Child Development: Adoption Processes and Equilibrium

The Ecological Map

• The Ecological Map is a visual representation of the various systems that influence an individual's life and development
• Comprises 6 stages:
  • Individual: Refers to the person themselves, including their characteristics, behaviors, and personal experiences
  • Microsystem: The immediate environment in which an individual lives and interacts, such as family, neighbors, friends, school, and peers
  • Mesosystem: The interconnections between different microsystems, like the relationship between a child's home and school
  • Exosystem: External environments that indirectly influence the individual, such as parents' friends, extended family, local governments, or mass media
  • Macrosystem: The broader societal and cultural context that affects an individual, including laws, politics, cultural values, and economic conditions
  • Chronosystem: The influence of time and the timing of events on an individual's development over their lifespan

Urie Bronfenbrenner's Bioecological Model of Human Development

• Includes 5 interacting systems: Microsystem, Mesosystem, Exosystem, Macrosystem, and Chronosystem
• Emphasizes the role of biological factors in development, including genetics and other biological aspects that interact with the environment to shape development
• The developing child is at the center of the theory
• Helps explain why individuals may behave differently in different settings

Stages of Development

Infants (0-3 years)

• Factors affecting the newborn: Socioeconomic status, sibling position, home environment, maternity leave
• Who takes care of the child: Parents, grandparents, nursery, or nanny
• Nursery/Kindergarten Quality Criteria:
  • Small class and group sizes
  • Staff with higher education and continuing teacher training
  • Low staff/teacher turnover
  • Positive teacher-child interactions
  • National accreditation and licensing standards
  • Good health and safety practices
• UAE ECEC: Federal Authority for Early Childhood Education (2022) aims to develop and implement comprehensive plans to follow up on child development from birth to 4th grade
• Child Welfare in Abu Dhabi: Aims to include health and nutrition, child protection, family support, early care, and education

Principle of Early Intervention

• The sooner the better: identifying and addressing developmental delays or issues as soon as possible
• Family-centered: involving the family in the intervention process
• Multi/inter/transdisciplinary: requires a team of professionals from different disciplines working together

Early Childhood (3-6/7 years)

• Kindergarten:
  • Public vs. Private Kindergarten: public kindergarten is run by the government, lower cost or free, curriculum set by authorities, while private kindergarten is independently run, tuition required, diverse curricula, and resources
  • Homogeneous vs. Heterogeneous Groups: homogeneous groups are grouped by age or gender, while heterogeneous groups are mixed-age or mixed-gender
  • Quality of Education and Care: public kindergarten quality varies based on funding and local policies, follows government standards, while private kindergarten often offers smaller classes, specialized programs, and potentially higher resources
• Organized activities vs. Free Play: organized activities have rules and structure, led by adults or groups, while free play is unstructured, without adult direction, fostering creativity and self-discovery

Middle Childhood (6/7-12 years)

• Transition to School: a demanding moment that requires rapid learning and is socially regulated
• Readiness for School: skills, behaviors, and attitudes children need to succeed in formal education, including academic and non-academic abilities
• Things to prepare your child for school:
  • Attend open days before school starts
  • Organize play dates to meet other children
  • Visit the school and meet the teacher
  • Familiarize your child with the school surroundings

3 Levels of Development

• Individual: growth of specific skills and abilities, such as numerical concepts, skills in hearing, speech, and language, visual skills, motor skills, personal autonomy, and cognitive skills
• Relational: concerns a child's social and emotional growth, including behavioral and emotional skills, social interaction skills, and cooperation
• Contextual: considers environmental factors influencing development, including school/classroom, integration of the child in the peer group, and family

Cognition

• Defined as the mental action or process of acquiring knowledge and understanding through thought, experience, and the senses
• Left hemisphere (analytic functions) vs. Right hemisphere (creative functions)

Intellect and Intelligence

• Intellect: an inborn ability, involves understanding and reasoning ideas objectively
• Intelligence: a term that describes a person who can acquire new skills quickly, absorb knowledge, and apply these abilities with ease
• Howard Gardner's Multiple Intelligences:
  • Linguistic Intelligence/Verbal-Linguistic
  • Logical-Mathematical Intelligence
  • Spatial Intelligence/Visual-Spatial
  • Musical Intelligence
  • Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence
  • Interpersonal Intelligence
  • Intrapersonal Intelligence
  • Naturalistic Intelligence

Jean Piaget's Theory of Cognitive Development

• Constructivism: individuals construct their understanding, learning is a constructive process
• Learners actively engage with their environment, explore concepts, and build their own understanding through experience and interaction
• 3 Basic Components:
  • Schemas: mental structures that organize groups of related concepts
  • Adoption Processes: enable learning and transition from one stage to another through a child's interaction with the environment
    • Equilibrium: when a child's understanding can explain what they perceive
    • Assimilation: when new experiences or information fit easily into existing cognitive structures
    • Accommodation: when existing schemas need to be adjusted or reorganized to incorporate new information
• Stages of Development:
  • Sensorimotor Stage (birth-2 years)
  • Preoperational Stage (2-7 years)
  • Concrete Operational Stage (7-11 years)
  • Formal Operational Stage (12-15 years)

Lev Vygotsky's Social Constructivist Theory of Cognitive Development

• Highlights the role of social and cultural interactions in the learning process
• Knowledge is co-constructed, and individuals learn from one another
• Language is the ultimate social tool
• ZPD (Zone of Proximal Development): the gap between what a learner can do independently and what they can achieve with the guidance and support of a more knowledgeable person
• Jerome Bruner's Scaffolding: refers to the support provided by a more knowledgeable person to help a learner accomplish tasks or solve problems that are within their ZPD### Communication
• Language is a structured system of communication consisting of grammar and vocabulary.
• Humans are the only species to use complex language, but some animals can learn a human language to a limited extent.
• Characteristics of language:
  • Symbolic: using words and signs to represent abstract concepts or objects not physically present.
  • Productive: allowing for the creation of new meanings and expressions by combining symbols in various ways.
• Components of language:
  • Symbols (phonemes, signs): basic units of sounds in spoken languages or signs in sign languages.
  • Rules (syntax or grammar): structure and order of words to form meaningful sentences.
  • Meanings (semantics): understanding and interpretation of words, phrases, and sentences.
  • Context (pragmatics): social and situational factors influencing language use and interpretation.

Language Acquisition

• Infants can communicate as soon as they are born but cannot use language.
• Language acquisition is driven by the need for survival and attention from caregivers.
• Stages of language acquisition:
  • Pre-linguistic (0-12 months): distinguishing speech sounds, developing physically, and learning to control muscles for speech production.
  • Pseudo- or proto-conversations: mimicking conversation structures with caregivers.
  • Building receptive vocabulary: recognizing words and understanding their meanings.
  • Language errors (1-2 years old): over-extension and under-extension of words.
  • First sentences (2-3 years old): grammar begins to emerge.
  • Tell short stories (4-5 years old): using sentences with 4 or more words and growing vocabulary.

Social and Emotional Development

• Social development: ability to create and sustain meaningful relationships with adults and children.
• Emotional development: ability to express, recognize, and manage emotions and respond appropriately to others' emotions.
• Definitions of emotions:
  • Mental states brought on by neurophysiological changes.
  • Strong feelings deriving from circumstances, mood, or relationships with others.
• Emotions:
  • Happiness: can be achieved through progress towards goals and positive input from sensory systems.
  • Anger: normal and healthy emotion that can be expressed in non-aggressive ways.
  • Jealousy: emerges before age 2, includes feelings of envy, protectiveness, suspicion, or resentment.
  • Sadness and depression: periods of sadness are normal, but prolonged sadness can be a sign of depression.
  • Fears: protective response, learning to cope with fears is a major part of emotional development.
  • The struggle for independence: balancing dependence and autonomy throughout development.

Stress and Goals

• Stress: can be positive or negative, and can be a reaction to exciting or important events.
• Goals: specific objectives or outcomes to achieve within a certain timeframe.
• Types of goals:
  • Long-term goals
  • Short-term goals
• Values: strong beliefs that guide attitudes, behaviors, and decisions.
• Standards: define the boundaries, conditions, or approach to achieving goals.

Erik Erikson's Theory of Psycho-Social Development

• 8-stage theory that emphasizes social and cultural factors in shaping human development.
• Each stage presents a conflict that must be resolved for healthy development to occur.
• Stages:
  • Trust vs. Mistrust (Infancy, 0-1 year): developing trust and security.
  • Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt (Early Childhood, 1-3 years): developing independence and challenging behaviors.
  • Initiative vs. Guilt (Preschool, 3-6 years): taking initiative in play and social interactions, balancing desires with social rules.
  • Industry vs. Inferiority (School Age, 6-12 years): developing a sense of competence and mastery of tasks.### Psychosocial Development
• Stage 4: Industry vs. Inferiority (Middle Childhood, 6-12 years)
  • Child masters formal skills, relates with peers according to rules, and progresses from free play to structured play.
  • Homework is necessary, and the need for self-discipline increases yearly.
  • A child who is trusting, autonomous, and full of initiative will learn easily and be industrious.
  • A mistrusting child will doubt the future, while a shame and guilt-filled child will experience defeat and inferiority.

Stage 5: Identity vs. Role Confusion (Adolescence, 13/14-20 years)

• Fidelity: The adolescent learns to answer the question "Who am I?" and explores and forms a sense of self, including values, beliefs, and life goals.
• Even well-adjusted adolescents may experience some role identity confusion and self-doubts.
• The young person acquires self-certainty, experiments with different constructive roles, and seeks leadership and ideals.

Stage 6: Intimacy vs. Isolation (Young Adulthood, 18-40 years)

• Young adults form close relationships and commit to intimate partnerships.
• Love: The successful young adult can experience true intimacy - a close, personal relationship.
• The definition of intimacy is a close, personal relationship resulting from detailed knowledge of each other.

Stage 7: Generativity vs. Stagnation (Middle Adulthood, 40-65 years)

• Care: Adults contribute to society through work, family, and community involvement, fostering a sense of purpose.
• Generativity refers to the desire and ability to contribute positively to the next generation and society.
• Stagnation refers to a sense of feeling stuck, unproductive, or lacking purpose and growth.

Stage 8: Integrity vs. Despair (Late Adulthood, 65+ years)

• Integrity refers to the ability to look back on one's life with a sense of satisfaction and fulfillment.
• Despair is characterized by feelings of regret, bitterness, and hopelessness about one's life.
• Wisdom: If the other seven psychosocial crises have been successfully resolved, the mature adult develops the peak of adjustment; integrity.

Perceptual and Motor Development

• Perceptual development involves the maturation of the senses and the brain's ability to interpret sensory information.
• Motor development refers to the progression of muscular coordination, control, and movement.

Newborn Development (0-3 years)

• Newborns:
  • Weigh around 3.4 kg and are 40-50 cm long.
  • Have a large head in proportion to the body.
  • Boys tend to be longer and heavier than girls.
  • Lose up to 10% of birth weight in the first few days and gain it back by day 14.
  • Sleep up to 18 hours a day.
• Newborn senses:
  • Are sensitive to pain.
  • Prefer sweet tastes.
  • Have well-developed hearing and respond to voice.
  • Tolerate white noise.
  • Vision is less well-developed.

Brain Growth and Development

• Neurons in infants:
  • Contribute to the overall growth and maturation of the brain.
  • Help infants learn to move, see, hear, and understand their world.
  • Form connections in the brain that support skills like crawling and grasping objects.
• By 2 years, the brain is 80% of adult size.
• By 3 years, there are 1,000 trillion connections between neurons.

Body Growth and Development

• Principles of physical development:
  • From head to toe.
  • From the center to the periphery (towards outer edges/external).
• Prehension: the ability to grasp or hold objects using the hands.
• Types of grasp:
  • Palmer grasp (using the whole hand).
  • Intermediate grasp (more refined use of fingers).
  • Mature grasp (precise use of fingers and thumb).
  • Pincer grasp (using the thumb and one finger).

Toddler Development (1-3 years)

• Gross motor skills:
  • Pushing and pulling, climbing, and squatting.
  • Running, throwing, and dancing.
• Fine motor skills:
  • Pointing at pictures.
  • Picking up objects with a pincer grasp.
  • Placing rings onto a stacking toy.
  • Holding crayons and scribbling or making lines and circular shapes.

Morality and Moral Development

• Morality: the difference between right and wrong or good and bad behavior.
• Moral development: the process through which children develop standards of right and wrong within their society, based on social and cultural norms and laws.
• Lawrence Kohlberg's theory of moral development:
  • Divided into three levels, each consisting of two stages.
  • People go through these six stages in order.
  • Most children have a pre-conventional morality, and most adults have a conventional one.
  • Only 20-25% of the adult population attains the post-conventional level of morality.