Child Development, Cognitive and Intellectual Development - Essay Example

Running Head: Child Development Child Development Name Course Lecturer Date Child Development Every Human being grows and develops from conception to an adult. Growth is the increase in body size in regard to height, weight and other measurable areas. Development on the other hand is the gaining of skills and performances in all aspects of the child’s life. Several theories have been brought forward trying to answer whether development is initially a process of nature or nurture. However, though without a concrete answer on the same, it is well known that growth and development in a child happens in an orderly manner according to well known principles. For instance, a new born baby lies and cannot turn but gradually learns to support his body parts (Makame, 2001). Growth and development in a child mainly takes place in 4 domains namely: Physical, cognitive, communication and language, and social and emotional development. All these areas of development link together. Each aspect must be viewed with equal importance as if one of them is neglected other domains suffer as well (Edlin, Galanty & Brown, 2002). Growth and development are dependent on many factors with some affecting some children more than others and either positive or negative. For example, child growing up in a home with no financial worries may be well fed these advantages can lose their impact if the child does not have a loving and supportive family. This paper aims to explore the general development of child and factors affecting the same. To begin with, a child needs to physical develop. This refers to increasing skills and performances of the body. It is the development that is seen and analyzed by others. For instance, other people and family members often comment on the much a child has grown. Precisely, they are saying the child has increased in size, weight and height (The Southern African Development Community, 2000). Also, it involves the dramatic change in body proportions. A new born baby`s head is much bigger in proportion to the rest of the body parts. Physical development as well includes the motor development. This is the skills to use our body parts. Gross motor development is the use of large muscles of the body like legs and arms to jump, run and climb. Fine motor development involves the use precise of muscles like fingers and hands for co-ordination (Aunola, 2005). Secondly, cognitive or intellectual Development is a major part of development in a child`s life. It is general term for learning, thinking and human perception. It also includes concentration, memory and learning the skills of understanding. Theories have explored how children develop intellectually (Paxson, C. & Schady, N., 2005). Piaget Theory emphasizes that a child develops schemas to enable them solve problems. For instance, the child knows all dogs are white if his pet dog is white. On seeing a brown dog the schema must be changed. It is a natural sequence of phases and develops with change in child’s interaction with environment. However, intellectual development occurs at different rates and manner. Some children will become artists and others scientists and its assumed both inherited skills and experience plays a role (Ijzendoorn, M at al., 2005). Thirdly, a child development also includes social and emotional which is development of a person’s self-image and identity, feelings plus learning of skills to associate and live with others. Both family and friends play an important role in its development. Primary socialization is interaction of the child with family members during first years of life. It helps a child learn to socialize with others and know right and wrong. Secondary socialization is the child’s contact with non-family members and outside home settings (Makame, 2001). The interaction is with playgroups and school enhances a child interaction with others, know the rules of the society and the knowledge to handle adults who are not family. Certain process impacts how a child relates with social world as well as fit in families. Like bonding and attachment process at early life through eye contact and feeding leads to development of deep feelings between the child and parent, self concept and personal identity linked to parenting quality, moral development through observing adults and pro-social behavior which is an advanced stage of moral development. (The Southern African Development Community, 2000). Fourthly, Communication and speech development is an essential part of development of any child. It is the act of learning to communicate believed to begin even before a child is born by acting towards loud noises or distress by moving. Born babies communicate by crying to insinuate different needs like hunger or sick. In eight months a child can babble some words, at 17 months speaks at least thirty words and at three years he can construct sentences. The development of language and speech is divided into to 2 stages. Pre-linguistic which occur till 12 months when a baby begins to babble some words. Second stage is linguistic when a child uses meaningful words (The Southern African Development Community, 2000). Several factors impact a child’s development. Hereditary factors play a significant role. Genes are gained from both the father and the mother determine characteristics like skin color, a person’s height and weight and eye color among other things. These are passed through generations and a responsible for development of physical features in a child (McDaniel, 2012). According to McDaniel (2012), there are recessive and dominant genes that determine an individual personal characteristic. For instance, if one parent is tall and the other one is short, the dominant gene will determine the height of the resulting child. In language development, genes accounts for up to 70% of disorders in spoken language. Moreover, adequate nutrition is a major factor affecting human development. This is essential during and after pregnancy. A healthy diet ensures prevention of obesity and weight disease like diabetes and helps avoid stagnation in a child’s development. (MedlinePlus, 2012). Deficiency of iron during infancy is associated with delayed psychomotor development (Meyers, A., & Cahwla, N. 2000). Food rich in calcium is essential for development of a child’s teeth and bones. Infants require higher amount of fat intake due to their rapid growth rate (Caldwell, M, et al., 2004). Additionally, cognitive development linked to performance in later life requires healthy nutrition in early stages of life is (Ardect, D. et al. 2005). For instance, Iron is necessary part of brain tissue Tuttle, C. R., 2000). It deficiency causes slow movement of nerve impulses and may cause permanent brain damage. Lack of iodine in infancy still leads to reduced cognition and achievement in school age kids. Generally, poorly nourished kids mildly fights infections. On the other hand, proper breast feeding results to higher IQ and cognitive development and lowers bacterial meningitis. (Meyers, A., et al, 2000). Children who are breastfed up to six months are more outgoing, socially secure and more advanced on developmental scales hence a better social and emotional development (Lawrence, 2008). Thirdly, parent child interaction is vital for a child’s development. It is based on two dimensions namely nurturance which is warmth and support, and control i.e. supervision and discipline. Statistics shows that healthy parent-child relationship facilitates adjustment and results to positives outcomes in children (Aunola, 2005). Higher self concept which is a major component of social and emotional development of a child is linked to affection between child and parent. Secure attachment in infancy is associated with cognitive and language development. Aggression and peer rejection both mainly caused by insufficient parental affection are related to academic problems. Conversely, inadequate affection and warmth from parents as early as from infancy, leads to alienation feelings, low self esteem and risk as well as antisocial behaviors as the child develops (Jacob, T, & Johnson S., 1997). Fourthly,culture impacts a childs development. Considerably differences appear in child`s ealry dispositional characteristics, like the way they react to challenges and emaotional reactions as welll as behaviorl regulations. Children reared in open societies and populations that allows peer interactions will have a healthy social and emotional development.Cultures that value competitiveness and the pursuit of personal goals seem to allow for more coercive and aggressive behavior than cultures that emphasize group harmony. (Chen, 2009). Conclusively, a child’s development is a gradual but sure process. As many factors will impact the development negatively of positively depending on the way they are exposed and presented to the child. Regardless of how personal characteristics emerge domains of physical, social, cognitive and language, and behavioral development, together they influence the likelihood of success in the primary challenges of life. It is also good to note that is not solely a role parent but of community in general. References Ardect, D., & Weid, D. (2005). Spirulina as a Food Complement to Improve Health and Cognitive Development. Geneva: Antenna Technologies. Aunola, K. &. (2005). Child Development. The Role of Parenting Styles in Children’s Problem Behavior , Volume 76, Number 6, Pages 1144 – 1159. Caldwell, M., & Huitt, W. (2004). An overview of physical development. Educational Psychology Interactive. Valdosta, GA: Valdosta State University Chen, X. (2009). Culture and Early Socio-Emotional Development . Ontorio,CA: University of Western Ontario, . Edlin, G., Golanty, E., & Brown, K. (2002). Health and wellness (7th Ed.). Sudbury, MA: Jones & Bartlett. Ijzendoorn, M., Juffer,F., Poelhuis, C. (2005). Psychological Bulletin. Adoption and Cognitive Development: A Meta-Analytic Comparison of Adopted and Nonadopted Children’s IQ and School Performance , Vol. 131, No. 2, 301–316. Lawrence, R. (2008). Supporting Breastfeeding/Early Childhood Social and Emotion Development. Rochester: University of Rochester School of Medicine, USA. Makame, V. (2001). A Rapid assessment of child rearing practices likely to affect child's emotional, psychosocial and psychomotor development. Dar es Saalam: UNICEF. MedlinePlus. (2012). Child Nutrition. Retrieved 2012, from nlm.nih.gov: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/childnutrition.html Meyers, A., & Cahwla, N. (2000). Nutrition and the social, emotional, and cognitive development of infants and young children. Zero to Three, 21 (1), 5-12. Paxson, C. & Schady, N. (2005). Cognitive Development Among Young Children in Ecuador: The Roles of Wealth, Health and Parenting. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University. The Southern African Development Community. (2000). Child Development. Johannesburg: The Commonwealth of Learning &r SADC Ministries of Education. Tuttle, C. R. (2000). Healthy eating for 2- to 5-year-old children.College Park, MD: Maryland Cooperative Extension. Read More