Growth & Development: Cephalocaudal & Proximodistal

• Principles characterize growth and development as predictable, orderly, and universal patterns.
• Individual differences exist in personality, activity levels, and developmental milestone timing.

Cephalocaudal Principle

• Development proceeds from the head downward.
• Infants gain control of the head and face within the first two months.
• Later, they lift themselves with their arms.
• Between 6-12 months, infants gain leg control, enabling crawling, standing, or walking.
• Coordination of arms precedes legs.

Proximodistal Principle

• Development proceeds from the center of the body outward.
• The spinal cord develops before outer body parts.
• Arms develop before hands, and hands/feet develop before fingers/toes.
• Fine motor dexterity is among the last physical developments.

Maturation and Learning

• Development depends on maturation (biological growth) and learning.
• Biological changes occur sequentially giving children new abilities.
• Brain and nervous system changes largely account for maturation.
• These changes improve cognitive and motor skills.
• Children must mature enough to progress to new skills (readiness).
• A four-month-old cannot use language because the brain is not mature enough.
• By age two, with assistance individuals can say and understand words.
• Motor control is needed to use a pencil or crayon.
• Maturational patterns are innate/genetically programmed.

Simple to Complex Development

• Development proceeds from the simple (concrete) to the more complex.
• Children use cognitive and language skills to reason and solve problems.
• Cognitive classification begins with simplistic descriptions.
• Preschoolers describe objects by property e.g., "an apple is red and an orange is orange."
• Three to five year olds describe functional relationships e.g. "An apple and orange are round".
• Later, children understand higher level relationships e.g., apples and oranges are fruit.

Continuous Development

• Growth and development is a continuous process.
• Children add to already acquired skills for further achievement.
• One developmental stage lays the foundation for the next.
• Motor development follows a predictable sequence before walking.
• Infants lift/turn their head before they turn over.
• Infants move limbs before they grasp objects.
• Climbing stairs involves progressing from holding on to walking alone.
• By age four, children walk up/down stairs with alternating feet.
• Children must develop manual control to hold a pencil/crayon before drawing.

General to Specific Development

• Growth and development proceeds from the general to specific.
• Infants grasp with the whole hand before using thumb and forefinger.
• First motor movements are generalized, undirected, and reflexive.
• Infants wave arms/kick before reaching or creeping.
• Growth occurs from large muscle movements to refined muscle movements.

Individual Rates of Development

• Individual growth rates differ.
• Patterns/sequences are the same, but the rates differ.
• There is a range of ages for developmental tasks.
• Dismissing "average child" notions, walking may occur from ten to eighteen months.
• Activity levels vary and some children are active, and others passive.
• There is no validity in comparing one child to another.
• Rates of development are non-uniform, and intellectual development may outpace emotional or social.

Applying Principles

• Understanding the principles of development helps to plan activities, and experiences for children.
• It provides a basis to support young children's learning.