Child Develpoment in the four stages essays

Child Develpoment in the four stages essays From the day of your babys birth, he already has certain abilities and instinctive reactions. But he has a lot to discover and in his early years the gaps are made good by what he learns from his family- most of all, his mother. He learns with all his senses, but particularly by imitation and experience. Watching a babys body and mind grow is one of the delights of being a parent. At first the baby struggles to recognise the world around him by looking and listening. Then he reaches out to it: as his arms and legs grow strong, he begins to explore. Increasingly during his second and third years his personality reveals itself in the way he tries to control his world with his newly discovered skills. Firstly, physical changes in a child are usually the most obvious and significant developments in a childs growth. During the first 18 months the average child makes considerable gains in height and weight, begins teething, develops sensory distinction and begins to walk and talk. Sensory perception developments rapidly during the first three months of life. Research shows that newborns are capable of auditory and visual contrast. Within three months they can distinguish colour and form; they show a preference for complex and novel stimuli as apposed to simple and familiar stimuli. Newborns perform motor movements, many of which are reflexive. Soon after birth they gain voluntary control of movements. The major stages of locomotion are crawling, creeping and walking. The average infant walks (without support) between 13 and 15 months of age. Normal infants possess neurological systems that detect and store speech sounds, permit reproduction of these sounds and eventually produce language. Infants utter all known speech sounds, but only retain those heard regularly. Word-like sounds occur at 12 months and have meaning at 18 months. Gaining of complex language after 18 months is very rapid. ...