Physical
0-2 months; the infant will look at you when you are talking. Their leg and arm movements seem uncoordinated, their neck muscles are weak and babies aren’t able to control the movements in their head.
3-4 months; The baby develops some control of their neck muscles and they can lift their chest when they are on their stomachs. When being put to bed, always make sure the child is on their back.
4-5 months; The child can now roll from side to back or from their back onto their side.
6-7 months; The baby is able to turn over completely.
7-8 months; the infant can pull themselves up and lower themselves down with the strength of their arms.
8-10 months; The child is able to creep on their stomach or they begin to crawl on their hands and knees.
9-11 months; The baby can walk if they are leaded, or by holding onto the furniture.
12-18 months; Toddler is walking well, both forward and backwards, they are able to creep downstairs, they can get on and off a chair, and they can throw a ball without losing balance.
18-60 months; The child can alternate feet when they are climbing the stairs, they are able to ride a tricycle and balance on one foot.
Intellectual
This is the stage when babies start to develop their skills of communication initially through the means of crying, babies cry for a number of reasons as this is the only way of communicating, babies cry to gain things such as attention, feeding or because they are feeling pain in the early years they will do this with the use of facial expressions. As time goes on babies pick up language starting off with noise, such as “Goo Goo Ga ga”, the more babies are exposed to language and communication the boarder their knowledge of communication. As babies turn into infants there knowledge of local language also grows, giving them the power to interact with others. Such as nursery school associates. As the age of 0-3 is the age when children/babies start to interact with other children/babies. As well as communicating babies also learn to play and problem solve, problem solving come in the forms of puzzles and grasping things to hold. Infancy also brings different types of learning. Things like colours, words and objects.
Emotional
This is the stage when babies/infants start to feel emotions, such as knowing a familiar caring voice, learning to love and creating an emotional connection to their parent or carer. Babies and infants show emotion by crying or laughing either when they are happy or sad. They will also show a preference to their carer or parent.
Social
The very first sign of social bonding will be with that of the parent or carer as this is the point of contact upon arriving in the social environment. Babies and infants also get to interact with other babies/infants giving them their first contact with other members of society. The more time infants spend on their social development the quicker they recognise faces and voices. As the child gains control over eliminative functions and motor abilities, they begin to explore their surroundings. The parents still provide a strong base of security from which the child can venture out to assert their will. The parents' patience and encouragement helps foster autonomy in the child. Children at this age like to explore the world around them and they are constantly learning about their environment. Caution must be taken at this age while children may explore things that are dangerous to their health and safety. At this age, children develop their first interests. For example, a child who enjoys music may like to play with the radio. Children who enjoy the outdoors may be interested in animals and plants. Highly restrictive parents, however, are more likely to instil the child with a sense of doubt and reluctance to attempt new challenges. As they gain increased muscular coordination and mobility, toddlers become capable of satisfying some of their own needs. They begin to feed themselves, wash and dress themselves, and use the bathroom.
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4-9 Years (Childhood) These also are part of the fundamental years
These years are the last years of the fundamental learning years as well as the last years of childhood.
Physical
Physically a child will expand on the things they have learned during infancy, they will learn to fully master things they know already. At four/five a child can take one step at a time when walking down the stairs, they can also run a little faster than before. At five to six years, a child can ride bicycles with training wheels (stabilisers) in some cases they might not need stabilisers for support. The child can step sideways, play on the jungle gym and swing without supervision. They also like to play organized sports like football, karate and dance. As well as their abilities growing also their appearance changes too, they can start to lose their teeth, they become taller and their hair grows at the rate of an adult.
Intellectual
From 3 to 4 years old, the child can fasten clothes with zips and popper buttons and will gain independence when getting changed, though it can take a long time for them to get changed. They can learn to write with fat pens and they are able to open jars. Aged 4 to 5 years old, the child can unbutton and button clothes themselves. They can draw stick people and can copy shapes like circles. 5 to 7 years old, they begin to show signs of starting full-time school. They can use pencils, crayons and paints and even read books. Children are able to brush their teeth and comb their hair as they have learnt how to do this from members of the family and other people within society
Emotional
From around four years old, the child will become confident and self-assured, they could also be afraid of the dark and other fears, when ill, overtired or hurt a child will turn to their carers or adults. At the age of five they can show their emotions properly and they show a desire to excel in life and they also develop shame. At six to seven years old, these are the times where the child will become rebellious; they can also become miserable and sulky. Children show their emotions more often as it is a natural occurrence to them.
Social
At four years old the child may only have one friend in which they are particularly friendly with, they can be good when socialising, can take turns and they play with groups of children. At five years, a child will want approval from adults; will prefer games with rivalry than team games. The child will argue with their carers/parents if they want something. The child will enjoy co-operative play but will need an adult to decide. At six to seven the child is more aware of gender characteristics.
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10-18 Years (Adolescence)
This is the most confusing stage of life for both girls and boys as this is the time of change from a child to a young adult. Identity versus Role confusion arises. Question arises such as ‘who am I, where I am going?’. As they make the transition from childhood to adulthood, adolescents ponder the roles they will play in the adult world. Initially, they are apt to experience some role confusion- mixed ideas and feelings about the specific ways in which they will fit into society- and may experiment with a variety of behaviours and activities (e.g. tinkering with cars, baby-sitting for neighbours, affiliating with certain political or religious groups).
Physical
When reaching adolescence, physical development isn’t just based on height, for girls it is based when they have their first menstrual cycle and for boys it’s about the first whiskers. Sexual maturity is dependent on the person but for girls it’s usually around 10.5 and 12.5 for boys. Puberty starts this is a process of where the body is preparing for sexual reproduction, in boys the penis enlarges and for girls their organs start to develop (uterus and vagina) and enlargement of breasts. Where for boys the voice breaks and becomes deeper in tone giving the feeling of adulthood and moved on from the childhood stage of life.
Females go through menstruation (hormone change) at which the female body is at the height of fertility is between the ages of late teens and early twenties and come to the end of menopause normally between the ages of forty five and fifty five due to a reduction in sex hormones.
Intellectual
Intellectually at this time, the teenager is still in school until they are sixteen, this means that their intellectual development is still growing because of them being still in school. They also have a grasp of general knowledge and they can put this to use when learning new things. Typically 12-14 years, young adult is ready, given sufficient and competent schooling, to develop toward Formal operations. (Paiget,1930) has written that somewhere around puberty, given sufficient educational stimulus the thinking process changes from concrete operations to formal operations, for throughout this stage the person has been working towards their achievements and in the later stage of adulthood working towards their career choice using their skills in gaining their formal qualifications.
Emotional
Emotionally a teenager will know how to express their emotions but they may do it in the wrong way. As this is the time when children mould themselves from the influences they have experienced in life. They will also start to get emotionally attached to peers/friends. The change of the human body can also have a big impact on our emotions.
Social
A teenager will value their friends a lot more, and there will be heterosexual groups, and dating will become important. The teenager will spend more time with their friends socialising.
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19-65 Years (Adulthood)
Physical
This is where the skin has lost lots of elasticity and there are wrinkles starting to form as well as their skin feeling the factors of the aging process their reaction time slows down and they may need glasses during this time period due to the fact of their sight deteriorating.
Intellectual
Intellectually the older adult has a vast range of knowledge, this is due to school, and for what they have seen or read throughout the course of their life. The great joy of life experience
Emotional
Emotionally an older adult may become more or less emotional than before; they might either find themselves crying to things they wouldn’t necessarily cry at before. Yet, a person may become stranger and find themselves not crying at something they would have before. A short temper or more patience. This can prove to be an emotional struggle as with age people can also lose the ability to interact with old friends due to ill health thus causing lack of interaction and putting more emotional pressure on an individual through being lonely.
Social
Life is a very social time during the adult life and socialising plays a big part in many people life as this give an individual the feeling of inclusion and acceptance but as life goes on and time goes by this can become a problem as physically some people are not as physically able to socialise as they would have used to, this can have a big impact on the older adult giving the feeling of exclusion and the feeling of isolation.
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65+ Years (Senior Years)
Physical
This is the time when some members of this group can come across physically challenging situations as life can present disabilities
Intellectual
The learning stage happens throughout life and in most cases does not end so the human being is always trying to broaden their knowledge and skills, in this later stage of life is no different; as some people are learning to use technology. The elderly people enjoy gaining knowledge through TV game shows. This is also a great time to pick up new hobbies as people seem to have more time on their hands such as gardening and hand crafts.
Emotional
Age can play a big part in emotions depending on their social aspect as if older adults are still fit and able then their social activity is still being met and inclusion in society is not being lost, but as for losing the feeling of social inclusion could cause emotional problems such as depression through the lack of friends and family members visiting them in their home or in a social environment.
Social
Older adults can have problems when it comes to social life, as lots of older adults are not as active as they used to be, this can have an impact on their social life. The lack of activity could be from a range of things such as illness, disabilities, lack of family members, living in a care home, although at the other end of the spectrum there are older adult who enjoy the later years as more socialising is taking place as they now have the freedom of retirement giving them more time to socially meet their peers/friends this could be in the form of a social club, bingo or a gardening club and giving them the feeling of inclusion
Conclusion;
This assignment has detailed how the factors of life has effects on the different life stages of an individual looking into the physical changes and the social changes from the seven different life stages that the human body goes through from the learning of the parent voices to the loss of hearing in later life stage.
References
Business balls., ., 20/11/2011
The childhood affirmation programme., ., 20/11/2011
Learning place online.,
20/11/2011
Society for the protection of unborn children., ., 20/11/2011
Erikson's stages of psychosocial development,.
,. 01/12/2011