Chapter One: Perspectives on Early Childhood
After completing Chapter One students will be able to
- Identify areas in which children’s lives can be improved
- Describe historical views of child development
- Define biological, cognitive and social and emotional processes
- Outline the periods of development
- Explain cross-cultural beliefs about child development
- Describe how child development is studied
- Define developmentally appropriate practice
Two-and-a-half-year-old Santiago sits at a small table, arms stretched out, hands limp. His teacher places a small chunk of banana with the skin on it in front of him. Santiago looks up at the teachers, smiles, and then picks up the banana in his fist. Using his right hand, index finger, and thumb, he slowly peels the banana, and then with a flat hand, shoves the whole piece into his mouth.
As six-year-old Chloe paints, she looks at the postcard she is copying, being very careful to use the same colors in her painting as on the postcard. As she paints, she says to Johanna, “I’m using gold first because that’s my favorite, then the green”. Johanna passes the red paint and laughs, “Red’s last!” Chloe laughs, takes the pot of red paint, and begins to stir it vigorously.
Three-month-old Zuri has a full head of darkest brown hair and thin, almost non-existent eyebrows. She has big brown eyes, full round cheeks, small ears, and a small nose. She has olive skin and a bald spot on the back of her head. Zuri does not yet have any teeth and seems to drool continuously. Her body is not proportional yet—her torso is full and round; she has tiny feet and long fingers. Zuri is twenty-two inches in length and weighs thirteen pounds.
What do all of these children have in common? They are all developing “normally.” But what does that mean, and how can we be sure? The field of developmental psychology has sought to explore exactly those questions.
Developmental Psychology is the study of how and why humans change throughout their lifespan. By studying sequences of typical development, we are able to make determinations about what might be considered expected and healthy, and what may be a red flag of atypical development or development that may be heading off track. In other words, it is only once we understand what typical, healthy development looks like that we are able to recognize atypical or unhealthy development, and then can intervene.
the study of how and why humans change throughout the lifespan
