Normal Child Development Back to Basics April 24, 2008 Clare Gray MD FRCPC Stages of Development • • • • Infancy (birth to 15 months) Toddler period (15m to 2.5 years) Preschool period (2.5 to 6 years) Middle years (6 to 12 years) Developmental Schedules • Landmarks described by Arnold Gesell – – – – Motor and sensory behavior Adaptive behavior Personal and social behavior Language Major Theorists • Sigmund Freud – Psychoanalytic perspective • Erik Erikson – Psychosocial view of eight stages of life • Jean Piaget – Cognitive perspective Freud’s Psychosexual Stages • ORAL STAGE (birth – 1 year) – Mouth is the main source of pleasure and interaction – Fixation can lead to thumb sucking, nail biting, smoking and overeating • ANAL STAGE (1 to 3 years) – Anus is the main source of gratification, withholding and expelling feces and toilet training are important – Fixation can lead to extremes of order and cleanliness or disorder and messiness Freud’s Psychosexual Stages • PHALLIC STAGE (3 to 6 years) – The genitals are the main source of gratification – Child attaches to the opposite-sex parent and later shifts to same-sex parent as the superego forms – Gender role and moral development are important – Interactions between the id, ego and superego form the basic personality Freud’s Psychosexual Stages • LATENCY STAGE (6 to 12 years) – Sexual instincts are suspended – The super ego continues to develop through social interaction – Intellectual and physical activities are important • GENITAL STAGE (12 years to adult) – The onset of puberty causes sexual instincts to reappear – Forming mature sexual relationships is important Erickson’s Psychosocial Stages • TRUST vs. MISTRUST (birth to 1 year) – Responsive caregiving gives infants a sense of trust in others and self and that the world is a good place (Hope) • AUTONOMY vs. SHAME & DOUBT (1 to 3 years) – Children become more self-sufficient and want independence; reasonable freedom of choice leads to autonomy (Will) Erickson’s Psychosocial Stages • INITIATIVE vs GUILT (3 to 6 years) – Pretend play and acceptance of responsibilities help to foster a sense of direction; children must balance this with the demands of parents (Purpose) • INDUSTRY vs INFERIORITY (6 to 12 years) – Children learn to cooperate with peers and master academic tasks; competency and productivity are important (Skill) Erickson’s Psychosocial Stages • IDENTITY vs ROLE CONFUSION (12 to 18 years) – Adolescents strive to develop a coherent and lasting personal identity (Fidelity) • INTIMACY vs ISOLATION (young adulthood) – Young adults work to achieve intimate relationships and commitments to other people – Those who have not formed a strong sense of self may have difficulty (Love) Erickson’s Psychosocial Stages • GENERATIVITY vs STAGNATION (adulthood) – The focus is on child rearing and work productivity to contribute to the next generation (Care) • EGO INTEGRITY vs DESPAIR (late adulthood) – Older adults attempt to reflect on their lives and feel satisfied with their successes and failures (Wisdom) Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development • SENSORIMOTOR (birth – 2 years) – Infants understand and organize the world through sensory information and motor activity – Object permanence develops • PREOPERATIONAL (2 – 7 years) – Children use symbolic representation for events, places and people – Worldview is egocentric – Language and pretend play develop Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development • CONCRETE OPERATIONS (7 – 11 years) – Children can solve logical problems about concrete physical subjects – Conservation and hierarchical thinking develop Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development • FORMAL OPERATIONS (11 to adult) – Adolescents can reason logically about abstract topics, hypothetical problems and possible outcomes of a situation Temperament • Stella Chess and Alexander Thomas • Identified 9 behavioral dimensions, from which reliable differences can be obtained – Activity level, rhythmicity, approach or withdrawl, adaptability, intensity of reaction, threshold of responsiveness, quality of mood, distractibility, attention span and persistence Attachment • Ability to form a special relationship with significant others • John Bowlby • Universal human need to form close affectional bonds • Tendency to seek closeness to another person and feel secure when that person is present Attachment • Attachment behaviours of the infant are reciprocated by the adult • The experience of security is the goal of the attachment system. • Secure, anxious/avoidant, anxious/resistant, disorganized Three Phases of Adolescence • -early adolescence (10 to 13) • -mid-adolescence (14 to 17) • -late adolescence (18-24) Developmental Changes • • • • • • • Pubertal changes Cognitive changes Identity construction Peer socialization Dealing with sexuality School and achievement pressures Renegotiating family relations Identity Construction • In early adolescence one’s sense of self (self-concept, self-image) is more negative and less stable than in later adolescence Social Development • Expansion of relationships beyond the family • Shift from parents to peers as providers of companionship and intimacy • need peer’s approval and advice • development of empathy Family • Early adolescents attempt to increase their emotional distance from parents as they seek to raise their level of independence • majority of adolescents report being satisfied with their relationships with their parents and rely on them for help and advice Psychological Tasks • Early adolescence: accept his or her growing and changing body • Middle adolescence: separate from the internalized figure of the parent and venture out of his or her own family world • Late adolescence: crystallizing one’s own sexual and vocational identity Offord Centre for Child Studies http://knowledge.offordcentre.com/dev_learn/resources.html DEVELOPMENTAL MILESTONES - BIRTH TO 12 YEARS Websites •http://www.caringforkids.cps.ca/behaviour/Dev elopment.htm •http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/fcs/human/pub s/child6_12.html •http://www.child.gov.ab.ca/acyi/parenting/stag es/charts/pdf/developmental_stages.pdf ADOLESCENT MILESTONES : Websites •http://www.aacap.org/publications/factsfam/devel op.htm