Lesson 6: Physical, cognitive, emotional and social development in: Early Childhood (two to
six years)
ABOUT THE LESSON:
Early childhood education is a branch of educational theory that relates to the teaching of children
from birth to eight years of age. Early childhood is the most critical time for positive intervention. The
development of children at this stage is strongly influenced by their environment, and this effect
continues to have a strong impact throughout the rest of their lives.
At the end of the lesson, you will be able to:
LO1. identify the developmental characteristics of a child in early childhood stage.
LO2. explain the different milestones of a child in early childhood stage.
LO3. recognize the importance of ECE.
Lesson Proper:
Early Childhood: Physical and Cognitive Development
Growth Patterns:
A. Height and Weight
Girls and boys tend to gain two to three inches in height per year, and the weight gain remains
fairly stable at around four to six pounds per year.
B. Development of the Brain
The brain develops faster than any other organ in early childhood.
The enlargement of the brain is due in part to persistent myelination of nerve fibers.
Brain development also improves the processing of visual information and facilitates learning to
read.
Visual information processing speed improves during childhood and reaches adult levels in early
adolescence.
C. Motor Development
A child's motor skills develop in early childhood. Children participate in a variety of activities that help
develop their gross and fine motor skills.
A. Gross motor skills
Involve the large muscles used in locomotion
A. Fine motor skills
Involve the small muscles used in manipulation and coordination
D. Health and Illness
Good health requires proper nutrition
E. Sleep
Sleep Disorders:
1. Sleep terrors. Frightening dreamlike experiences that occur during the deepest stage of non-REM
sleep, shortly after the child has gone to sleep.
2. Sleepwalking (somnambulism). tends to occur during deep sleep.
Elimination Disorders:
1. Enuresis. Failure to control the bladder
2. Encopresis. Lack of control over the bowels
Jean Piaget’s Preoperational Stage
Last from about age two to age seven
Characterized by inflexible and irreversible mental manipulation of symbols
Symbolic play (pretend play)
Play in which children make believe that objects and toys are other than what they are
Egocentrism: It’s all about Me!
Putting oneself at the center of things such that one is unable to perceive the world from another
person’s point of view
Causality: Why? Because.
Precausal. A type of thought in which natural cause-and-effect relationships are attributed to will
and other preoperational concepts.
Transductive reasoning
Reasoning from the specific to the specific
Preoperational children also show:
1. Animism. The attribution of life and intentionality to inanimate objects
2. Artificialism. The belief that environmental features were made by people
Conservation (cognitive psychology)
The principle that properties of substances such as weight and mass remain the same (are
conserved) when superficial characteristics such as their shapes or arrangement are changed.
Centration
Focusing on an aspect or characteristic of a situation or problem
Class inclusion
Categorizing a new object or concept as belonging to a broader group of objects or concepts
Requires children to focus on two aspects of a situation at once
Factors in Cognitive Development
Responsiveness of parents and interaction with children are important components of children's
cognitive development.
Scaffolding - Vygotsky’s term for temporary cognitive structures or methods of solving problems that
help the child as he or she learns to function independently
Zone of proximal development (ZPD) - Vygotsky’s term for the situation in which a child carries out
tasks with the help of someone who is more skilled, frequently an adult who represents the culture in
which the child develops
Theory of Mind - a common sense understanding of how the mind works
False beliefs - involves children’s ability to separate their beliefs from those of another person whol
has false knowledge of a situation
Appearance-reality distinction
The difference between real events on the one hand and mental events, fantasies and misleading
appearances on the other hand
Scripts
Abstract, generalized accounts of familiar repeated events
Autobiographical memory
The memory of specific episodes or events
Factors influencing memory
Factors that affect memory include:
1. What the child is asked to remember
2. The interest level of the child
3. The availability of retrieval cues or reminders
4. What memory measure we are using
Rehearsal
Repetition
Development of Vocabulary
Fast mapping
A process of quickly determining a word’s meaning, which facilitates children’s vocabulary
Whole-object assumption
The assumption that words refer to whole objects and not in their component parts or
characteristics
Contrast assumption
The assumption that objects have only one label
Overregularization
The application of regular grammatical rules for forming inflections to irregular verbs and nouns
Pragmatics
The practical aspects of communication such as adaptation of language to fit the social situation
Inner speech
Vygotsky’s concept of the ultimate binding of language and thought
Originates in vocalizations that may regulate the child’s behavior and become internalized by age
six or seven
Early Childhood: Social and Emotional Development
Dimensions of Child Rearing
Authoritative
A child-rearing style in which parents are restrictive and demanding yet communicative and warm
Authoritarian
A child-rearing style in which parents demand submission and obedience
Permissive-indulgent
A child-rearing style in which parents are warm and not restrictive
Rejecting-neglecting
A child-rearing style in which parents are neither restrictive and controlling nor supportive and
responsive
Social Behaviors
Influence of Siblings
Regression
A return to behavior characteristic of earlier stages of development
Birth Order
Peer Relationships
Foster social skills (sharing, helping, taking turns, dealing with conflict
Play-Child’s Play, That Is
Prosocial Behavior (altruism)
Behavior that benefits other people, generally without expectation of reward
Empathy
Sensitivity to the feelings of others and is connected with sharing and cooperation
Development of Aggression
Aggression
refers to behavior intended to hurt or injure another person
By age six or seven, it becomes hostile and person-oriented
Media Influence
Disinhibit
To encourage a response that has been previously suppressed
Personality and Emotional Development
Self-concept
One’s self description and self-evaluation according to various categories, such as child,
adolescent or adult, one’s gender and one’s skills
Categorical self
Definitions of the self that refer to external traits
Initiative versus guilt
Children in this stage strive to achieve independence from parents and master adult behaviors
Development of Gender Roles and Gender Differences
Stereotype
A fixed, conventional idea about a group
Gender role
A cluster of traits and behaviors that are considered stereotypical of females and males
Theories of Development of Gender Differences
1. Social Cognitive Theory
Consider both the roles of rewards and punishment in gender typing and the way in which
children learn from observing others
2. Cognitive-Developmental Theory
Children form concepts about gender and then fit their behavior to the concepts
Gender identity. Knowledge that one is female or male
Gender stability. The concept that one’s gender is unchanging
Gender constancy. The concept that one’s gender remains the same despite changes in
appearance or behavior
3. Gender-Schema Theory
Proposes that children use gender as one way of organizing their perceptions of the world
References:
Books:
Feldman, R. (2018). Development Across the Lifespan 8th Edition. Pearson Education Limited.
Rathus, S. (2018). Human Life Span Development. Cengage Learning.
Internet Sources:
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