Growth and Development

PRINCIBLE OF GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT

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Objectives

By the end of this lecture, the student will be able to:

• Identify the importance of growth and development.
• Define major concepts in growth and development.
• Mention the principles of growth and development.
• List factors affecting growth and development.
• Mention types of growth and development.
• Identify the stages of development.

Introduction

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• Child growth and development is a complex process, which includes not only physical growth, but also the maturity of systems, development of functioning.
• The process of growth and development is influenced by a variety of internal and external factors.

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• Therefore it is one of the most important goals of pediatric nurse to monitor and improve child growth and development, personality, and behaviors. (Novella J. Ruffin,2009 ).

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Principles of growth and development

• Normal growth and development proceeds in an orderly, systematic and predictable pattern, which provides a basis for identifying and assessing the child abilities and expected behavior (Novella J. Ruffin,2009 ).

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• Growth and development are interrelated ongoing process in infancy and childhood

Definition of concepts

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Growth an increase in the number and, size of cells as they divide and synthesize new proteins; results in increased size and weight of the whole or any of its parts. can be viewed as a quantitative change.

Development

• a gradual change and expansion; advancement from a lower to a more advanced stage of complexity the emerging and expanding of the individual's, capacities through growth, maturation, and learning.
• can be viewed as a qualitative change

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���������Differentiation: processes by which early cells & structures are systematically modified & altered to achieve specific physical and chemical properties

• Maturation: is an increase in functionality of various body systems or developmental skills.

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• Individual differences: each child grows in his or her own unique and personal way.

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• Heredity influences growth and development by determining the child’s potential, while environment contributes to the degree of achievement.

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• Developmental task: is a set of skills and competencies peculiar to each developmental stage that children must accomplish or master to deal effectively with their environments.

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Other concepts related to growth and development include:�

• Sequence of development refers to the predictable series of steps or stages that the majority of children progress through as part of the developmental process

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• Individual difference – each child is unique. Although the sequence of their development will be ‘normal’, the time taken to move through the sequence will be different.
• Readiness refers to the time when a child has all the skills necessary to achieve the next step in development. Readiness is linked to maturation.

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• Normal or ‘typical’ growth and development or ‘age-appropriate’ development are terms often used when discussing a child’s development. These terms are generally used to describe development that falls within what has come to be regarded as the ‘usual’ time range for the development of skills and behaviours i.e. A toddler who first walks at 9 months and a toddler who first walks at 11 months would both be considered to be within the normal range of physical development.

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Basic Principles of Child (domains)Development

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Children’s development is multidimensional. Children develop in three broad areas, in which child development experts (Berk, 2008) refer to as “domains” of development:

• 1• Physical development—Changes in body size, shape, appearance, functioning of body systems, perceptual and motor capacities, and physical health.
• 2• Social/emotional development—Changes in a child’s unique way of dealing with the world (e.g., understanding and expression of emotions, knowledge about others, interpersonal skills, self-awareness, friendships, moral reasoning and behavior).
• 3• Cognitive development—Changes in intellectual abilities, including learning, memory, reasoning, thinking, problem-solving, creativity and language development.

Basic Principles of Child Development

• These domains of development overlap and often interact with each other. What happens in one domain can have a major influence on another domain. For example, the toddler’s newly acquired ability to walk (physical development) can influence his or her potential to learn about new aspects of the environment (cognitive development). On the other hand, if a child has a physical impairment, such as the inability to hear, it can affect his or her social/emotional
• and cognitive development (e.g., language acquisition). In addition, development can occur unevenly across the various

domains.

In some children, physical development outpaces social/emotional development.

Children’s development occurs in a predictable (orderly) sequence.

• While there are always exceptions, children’s growth and development normally occurs in a predictable manner across the various domains (i.e., children tend to go through similar changes at certain intervals). Children’s later abilities, skills and knowledge are built upon those acquired at an earlier age (Bredekamp and Copple, 1997).
• This does not mean, however, that all children will develop in the same way or achieve certain developmental milestones at the same time. Every child is a unique person, with a unique personality, temperament, learning style and family background.

Basic Principles of Child Development

• There will always be variations in development from child to child. Developmental charts that identify key milestones for children at different ages and stages of development are not intended to be viewed in a rigid manner.
• They provide parents with an idea of what tends to happen in a child’s life within a particular age range.
• However, parents should be aware that if a child has not reached a certain developmental milestone at the expected time, it could be a sign of a problem that should be assessed by a pediatrician or specialist.

• Growth and development concepts focuses on the aging process, physical characteristics, nutritional needs, behaviors, skills, play and specific safety measures relevant to a particular age group that will ensure a safe and hazards free environment.

Child development is a process every child goes through. This process involves learning and mastering skills like sitting, walking, talking, skipping, and tying shoes. There are 5 main areas of development:

Cognitive Development

Social and Emotional Development

Fine motor skill Development

Gross motor skill Development

Speech and Language Development

Draw This Mind Map!!!

Factors affecting development

SOCIAL

BIOLOGICAL

NATURE/NURTURE DEBATE

Disability

Genotype and Maturation

Disease and illness

Social Class

Parenting/parenting styles

Approval/ interactions

Education

Housing

Culture

Stages of Development�

One way to study patterns of development is to study one stage at a time. The table below shows the main stages of development that occur over the lifespan.

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Developmental Age Periods

• Prenatal
• Germinal, Embryonic, Fetal
• Infancy
• Neonatal, Infancy
• Early Childhood
• Toddler, Preschool

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• Middle Childhood
• School-age
• Later childhood
• Prepubertal, Adolescence

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Patterns of Growth and Development

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• There are definite and predictable patterns in growth and development that are continuous, orderly, and progressive.

Patterns of growth and development

• Directional trend:
• Cephalocaudal or “head-to-tail” direction.

In which the head is developed before the trunk , child uses eyes before hands, and hands before feet.

• Proximodistal “Near-to-far”: from midline to peripheral, hands then fingers.
• Differentiation: from simple to complex, cell to system.

• Sequential trends:
• There is a definite and predictable sequence in which the development occurs .
• As children crawl before creep, creep before they stand , stand before walk.
• Developmental pace:

The rate of development is not fixed through all stages , as there are specific stages in which the pace ( rate) and the acceleration are increased , like the first month of age and the adolescence period . And decelerated growth.

• Sensitive periods:

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There are some specific times when development is becoming a sensitive period like: critical, vulnerable or optimal.

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Physical growth assessed by

• Weight
• Height
• Head circumference
• Chest circumference
• Skin fold thickness
• Organ system maturation
• Reflexes

Development assessed by

• psychosexual development, psychosocial, cognitive and moral development.
• Gross motor skills: refers to those use the large muscles (head control, rolling, sitting and walking.
• Gross motor skills develop in a cephalocaudal fashion (from head to the tail)
• The child learn to control head before learning to roll over and sit.

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Development assessed by

• Fine motor skills includes the maturation of head and finger use.
• Fine motor skills develop in a proximodistal fashion (from center to the periphery)
• Example: infants first bats with the whole hand, eventually progressing to gross grasp, before being capable of fine finger grasping.
• Sensory development: sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch

Development assessed by

• Reflexes: primitive reflexes are sub cortical and involves a whole body response.
• Selected primitive reflexes present at birth include: Moro, root, suck, asymmetric tonic neck, planter and palmer grasp, step and babinski.
• These primitive reflexes diminish over the first few months of life giving way to protective reflexes

Reflexes:

• Appropriate presence and disappearance of primitive reflexes is indicative of a healthy neurological system.
• Persistence of primitive reflexes beyond the usual age of disappearance may indicate an abnormality of the neurological system and should be investigated

Factors influencing development

• Heredity
• Neuro-endocrine
• Nutrition
• Single most important influence on growth
• Interpersonal relationships
• Emotional deprivation
• Socioeconomic level
• Disease
• Environmental hazards

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• Stress in childhood
• Mass media influence
• Reading
• Movies
• Television
• “Family-Centered Care”
• Video games
• Internet

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Thank you!