Growth & Development: Principles and Milestones

Principles of Growth & Development

• Growth refers to an increase in physical size and is measured by height, weight, and head circumference.
• Development signifies progression toward maturity in mental, physical, and social aspects.
• Maturation is another term for development which indicates Qualitative Change

Developmental Milestones (Newborn - 12 Months)

• Newborns exhibit a fetal posture.
• At 1 month, infants can hold their chin up.
• By 2 months, they can hold their chest up.
• At 4 months, they can sit when supported.
• By 7 months, they can sit alone.
• At 9 months, they stand while holding furniture.
• By 10 months, they crawl.
• At 11 months, they can walk if led and stand alone.
• At 12 months, they walk alone.

Developmental Tasks

• Developmental tasks involve skills or growth responsibilities arising at a particular time.
• Achievement of these tasks equals accomplishment of future tasks.

Developmental Tasks by Life Stages

• Infancy: Social attachment, sensorimotor intelligence, object permanence, and motor function maturation.
• Toddlerhood: Self-control, language development, fantasy and play, and elaboration of locomotion.
• Early School Age: Sex role identification, early moral development, concrete operations, and group play.
• Middle School Age: Social cooperation, self-evaluation, skill learning, and team play.
• Early Adolescence: Physical maturation, formal operations, peer group membership, and heterosexual relationships.
• Later Adolescence: Autonomy from parents, sex role identity, internalized morality, and career choice.
• Early Adulthood: Marriage, childbearing, work, and establishing a lifestyle.
• Middle Adulthood: Managing a household, child rearing, and career management.
• Later Adulthood: Redirecting energy into new roles, accepting one's life, and developing a perspective on death.

Nursing Diagnoses Related to Growth and Development

• Risk for delayed growth and development due to lack of appropriate toys and activities.
• Delayed growth and development related to prolonged illness.
• Readiness for enhanced family coping related to parents seeking growth and development information.
• Health-seeking behaviors related to appropriate infant stimulation.
• Imbalanced nutrition (less than body requirements) related to parental knowledge deficit regarding a child's protein needs.
• Deficient knowledge related to potential long-term effects of obesity in school-age children.

General Principles of Growth and Development

• Growth and development are continuous from conception to death.
• They proceed in an orderly sequence.
• Children pass through predictable stages at different rates.
• All body systems develop at different rates.
• Development is cephalocaudal (head to toe).
• Development proceeds from proximal to distal body parts.
• Development proceeds from gross to refined motor skills.
• There's an optimum time for initiating experiences or learning.
• Neonate reflexes must be lost before development can proceed.
• Skill and behavior are learned through practice.

Basic Divisions of Childhood

• Newborn: 0 days to 1 month
• Infant: 1 month to 1 year
• Toddler: 1 to 3 years
• Preschool: 3 to 6 years
• School age child: 6 to 12 years
• Adolescent: 12 to 18 years

Theories of Child Development

• Psychosexual Development
• Psychosocial Development
• Moral Development
• Cognitive Development

Psychoanalytic/Psychosexual Theory (Sigmund Freud)

• Behavior comes as a result of instinctual drives tied to sexual nature(libido)
• Sexual gratification is focused on a particular body part during each stage.
• Oral Stage (0-1 year): Pleasure from oral activities like sucking and tasting.
• Anal Stage (2-3 years): Focus on potty training.
• Phallic Stage (3-6 years): Boys are more attached to their mother, girls to their father.
• Latency Stage (6 years to puberty): Children primarily interact with same-sex peers.
• Genital Stage (Beyond puberty): Attraction to opposite-sex peers.

Erikson's Psychosocial Theory

• Culture and society influence personality development.
• Resolution between two opposing forces leads to accomplishing a developmental task.
• Infancy has conflict of trust vs mistrust, where feeding is an important event.
• Toddlerhood has conflict of autonomy vs shame and doubt, where toilet training is an important event.
• Preschool has conflict of initiative vs guilt, where exploration play is an important event.
• Childhood has conflict of industry vs inferiority, where school is an important event.
• Adolescence has conflict of identity vs confusion, where social relationships are important events.

Erikson's Psychosocial Theory: Stages and Virtues

• Trust vs. Mistrust (Infant - 18 months): Virtue is Hope.
• Autonomy vs. Shame/Doubt (18 months - 3 years): Virtue is Will.
• Initiative vs. Guilt (3-5 years): Virtue is Purpose.
• Industry vs. Inferiority (5-13 years): Virtue is Competency.
• Identity vs. Confusion (13-21 years): Virtue is Fidelity.
• Intimacy vs. Isolation (21-39 years): Virtue is Love.
• Generativity vs. Stagnation (40-65 years): Virtue is Care.
• Integrity vs. Despair (65 and older): Virtue is Wisdom.

Cognitive Development Theory (Jean Piaget)

• It focuses on how children learn, think, and understand experiences.
• There are 4 developmental stages that continues into adulthood.
• Sensorimotor Stage (0-2 years): Learn through doing – looking, touching, and sucking.
  • Develop understanding of cause-and-effect relationships.
  • Object permanence appears around 9 months.
• Preoperational Stage (2-7 years): Use language and symbols including letters and numbers.
• Concrete Operations (7-11 years): Understand conservation, reversibility, and serial ordering.
  • Mature understanding of cause-and-effect relationships develops.
  • Thinking is still concrete at this stage.
• Formal Operations (12+ years): Demonstrate abstract thinking, logic, deductive reasoning, comparison, and classification.

Moral Development Theory (Lawrence Kohlberg)

• Aim is to understand how children gain knowledge of right and wrong.
• Helps determine if children can be depended on to carry out self-care activities.
• Level 1: Pre-conventional: Show concern for self-interest and Rewards and punishments.
• Level 2: Conventional: Individuals do what is expected, and maintain good behavior.
• Level 3: Post-conventional: Autonomous decision making based on ethics.

Types of Play for Children

• Unoccupied: Random
• Solitary: Playing alone
• Onlooker: Watching others play
• Parallel: Playing side by side
• Associative: Playing in a similar activity with no rules
• Social: Sharing ideas with rules

Summary Key Points

• Knowledge of growth and development is important for health promotion and illness prevention.
• Freud's psychoanalytic/psychosexual theory and Erikson's psychosocial development describe tasks for children at all stages of development.
• Piaget's theory of cognitive development describes ways children learn.
• Kohlberg advanced moral development theory. Growth and development occur in known patterns, but the rate differs from child to child.

Explore the principles of growth and development, focusing on physical changes and progression towards maturity. Learn about developmental milestones from newborn to 12 months, including motor skills and social attachment. Understand developmental tasks and their importance in achieving future growth.