Copyright Goodheart-Willcox Co., Inc.
Chapter 1 Learning About Children 7
Child
development is one of the most fascinating
subjects you can study. Children are constantly
changing and discovering. They are also curious
and creative. Who else would use a cardboard box
for a house, a car, or a hiding place? If you spend
any time with children, you know they can be lov-
able and challenging.
As you learn more about children, you will
see that they go through many stages of growth
and development. This book emphasizes the early
years (before birth through the elementary school
years) because these years are the most important
in shaping children’s lives.
What Is Child
Development?
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. Development is the gradual
process through which babies become adults.
Development begins at conception and continues
until death. The process of development has many
stages, such as before birth, infancy, childhood,
adolescence, and adulthood.
Child development is the scientifi c study of
children from conception to adolescence. Like
lifespan development, child development is con-
cerned with the whole child and the process or
changes that occur in both growth and behavior.
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
skills.
By conducting research, experts in the fi elds
of medicine, education, family and consumer
sciences, and sociology help gather knowledge
about children. People then use these facts to
learn about children. Anyone who interacts with
children can benefi t from this knowledge. Child
development teaches teens and adults how to
care for children.
Domains of Child Development
Because the domains (areas) of child devel-
opment are so highly related, child development
experts must learn about all four of the domains
(Figure 1.1). Experts usually discuss these domains
separately. For the purposes of this text, however,
social and emotional domains are frequently dis-
cussed together. Therefore, this text uses the fol-
lowing terms to describe the domains of child
development:
• physical development—involves growth
of the body and the development of both
large and small motor skills.
• intellectual development—includes how
people learn, what people learn, and how
people express what they know through
language.
• social-emotional development—concerns
interactions with people and social
groups, disposition, and emotions.
The domains of development constantly interact.
For example, learning to walk (physical develop-
ment) leads the more mobile child to explore and
learn about objects (intellectual development).
Showing caregivers what can be done with an object
aids interactions with others (social development)
and brings pleasure to the child (emotional devel-
opment). These behaviors lead to changes in the
brain (physical development).
Individual Life Cycle
The individual life cycle is a description of the
stages of change people experience throughout
life (from birth through old age). To help them study
development over time, experts divide life into
age-related stages. Each stage of life has unique
opportunities, achievements, and challenges. Thus,
each stage requires different ways of supporting
growth and development.
Average ages are given for the stages to provide
a basic idea of when stages may begin and end. The
exact ages for a specifi c person, however, may vary.
This book covers the fi rst six stages, which are those