Child Developmental Theories

Child Developmental Theories

Introduction

The study of human development is a varied and rich subject. Growth in childhood is a very regular and organized. Process of child development is not the same in all children for example: twins being very similar in physical appearance are very different in their development. We all have personal experience with development but for a time it is complex and difficult to understand why and how people learn, act and grow. Development of children was ignored throughout the history because children was seen as small version of adults and very little attention was given to their language usage, cognitive abilities, and physical growth . in 20th century various psychologists started to take interest in the field of child development but they often focused on abnormal behavior of children (www.gulfbend.org). Ultimately with the passage of time researchers became increasingly interested in children development other than just abnormal behavior of children. Having an understanding of development of child is important, it allow us to fully appreciate the educational physical, social, emotional and cognitive growth that a child passes through from his birth into early adulthood. All theories developed by psychologists are important but some of the children development theories are knows as grand theories because they describe almost each and every aspect of children development thus in this paper I am going to discuss n evaluate 3 major theories.

Concept Development in Children

Child development is a succession of stages or phases in which there are a number of physical and psychological changes, which involves the child's growth. Child development is going to have a set of guidelines that could be called general, for a given culture and socio-historical moment (Berk, 2009). Child development goes through various stages. Within months, the baby changes radically and parents must be prepared to help in its development process.

The newborn

Since the child is born, he is a box of surprises for parents: crying, eating, sleeping, medical tests, vaccines but we must also be aware of their emotional development at this stage.

The baby of 2 to 11 months

In two months, the baby begins to stabilize their daily routines. At 11 months, he has little to learn to walk, if you do not already know, and takes a few months taking pureed, mashed, even solid foods.

The child from 2 to 12 years

Children two years earn in autonomy movements. Gradually letting go and paving the way for entry into the school. The six years marked a before and after learning to read and write.

Theory of Sigmund Freud: Psychoanalytic Theory

Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) explained the development of the individual depends on influence of biological factors and early experience of family communication. He believed that children have 5 stages of mental, rather, of psychosexual development. Each stage of the child development is centered on certain part of the body that is the source of pleasure:

oral stage (0 - 2 years)

anal stage (2 - 3 years)

phallic stage (4 - 5 years)

latent stage (6 - 12 years)

Genital stage (12 - 18 ...