, John experienced normal development as per Piaget’s theory of cognitive development. Since he was three years old at the time of observation, John belonged in the preoperational stage of cognitive development that commences from age two to age seven (Feldman, 2012). During that three month period, I observed John in different environments such as when in school, when playing with friends, when alone and when with parents and other family members. On a certain instance, I gave him some on a chart and told him to choose the best among the ones on the chart. Surprisingly, John chose the same picture more than three times. When it was my turn to choose a picture, I selected a different one from his initial choice. Astonishingly, John refuted and asserted that his picture was the best. He even went ahead and cried. This clearly proved Piaget’s assertion that John was egocentric and therefore, do not take or consider the viewpoints of other people (Martin, Fabes, & Fabes, 2009). This occurs since he does not understand that sometimes things do appear different to other people. Moreover, he believes that people should take his viewpoint and that he is right in his selection. Moreover, in the second month of my observation, I noticed that John was struggling with logic. This was proved at one instance when I poured the same quantity of juice in two glasses of different sizes. Therefore, I told John to choose the one he wanted to drink. Amazingly, John chose the glass with a higher-level mark of juice. This occurred since he was struggling to reason (Martin, Fabes, & Fabes, 2009). According to him, the glass with a higher-level mark of juice seemed to be containing more juice compared to the one with a lower mark. However, he did not realize that both glasses contain the same amount of juice and that the shape of the glasses caused the difference in height levels of juice. Further, John experienced emotional and social development as per the social learning theory. Just as outlined by Albert Bandura in the theory, John developed by learning a lot from people around him (Thomas, 2005). In my first observation, I noticed that John learned to play many games from his peers. However, he never knew anything about the games earlier before he started playing with fellow children. Moreover, through interaction with peers and family members, I noticed that John was now social. For instance, he could speak his mind, make friends quickly with strangers and was now more confident of himself. One day while I was singing, I noticed he was quiet and seemed like concentrating on the song. Immediately I finished singing, I was surprised to hear him sing the same song. Thus, I learned that he could listen to someone speak or sing and repeat the same thereafter. This is what Bandura asserts as observational learning in his social learning theory (Feldman, 2012). Moreover, I discovered that through social learning, John achieved immense progress in his development. He learned to be strong and dropped the habit of crying when things do not go his way. Thus, he learned to be strong in life, and that crying does not solve all of his problems. He therefore became a strong, confident, and a social boy who controls his emotions and feelings unlike before when he used to cry over minute things. John meets the milestone, as well as, stages for the cognitive, physical, as well as, social emotional development. In the three-month period that I observed him, he recorded or displayed all forms of development attributed to a child. He increased in height and weight, became more social and confident, as well as, at times became more egocentric just like kids of his age (Martin, Fabes, & Fabes, 2009). Moreover, there is nothing abnormal with John. For the three-month period that I observed him, I never discovered whether he was gifted. However, at some instances, I could see him interested in singing. Therefore, I may guess that he has a passion in music. From results of the observation, I do agree with the social development and cognitive theories. However, I partially agree with the behavioral development theory since it does not consider other factors such as internal feelings and thoughts to be contributing to the development of a child. Thus, the theory needs to integrate such factors since they do play a significant role in shaping the personality of an individual. In conclusion, having knowledge of child development is crucial since it makes us appreciate and recognize the different physical, emotional, social, cognitive, as well as, educational growth stages that children pass through from birth to early adulthood. This will help us assist the kids during development thereby ensuring they grow and develop into mature and good people in the society. References DeRobertis, E. M. (1997). Humanizing child developmental theory: A holistic approach. New York: iUniverse, Inc. Feldman, R. S. (2012). Discovering the life span. Upper Saddle River, N.J. : $b Pearson, $c c2012. Martin, C. L., Fabes, R. A., & Fabes, R. A. (2009). Discovering child development. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co. Thomas, R. M. (2005). Comparing theories of child development. Belmont, Calif: Thomson Wadsworth. Read More