OVERVIEW OF THEORIES IN

CHILD DEVELOPMENT
 Introduction
Definition of terms
Development is the increase in the complexity
of function and skill progression.

-It is the capacity and skill of a person to adapt

to the environment.

- Development is the behavioral aspect of

growth (eg, ability to walk to talk and to run).
 Introd….
Theory
• A set of statements or principles devised to
explain a group of facts or phenomena, especially
one that has been repeatedly tested or is widely
accepted and can be used to make predictions
about natural phenomena.

• Human developmental theories are models

intended to account for how and why people
become as they are
 Introd….
• Children are born small, knowing the world in
limited ways, with little or no understanding of
other people as separate from themselves

• They grow larger, learn about the physical and

social worlds, join different cooperative social
groups
 Introd….
• Over the years, people who study children
have created theories to explain how children
develop.
• While these theorists realize that every child is
special and grow in his or her unique way,

- they also have recognized that there are

general patterns children tend to follow as
they grow up.
 Developmental Channels
• Children have to grow and develop in many
different areas in order to become healthy,
happy, productive members of adult society

• channels in which children grow are:

- physical, psychological and cognitive, social
and emotional, and sexuality and gender
identity
 Developmental Channels cont…
• The physical channel is most obvious.
Children's bodies grow in height and weight
over the years and change appearance during
puberty.

• Children also develop certain physical abilities

during their progression towards adulthood,
including crawling, walking, running and
writing or shooting a basketball
• Children also develop psychologically and
cognitively as their brains absorb more
information and they learn how to use that
information.

• Literally, children have to learn how to think on

purpose and to process or organize all the
information that comes to them from the
environment.

• They must learn how to solve problems, to talk,

and to complete mental tasks such as
remembering telephone numbers or using
computers.
 Developmental Channels …
• Children grow socially and emotionally. They
learn how to interact, play, work, and live with
other people

• They learn how to understand both their own

feelings and others' emotions.

• They also learn ways of dealing with strong

emotions
 Developmental Channels …..
• In order to function well as independent
adults,

- children must develop a sense of self-esteem

as they go through the long process of figuring
out what shape their identity

• They develop a sense of morality as they learn

the difference between right and wrong.
 Developmental Channels …
• Finally, children have to develop sexually and
form a gender identity.

• This developmental channel is unique because

it spans developments across the other
physical, psychological, and social channels.

• Early on, children learn how their bodies work

and look and what it means to be a boy or a
girl; they learn how boys and girls are
different
 Developmental Channels …
• As they grow older and enter adolescence and
puberty, they continue to learn how their
bodies work sexually and

• how to responsibly handle their sexuality so as

to balance their sexual desires and
appropriate behavior.

• They continue to decide for themselves what

it means to be masculine or feminine
throughout their lifespan.
 Child Development Milestones
Often, developmental stages are defined by
milestones
• A milestone is a sort of marker that tells you
where you are while traveling.

• Often, special milestones mark children's

accomplishments, such as walking in infancy,
- these milestones can help mark children's
movement inside and between
developmental stages.
 Child Development Milestones
• Children build new skills and developments on
top of old skills and developments from stage
to stage; each stage is cumulative.

• A child is able to run in the middle childhood

phase because she was first able to walk near
the end of her infancy stage.
 Child Development Milestones
• Entry and exit from the various developmental
stages tends to occur at particular ages.
• Every child develops at his or her own speed
- Children's development does not happen
uniformly, but rather, it progresses along at its
own rate
• If one child is potty trained at age three and his
neighbor at age three and a half does not mean
that one is brighter than the other
• there are some situations in which children
unable to reach certain milestones within an
acceptable time frame.
This is caused by;
 disease, injury, mental disability
 problems developing in the womb
 environmental reasons
 trauma or unknown causes

• This can keep some children from developing

properly or can even cause children to go
backward into previous stages
 Sensitive Periods in Child Development
• Most theorists agree that there are periods in
children's lives in which they become biologically
mature enough to gain certain skills that they
could not have easily picked up prior to that
maturation.

For example, research has shown that babies and

toddlers' brains are more flexible with regard to
learning to understand and use language than
older children's brain
 Sensitive Periods in Child Dev….
• Children are ready and open to develop certain
things during specific stages but they need
proper environmental stimuli to develop these
abilities.

-For example, babies have the ability to grow in

length and weight in amazing way during the
first year, but if they're not fed and cared
enough during that time, they will not grow
and thrive.
Sensitive Periods in Child Development …
• It's like children have a window of opportunity
when they are ready to grow in certain ways if
they have the right stuff and tools in their
environment.

• When that window closes, it will never be as

easy to grow in those ways again

• Some theorists call these time critical periods,

but other theorists call them sensitive
periods.
 Sensitive Periods in Child Development
• Theorists who believe in critical periods
believe that;

- children who do not get special stimulation

during their window of receptivity are going to
be "stuck" forever and never gain the abilities
they should have gained in that period
 Sensitive Periods in Child Development

• other theorists believe that those very

sensitive times in a child's life are just
sensitive periods.

• They agree that children who do not get the

right nurturing at the right times to jumpstart
their developmental potential are going to
have problems later in life but they do not
think that this inability to develop is
permanent.
 Sensitive Periods in Child Development
-For example, infancy is the time when children
first learn that, they can trust an adult or
parent to take care of all their needs, keep
them safe, and give them love

• Some infants live in orphanages centre's

- These children go through their first years
without touch or affection that would teach
them to trust and to show affection to
caregivers
 Sensitive Periods in Child Development
• If these children are eventually adopted by a
loving family later on in their childhood,
- they often have trouble adjusting to having
an affectionate, loving parents

• Such a child's ability to trust and love would

have essentially become "stuck" in infancy,
even though the rest of their body continued
to grow