Typical Development
What is child development?
Child development is a process every child goes through. This process involves learning and mastering skills like sitting, walking, talking, skipping, and tying shoes. Children learn these skills, called developmental milestones, during predictable time periods.
Children develop skills in five main areas of development:
Cognitive Development
This is the child's ability to learn and solve problems. For example, this includes a two-month-old baby learning to explore the environment with hands or eyes or a five-year-old learning how to do simple math problems.
Social and Emotional Development
This is the child's ability to interact with others, including helping themselves and self-control. Examples of this type of development would include: a six-week-old baby smiling, a ten-month-old baby waving bye-bye, or a five-year-old boy knowing how to take turns in games at school.
Speech and Language Development
This is the child's ability to both understand and use language. For example, this includes a 12-month-old baby saying his first words, a two-year-old naming parts of her body, or a five-year-old learning to say "feet" instead of "foots".
Fine Motor Skill Development
This is the child's ability to use small muscles, specifically their hands and fingers, to pick up small objects, hold a spoon, turn pages in a book, or use a crayon to draw.
Gross Motor Skill Development
This is the child's ability to use large muscles. For example, a six-month-old baby learns how to sit up with some support, a 12-month-old baby learns to pull up to a stand holding onto furniture, and a five-year-old learns to skip.
To find out about the specific milestones that a typical infant or child reaches and when click on this link from the University of Michigan http://www.med.umich.edu/yourchild/topics/devmile.htm#mile. (websource 3)
Child development is a process every child goes through. This process involves learning and mastering skills like sitting, walking, talking, skipping, and tying shoes. Children learn these skills, called developmental milestones, during predictable time periods.
Children develop skills in five main areas of development:
Cognitive Development
This is the child's ability to learn and solve problems. For example, this includes a two-month-old baby learning to explore the environment with hands or eyes or a five-year-old learning how to do simple math problems.
Social and Emotional Development
This is the child's ability to interact with others, including helping themselves and self-control. Examples of this type of development would include: a six-week-old baby smiling, a ten-month-old baby waving bye-bye, or a five-year-old boy knowing how to take turns in games at school.
Speech and Language Development
This is the child's ability to both understand and use language. For example, this includes a 12-month-old baby saying his first words, a two-year-old naming parts of her body, or a five-year-old learning to say "feet" instead of "foots".
Fine Motor Skill Development
This is the child's ability to use small muscles, specifically their hands and fingers, to pick up small objects, hold a spoon, turn pages in a book, or use a crayon to draw.
Gross Motor Skill Development
This is the child's ability to use large muscles. For example, a six-month-old baby learns how to sit up with some support, a 12-month-old baby learns to pull up to a stand holding onto furniture, and a five-year-old learns to skip.
To find out about the specific milestones that a typical infant or child reaches and when click on this link from the University of Michigan http://www.med.umich.edu/yourchild/topics/devmile.htm#mile. (websource 3)
Atypical Development
Signs and Symptoms of Autism or PDD
Infants
· Stiffen when picked up or do not physically conform to the adult’s body when held
· Will not calm when held; perhaps prefer to lie in the crib
· Startle easily when touch or when the bed is bumped
· Strongly dislike baths, dressing, or diaper changing
· Will have poor sucking ability or hard to feed
· Will have poor muscle tone; bodies feel floppy
· Do not have age-appropriate head control or age-appropriate ability to sit, crawl, or walk
Children
· Seem unaware of their surroundings
· Do not make eye contact
· Have general learning problems
· Do not relate to others
· Only eat certain food textures
· Refuse to touch certain textures such as mud or sand
· Have sleep problems, either getting to sleep or staying asleep
· Are hyperactive
· Are withdrawn, miserable, anxious, or afraid
· Display repetitive behavior or speech patterns
· Fixate on one object or body part
· Compulsively touch smooth surfaces/objects
· Show fascination with lights
· Flap arms when excited
· Frequently rock, jump, or spin self or objects
· Walk on tip toes
· Giggle or scream for no apparent reason
· May eat strange substances (paper, soil, toothpaste, soap, rubber) (PEds)
No two children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorders are alike. Children with ASD have disordered sensory processing. They may have inadequate resistration of sensory stimulation. This causes the child to ignore relevant aspects in their environment. You might move directly in front of the child, or speak to them and they act as if no one is there. Children with ASD will also have faulty modulation that results in perceptual distortions and they may recieve information from their environment to the brain that is either over or under stimulating. A child may not have a response to clapping hands close to their head, but a strong reaction to a crinkle of a wrapper or faint siren from the distance. When a child exhibits repetitive behaviors such as rocking, twirling, and flapping the hands it is an attempt to feed the sensory system.
Communication with children will range from normal speech to non-verbal. Some children may occasionally utter small words or hum. Children may repeat or echo speech when spoken too; or may repeat statements heard from earlier in the day, even commercials. This is called echolia. If asked what is your name? They may repeat with, what is your name?
Cognition
30% test mildly intellectually impaired
10% test moderatly intellectually impaired
20% test severly intellectually impaired
40% test in the normal IQ ranges
Some may exhibit savant like skills involving music, numerical calculations, and memory
(Solomon & Clifford O'Brian,
2011)
Infants
· Stiffen when picked up or do not physically conform to the adult’s body when held
· Will not calm when held; perhaps prefer to lie in the crib
· Startle easily when touch or when the bed is bumped
· Strongly dislike baths, dressing, or diaper changing
· Will have poor sucking ability or hard to feed
· Will have poor muscle tone; bodies feel floppy
· Do not have age-appropriate head control or age-appropriate ability to sit, crawl, or walk
Children
· Seem unaware of their surroundings
· Do not make eye contact
· Have general learning problems
· Do not relate to others
· Only eat certain food textures
· Refuse to touch certain textures such as mud or sand
· Have sleep problems, either getting to sleep or staying asleep
· Are hyperactive
· Are withdrawn, miserable, anxious, or afraid
· Display repetitive behavior or speech patterns
· Fixate on one object or body part
· Compulsively touch smooth surfaces/objects
· Show fascination with lights
· Flap arms when excited
· Frequently rock, jump, or spin self or objects
· Walk on tip toes
· Giggle or scream for no apparent reason
· May eat strange substances (paper, soil, toothpaste, soap, rubber) (PEds)
No two children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorders are alike. Children with ASD have disordered sensory processing. They may have inadequate resistration of sensory stimulation. This causes the child to ignore relevant aspects in their environment. You might move directly in front of the child, or speak to them and they act as if no one is there. Children with ASD will also have faulty modulation that results in perceptual distortions and they may recieve information from their environment to the brain that is either over or under stimulating. A child may not have a response to clapping hands close to their head, but a strong reaction to a crinkle of a wrapper or faint siren from the distance. When a child exhibits repetitive behaviors such as rocking, twirling, and flapping the hands it is an attempt to feed the sensory system.
Communication with children will range from normal speech to non-verbal. Some children may occasionally utter small words or hum. Children may repeat or echo speech when spoken too; or may repeat statements heard from earlier in the day, even commercials. This is called echolia. If asked what is your name? They may repeat with, what is your name?
Cognition
30% test mildly intellectually impaired
10% test moderatly intellectually impaired
20% test severly intellectually impaired
40% test in the normal IQ ranges
Some may exhibit savant like skills involving music, numerical calculations, and memory
(Solomon & Clifford O'Brian,
2011)
