Child Development – What does the evidence say?
In this blog, we explore some of the evidence and what it says regarding childhood development. It’s a bit more formal as I have adapted it from an assignment I completed for my Diploma of Childhood Development!
Introduction
Childhood is most often defined as the period between birth to 18 years of age (Lindon & Brodie, 2016). However every child develops at different rates (Lindon & Brodie, 2016), with many elements and factors influencing development (Sheridan, 2007). Child development is defined as gaining skills in all aspects of a child’s life (Pearson Schools and FE Colleges (n.d), and occurs across the course of a child’s life (Sheridan, 2007). These stages are typically separated into prenatal development, infancy (birth to one year), early years (one to three years), early childhood (four to seven years), middle childhood (eight to twelve years) and adolescence (thirteen to eighteen years). Due to the vast range of skills a child develops, development can be divided into four areas: physical, social & emotional, cognitive and language & communication.
In different countries and cultures, childhood is defined by various significant milestones that are deemed important to the individuals of that culture (Quintana, Aboud, Chao, Contreras‐Grau, Cross, Hudley et al., 2006). Some of the key elements known to impact childhood development negatively include abuse and neglect (Pollak, Cicchetti, Hornung, & Reed, 2000; Mash & Barkley, 2014), poor access to education (Phillips & Lowenstein, 2011) and limited access to movement and play (Ginsburg, 2007). Considering that many factors both positively and negatively impact a child’s development, there is no concrete or linear process that all children should be expected to follow when they are growing up and developing (Lindon & Brodie, 2016). However, there are certain milestones that children are expected to meet and these act as signposts for professionals to identify if there are any potential concerns regarding the child’s progress (Case, 1985).
Prenatal:
Prenatal development is defined from conception to birth. This process forms the major structures of the body within the womb, and during this stage of development the mother’s health is key (Sheridan, 2008).
If there is any trauma or interruption in this stage of development it can have a significant effect to the following stages of development (Pollak, Cicchetti, Hornung, & Reed, 2000). Professionals may be interested in how the birth and labour progressed, how long it was and how the child was delivered (vaginal or c-section) and what their responsiveness (APGAR score) is at birth. When a child has a smooth and uneventful birth this allows for a platform for positive development (Davies, 2011; Phillips & Lowenstein, 2011). If a child has a traumatic birth where they may have been delivered early, been late to start breathing, or needed medical intervention, this may impact on their future development (Seow, 1997; Anderson & Cacola, (2017). This is not to say children aren’t incredibly resilient and are able to catch up or progress with their milestones and development. However their overall development is usually impacted (Dube, Felitti, Dong, Giles & Anda, 2003).
Infancy:
Infancy is defined as the first 12 months of life and is an important stage for the developing body to develop anti gravity movements. For example example a baby who has colic or reflux in their first 12 months may not like tummy time. As sustaining this position will be fatiguing and they are already irritable. In which case this can lead onto things such as poor upper limb, core strength and head control. This can then impact on how early or late they crawl, which may have flow on effects such as delays in walking. (Rautava, Lehtonen, Helenius & Sillanpää, 1995).
Professionals have made sure to divide this first year into further subsections due to the significant development that occurs during the first year (Sheridan, 2007). These subsections can be divided into newborn baby, 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, 9 months and 12 months. This is important considering that the rate of learning and development in this time period is rapid in all developmental domains.
The key areas and changes that are seen during the infancy period are the child developing a sense of attachment, purposeful movement, response to sensory stimuli and motor patterns (Sheridan, 2007). At the end of infancy, children start to interact further within their environment by understanding some speech, discovering how cause and effect works, and shows a keen interest in other people and joint play with adults (Folio and Fewell, 2000; Sheridan, 2007; Lindon & Brodie, 2016).
Early Years:
The period of the early years is defined as 12 months to 3 years old. During this period a child has started moving around independently and starts to explore their environment and their influence on it. They also start to make sense of communication, for example how to communicate to others as well as beginning to understand when they are communicated to.Children also develop play skills and start to refine skills they’ve already learnt; these could include climbing stairs, running and jumping. They also start to understand the world around them and take on more independence such as self care tasks, for example toileting.
Early Childhood
Early childhood is defined as 4 to 7 years and during this time, children are often entering some form of education. They are starting to understand and develop skills and pre-writing more complex play and refined mode of movements. They also start to develop skills around socially interacting and communicating with their peers.
Middle Childhood:
Middle childhood is defined as the ages of 8 through to 11. During this time children are more likely than not in for some form of early education. Their experience and growth and development at this stage is connected to their experiences at school. Their social skills become more defined but there are also moments of childlike play. They may start to take on a wider set of interests and their fine and gross motor skills become more refined e.g. more complex physical skills and cursive writing start to appear. They become more independent with simple problem solving throughout their life and are able to take responsibility for some household tasks if this is appropriate with in their family. A key part towards the end of this stage is when the body starts to prepare physically for puberty.
Adolescent Children:
Adolescent children observe a great change physically as they go through the stages of puberty. Children have developed a high level of skills at this time which may be either academic or sporting focused. Adolescents are able to have complex relationships and may enjoy their friends company more than their families at this point as they start to develop their own identity. During adolescence, children start to understand and develop more complex feelings that may be related to social relationships.
Summary
Overall, childhood development is a dynamic process that all children grow through and has many factors that influence it. There are expected stages for each child to pass through during their development and growth. As with adults, children may have relative strengths and weaknesses in different domains, being a unique individuals, however meeting the expected development is needed for overall development. A child needs to develop across key areas (physical, social and emotional, cognition and speech and communication) to ensure holistic development.
Looking for expert support in Paediatric Occupational Therapy?
Tara at Look Hear Australia in Townsville, North Queensland is here to help! We offer face-to-face sessions for local clients, and for those in Queensland, Victoria, and the Northern Territory, we provide convenient telehealth options.
📅 Now accepting new clients! We’re currently opening a short waiting list with limited monthly spots for term 2, 2025 available (we are full for term 1!). Don’t miss your chance to get the support you need—book your initial consultation today!
👉 To secure your spot or learn more, lookhearaustralia@gmail.com
Author
