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Know More About Child Development and Different Stages

One of the major concerns of parents and pediatricians is a child's early development and the stages of that development. Child development in itself refers to the biological, emotional, and psychological changes occurring during a human's life from the time they are born until the end of their adolescent years and on into early adulthood. During this time, the child progresses through dependency to autonomy. Additionally, genetics and prenatal development are factors that are included when studying child development.


Child development stages refers to the different stages that the child goes through during the time period mentioned above and describes what are called theoretical milestones of child development. Psychologists use these stages as benchmarks for the growth and maturity of the child. As a result, we have seen the onset of several different theories of child development. However, one of the most comprehensive of which was developed by Lawrence Kohlberg, (psychologist and professor at Harvard and the University of Chicago).

Kohlberg put forth the theory of moral development and based this on the four stages of cognitive development created by Jean Piaget, the Swiss developmental psychologist and philosopher. Kohlberg was able to create a notion of child development that was more comprehensive than Piaget's. What resulted was Kohlberg's theory contained 6 child development stages whereas Piaget's originally concept touted 4 stages. These 6 stages are broken down as follows.

The first two development stages usually occur during the child's first two years of life with the child beginning to realize that there are certain guidelines or rules that the parent establishes in the first stage. These must be followed or else a punishment may be issued.

With the second stage, the development of individuality begins to take hold and the child quickly realizes that not everyone around them think the same way about making bad or good decisions. The concept of punishment is also re-evaluated during this stage.

Children begin developing compassion and empathy for others during the third of the 6 child development stages. The decisions that they make now have a direct impact on others around them and the concept of interpersonal relationships deepens.

Stage four is characterized by a beginning to understand the concept of social order and how their actions impact a larger scale. Additionally, they begin to develop a better sense of duty to community or country.

The fifth of the development stages involves a re-evaluation of their relationship with society. They begin to understand how certain decisions may be appropriate for society but not for some of its individuals. They assess their own values as they compare their world to the world of others.

During the final stage of development the individual (who is now a young adult) begins determining which of their learned principles and values are universal, no matter what the circumstances are.
On a closing note, development stages encompass the emotional, language, mental, physical, and social abilities of the individual and ensure that their development and growth is proceeding at a healthy rate.

For the latest videos and training information on child development as well as books and curricula on Autism please visit childdevelopmentmedia.com.


Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6748241

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Emman

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