Becky Simon
AO1 – Patterns of growth and development
From 0-8 years of a persons life they grow and develop in many different ways. Physical types of growth are height, weight and teeth growth. There are different types of development; these are physical, intellectual and social/ emotional development. A description of these and what topics come in them are as follows;
Physical development
This is the way in which the body increases in skill and becomes more complex in its performance. It includes;
*Gross motor skills – these are large muscles in the body, it includes being able to run, walk, jump and skip.
* Fine motor skills- this includes gross skills and fine skills for example drawing, using a knife and fork.
* Sensory skills – this is the process by which we receive information through senses for example vision, hearing, smell, taste, touch, proprioception ( this is the sense that tells people where the mobile parts of their body, such as the arms and legs, are in relation to the rest of the body.)
Intellectual development
*Cognitive – it’s part of the brain that is used for recognising, reasoning, knowing and understanding.
*Language- the development of communication skills include skills in receptive speech ( what the person understands), expressive speech ( words the person produces), articulation (person’s actual pronunciation of words)
Social/Emotional development
*Emotional – the development of feelings, the growth of feeling about and the awareness of oneself, the development of feelings towards other people. The development of self esteem and self concept.
*Social Skills – growth of the child’s relationships with other people. Socialisation process of learning skills and attitudes that enable the child to live easily with other members of the community.
Physical Growth
Height
The average length of a full term baby is about 50cm. This table shows the average height for boys and girls in inches. It goes up to 13 years however only the first 8 are important to this unit.
As the child grows parts of the body alter shape and size. The proportions of the body change in result of this for example at birth the head of a baby is ¼ of the total length of it’s body, whereas by the age of 7 it’s only 1/6 of the total length of the child’s body.
The graph below shows the average weight and height by the age in months of the child. They are only averages though, since a baby can grow faster of slower and is likely to go through growth spurts as well as times of slower growth. However in more serious cases their can be a specific reasons which stunt a child’s growth in height. These can range from stress, illness, an extra chromosome (Down’s syndrome), one X chromosome (Turner’s syndrome), growth hormone deficiency, thyroxine deficiency or slow growth before birth.
Weight
Babies are weighed as soon as they are born. An average weight for a baby born at the full term (about 40 weeks) is about 3.5 kg (7 ½ lb) for a boy and a little less for a girl. However full term babies can weigh as much as 6.5 kg
(14 lb) and as little as 2.25 kg (5 lb). Reasons for differences in sizes are that small parents often have smaller babies and larger parent often have larger babies. And also It is a fact that first born babies weigh less than any babies born after. A baby will often lose weight in the first few days and regain their birth weight after there second week of being alive.
This is a table I found in the book called “Child care & Development” by Pamela Minett and it shows the average birth weight and at how man weeks they were born at.
This is a table of the average weight for girls and boys. It goes up to 13 years but in this unit only the first 8 years are important. During the first few days of a babies life they will love some of their birth weight, about 10 % , they will re gain at least 2/3 of an ounce per day.
Teeth
Teeth are structures found in the mouths of human beings. We use them to tear, scrape, and chew . The roots of teeth are covered by . Teeth are classified as incisors, canines, and molars. However when a baby is born they do not have these teeth, although babies have the beginnings of their first teeth even before they are born they are just not fully developed. A baby's first teeth (primary teeth) begin to form in the 16th week of pregnancy. They are almost completely formed in the gums at birth. The strength of the primary teeth depends on the mother's health and diet during pregnancy. Pregnant mothers need to eat a well-balanced diet. A good diet will provide the developing baby with the right amount of fluoride. As they grow their teeth do too in the following ways;
3-4 months –The first signs of the baby's teeth are preparing to break through the gum surface—this is called "eruption." Many babies have no trouble when teeth come through the gums. Other babies get very upset. They might sleep badly, have red cheeks, be fussy and eat less. Their gums might look swollen and sore
6- 12 months - The baby's first tooth will erupt—this is usually one of the four front teeth known as an incisor. The lower teeth are usually first. The other front teeth will follow close behind
12- 18 months- The remainder of the front teeth will erupt. The first molars often then come through before the canines, so when you look in baby's mouth you might see four teeth at the front then a space and then some more teeth further back.
1- 2 years- Canine and first molar baby teeth will erupt, as well as the second molars.
3-5 years- The baby’s teeth should have come in. Permanent teeth are preparing to erupt.
5 years onwards- The child will lose baby teeth, and permanent teeth begin to come in, starting with molars.
The diagram found on google shows what age the teeth come through and when they fall out to make room for the second set of teeth.
By the time the child turns 3, they will have 20 baby teeth. These teeth are sometimes called “primary” or “deciduous” teeth. Shortly after age 4, the jaw and facial bones of the child begin to grow, creating spaces between the primary teeth.
Physical Development
Gross Motor Skills
Physical Development involves gross motor skills which require co-ordination between the brain and muscles. It takes a lot of practice before it becomes automatic to be able to do it. The legs of a new born baby need to have time for further growth and development before they are able to walk. Muscles such as the legs, hips and back need to strengthen. The baby has to learn to balance and to how to co ordinate the muscles together. To development of the muscles in the legs and feet can happen when the baby kicks, which all babies enjoy doing. Here are the stages that happen to a child in developing how to use their legs.
Newborn- When a new born baby is held upright with their feet touching a surface they will automatically make walking movements. This is called the walking reflex, however this is disappear after a few weeks until the baby learns again how to make walking movements.
3 months- The legs begin to be strong enough to hold a little wait when the baby is held in the standing position; however they often sag at the hip and knees.
6 months- Baby now enjoys bouncing up and down and can take it’s weight on it’s legs.
9 months- The baby is now able to pull themselves into standing position. They will walk when an adult holds onto there arms or walking sideways holding onto furniture.
1 year- Now the baby can walk with only one hand being held. While walking they will walk with feet apart and with steps of varying length.
15 months- The average age for a baby to walk on their own is 13months. So by 15 months most babies can walk at first they are unsteady and hold their arms up in order to keep their balance. They find it hard to stop or turn corners. By 15 months babies can go up the stairs on all four, however they are not aware that if they lean back they will fall back down again.
18 months- By this age the child can walk upstairs by holding onto the rail with two feet on each stair.
2 years- At this age they can walk up and down the stairs with two feet per step and kick a ball without falling over. By 2 ½ years they can jump and walk on tip-toes.
3 years- The child can stand on one leg. When walking up the stairs they can put one foot on each stair. They cant do it on the way down and often jump off the bottom step.
4 years- At this age the child can now use one foot for each step when walking down the stairs and can hop.
5 years- The child is now able to skip
Fine Motor Skills
Fine motor skills can be defined as of small movements which occur e.g., in the , usually in coordination with the . It takes a lot of time, experience and knowledge to develop these skills and a child goes through certain stages from birth to 8 years old. The development of these skills is crucial to a child’s ability to experience and learn about the world. It requires muscle strength and co ordination.
A newborn baby keeps their hands closed for most of the time. A baby will automatically grasp anything that is put into their hands. However this reflex goes away after a few weeks and only return when they baby has learned o control the muscles of their hands again.
At 3 months their hands are held open for most of the time now. The will hold rattle for a few moments, but cannot usually look at it at the same time. At this stage the baby will spend a lot of time looking at their hands.
At 6 months I able to pass a toy from hand to hand, turn it over and put it in the mouth. They can get a object without having it being put into their hand. They enjoy banging toys on tables, crumpling paper, splashing in the bath and playing with their toes when on their backs. They use the whole hand to hole something.
By 9 months the baby can hold things with their fingers and thumb. They learn that the can control when they want to open their hands and therefore drop the object. They will poke to things with the index finger and hold things with the tip of the index finger and the thumb.
When the baby is 1 years old a baby learns to put objects into a box. They can point with the index finger and precisely throw things with their hands when they want.
At 15 months a baby can hold large crayons in a fisted grip. They can put a spoon, cup into their mouths however the judgement is no very good yet. A brick tower can be made of 2 bricks.
By 18 months they can feed themselves completely and make a tower with 3 bricks. They can scribble and throw a ball.
At 2 years a child learns how to put shoes on and loves to pull along toys on string. The child can unwrap things, open jars and now build a tower with 6 bricks.
By 2 ½ years the child can now build 8 bricks and is able to thread large beads together. They start to undress themselves and learn to draw while holding a pencil in their hand instead of their fist.
When a child reaches 3 they can dress themselves but need help with the buttons. They will throw balls above head and catch clumsily with arms or hands
By 4 years old the child can skilfully eat with a spoon and fork, build a 9 block tower and cut with children’s scissors.
At the age of 5 the child can dress and undress without any help and can use the knife and fork for eating. They learn to tie up shoes and do up zip and attempt to colour in the lines.
At the age of 7 a child can now tie a bow and have a Dynamic tripod grasp on a pencil.
