The Principles of Growth and Development

[Image Description: The image shows a photograph of me as a toddler playing with a toy kitchen set. The toy kitchen is aqua, bright blue, bright pink, and white. There are a white pan and white pot with a pink lid on it on the pink play stove. I am smiling with my baby teeth showing, standing with my back turned away from the kitchen, and head turned facing the right. I am holding a plastic white play pan with a pink lid on it in my right hand with my left hand covering the lid. I am wearing a long sleeve light pink top with a light pink bow center-aligned along the neckline. My curly, dark brown hair was short.]

I would like to mention that I am not a medical doctor, psychologist, or therapist. All content posted on disability advocate/teacher influencer page is for educational purposes with no intent to provide any professional services. Social media should never be used as a substitute for mental nor medical health care advice. If you suspect that your child is experiencing developmental concerns, it is okay to get help. I highly recommend seeking help from a medical doctor, psychologist, therapist, and/or other professional who is qualified to do so.

    Growth and development are constant, gradual, continuous, interrelated, and happen in sequenced steps and at different rates. To elaborate on growth and development being constant, many aspects of a child's growth and development are unchanging. Traits that children have today will probably be present later. This is because traits controlled by heredity do not change, people often live in the same environment for years, and major changes need to take place in the environment for major changes to take place.

    To elaborate on growth and development being gradual and constant, changes that take place happen in little unbroken steps. Development does not happen overnight. If people do not develop when they are supposed to be able to later in life, they may have reached the critical period of development. The first few years of life constitute the time during which language develops readily and after which (sometime between age five and puberty) language acquisition is much more difficult and ultimately less successful. This is typically fourteen years old.

    To elaborate on growth and development happening in sequenced steps, change must be based on what children already know. Steps in development happen in a set order. Child must be ready for the new learning to occur, which is the brain's window of opportunity. Growth and development happen at different rates throughout life. These rates vary from child to child. While the steps are the same, heredity, environment, and motivation are key factors in the differences in rate. Heredity determines growth rates. For example, girls' bones and organs are more mature than boys' bones at all ages.

    All aspects of development are related. This is especially true when it comes to physical, social-emotional, and intellectual development. Typically, a child masters skills that fit their level of growth and development. Achievement of developmental tasks leads to happiness and success with later tasks.

20 important vocabulary words to know regarding growth and development:

1. Development - gradual process of growth through many stages, such as before birth, infancy, childhood, adolescence, and adulthood
2. Child development - scientific study of children from conception to adolescence
3. Principles of growth and development - statements of the general patterns in which growth and development take place in people
4. Individual life cycle - description of the stages of change people experience throughout life
5. Sequenced steps - steps in growth and development that follow one another in a set order
6. Genetics - study of the factors involved in the passing of traits from one generation of living beings to the next
7. Heredity - sum of all traits that are passed to a child from blood relatives
8. Neurons - brain cells that send and receive electrical impulses amongst each other to direct the various tasks of the brain
9. Wiring - network of fibers that carry brain signals between neurons
10. Dendrites - short, bushy cables that allow each neuron to receive signals sent by other neurons
11. Synapse - tiny gap between a dendrite of one neuron and the axon of another neuron across which electrical impulses can be transmitted
12. Pruning - process of weeding out underused or weak pathways between neurons
13. Plasticity - ability of the brain to be shaped and reshaped, which is greatest early in life
14. Environment - sum of all the conditions and situations that surround and affect a child's growth and development
15. Direct observation - watching children in their natural environments
16. Indirect observation - observation done by methods other than watching children, including asking other people questions about the children and observing products children make
17. Socialize - to train a child to live as part of a group, such as the family, culture, or society
18. Teachable moment - time when a person can learn a new task because the body is physically ready, caregivers encourage support, and the child feels a strong desire to learn
19. Child-centered society - society that sees children as important, cares about their well-being, and works to meet their needs

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