27 Chapter 1 Learning About Children
What Is Child
Development?
Development is the gradual
process through which babies
become adults. The process has
many stages, such as before birth,
infancy, childhood, adolescence, and
adulthood. Development begins at
conception and continues until death.
For many years, scientists and
researchers have been studying
children. The goal of these
professionals is to learn more
about how children grow and
develop. Child development is the
scientifi c study of children from
conception to adolescence. Child
development is concerned with the
whole child. It focuses on all areas
of development—physical, mental,
and social-emotional.
Child development focuses
on changes that occur in children
over time. Changes occur in both
growth and behaviors. Growth is
a change in size, such as height,
or in quantity, such as vocabulary.
Changes in behavior include any
change in motor, thinking, and
social-emotional skills.
By doing research, experts in
medicine, education, family and
consumer sciences, and sociology help
gather knowledge about children.
People then use these facts to learn
about children. Anyone who is around
children can use this knowledge. Child
development teaches teens and adults
how to care for children.
Individual Life Cycle
The individual life cycle is a
description of the stages of change
people experience throughout
life, 1-4. To help them study
development over time, experts
divide life into age-related stages.
These stages are based on changes
in growth and behavior that occur
as a result of age. The exact ages
for a specifi c person may vary,
but average ages are given. These
provide a basic idea of when stages
1-4
A person will go through many changes throughout
his or her individual life cycle.
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