PSYC1201: Human Growth and Development Across the Lifespan
Stage Research: Early Childhood
The early childhood stage spans from the age of 4 to 7 years of age that is referred to as the intuitive stage (Oswalt, 2018). At this developmental stage, the child is curious and will want to know a lot of things they are curious about (Tucker‐Drob & Harden, 2012). The children do not know how they knew something as they just think they understand a lot. According to Piaget, intuitive thinking of the children at this stage is known as “Centration.” Through Centration, the child tends to narrow down to one characteristic of a person, and then they base their judgment on it (Elkind & Piaget, 1976). The intuitive thought shows the cognitive skills in many stages. For instance, they may explain events they have not encountered before through rational thought rather than through belief of myths. While the very young may not fully understand the process through which a child is born, but an older child will understand that a man and a woman are needed in making a baby.
This paper will thus discuss the developmental stage of early childhood, developmental activities of individuals in this stage, the key crises and events in this stage, and the theories that apply. The paper will also describe an interfering factor of the stage and gave preventative and intervention measures to protect the child before a negative factor occurs.
Developmental Activity
One of the characteristics of children at this stage is that the child understands the dual relationship, and they thus know that a toy can be a representation of a real dog in real life and that it is a toy to play with. At this period, the children are said to be sponges as they soak information around them (Elkind & Piaget, 1976).
According to Soto (2014), the age of the child is linked to the roles that society expects of them by a certain age. For instance, at the age of early childhood, the child is executed to refrain from habits they had at the toddler stage, and they thus are expected to show a higher level of rationality. The norms can be internalized so that the child is made to know of them, and thus it guides their behavior (Tomonary, 2013).
According to Hill et al. (2016), the health concerns of children at this stage are varied. One is the nutrition as toddlers require the introduction of solid foods in their diet. The milk intake is reduced to two to three servings per day. The significance of meals is psychological in that conflicts can arise if the diet process is interfered with. In the preschooler stage, at the age of 3 to 5 years, children are eager to start school. The child can also share their feelings and thoughts more easily. The fast development of the child is more cognitive and psychosocial that physical. The physical stages that are key are in blood pressure, weight, height, and heart rates. The child at this stage has high muscle coordination; thus, their movements are faster, for instance, when running and walking or while at play. According to Hill et al. (2016), cognitive changes appear in their thinking. The child at this stage can judge events, objects, and people.
Key Crisis and Main Events
Erik Erickson’s thoughts about this stage are that the main event at this stage is primarily in the development of skills. This refers to physical growth as well as the development of cognitive skills. For instance, the child will grow in height, weight, and in having skills like potty training, writing, hand to eye coordination and talking. The motor skills also develop to the point that they can write well by the age of 5 years. Physical growth will then slow down, and motor skills become more refined (Tomonary, 2013)/. The physical changes are more in changes in cognitive skills and in language development. At this point, the children are more sensitive to their environment and thus connecting the cause to effect. For instance, they can describe or ask questions about the things around them and narrate familiar things.
According to Chomsky (1967), however, the language acquisition device is responsible for the quick learning of language for children in the early childhood stage.
By the time the children are the age of 8 years of age, they show an understanding of other concepts other than language, like time. The other development is in the socio emotions. The child forms an attachment to certain people around them. According to the attachment theory, the personality and functionality of an individual are shaped by the exposure the child has with their initial caregivers. This may also come from a lack of care at this crucial level. The child at this level may also have an emotional attachment to their peers at school; they identify their gender and morals.
Freud’s Psychosexual Developmental Theory
According to Freud, psychological development in a child takes place in 5 psychosexual stages as they represent the fixation of libido on the area of the body. This means that a person has certain areas of their body that are important to them as erogenous zones (Garcia, 1995). The stages are anal, phallic, oral, genital, and latency and are associated with a certain conflict that must be solved so that the child can advance to the next stage of development. According to Stevenson (1996), the attempt to resolve these conflicts requires energy and ensures that characteristics of that stage remain with the person as they mature. The person may be able to move on to the next stage or not. If they cannot leave it, then their needs at that stage may not have been met, thus the frustration (Freud, 1905). If they are over met, then the person has overindulgence, a phenomenon that leads to fixation. Fixation makes the person become invested in that stage of development.
The oral stage is the first stage of personality development that runs from birth to one year. The baby’s focus here is on the mouth. Thus it will get satisfaction from putting things in the mouth to meet its needs. This could be though breastfeeding, biting, or sucking. Oral stimulation can lead to an oral fixation in life, which is seen through biting nails, smoking, sucking thumbs when under stress. The second stage is the anal stage, that runs from 1 to 3 years. The child derives pleasure from defecating, and their ego has developed to the point of realizing conflict with the world (Heimann, 1962). At this stage, the adult puts restrictions on when the child can defecate. This conflict determines how a child reacts to authority later in their life. Harsh potty training leads to an obsessive person who respects authority and is stingy with possessions and money. A liberal potty training regime, on the other hand, leads to a fixation that is seen through being generous with possessions and money. The person is also messy and rebellious.
The third stage is the phallic stage that runs from the age of 3 to 6 years. Sexual sensitivity becomes more heightened at this stage; thus, the child is aware of their sex differences (Phase et al., 1973). Thus the conflict is through rivalry, fear, resentment, and erotic attraction. To solve this, the process of identification must take place where the child takes the characteristics of the same-sex parent. The next stage is the latency stage that runs from 6 years to puberty, where the sexual impulses are repressed. The focus is thus, one acquisition of new skills and knowledge through learning and play (Fisher & Greenberg, 1996). The last is the Genital stage that runs from the puberty stage to adult. Here the individual experiments with sex and relationships.
Negative Factor
One of the negative factors that can interfere with normal developmental activity at this stage is a stigma on developmental delays, for instance, when a child has special needs. For instance, a child with a hearing deficit may interfere with the rate at which the learner learns the language and in their cognitive skills. The stigma that the child faces in the environment they are in at home or at school can affect the rate at which they cope with their environment.
There have been very many cases in which a deaf and dumb child has been molested by their caregivers or baby sitters while at the early childhood stage. The situation is made worse by the fact that that child will never speak up to tell their parent or share with others.
This will affect not only their self-esteem but also their learning abilities. Also, the stigma associated with the special need child at school may affect the rate at which they socialize thus the learning of language may be hindered due to the stigma or their progress in developing other skills will be hampered. In the classroom, it has been proven that children that suffer discrimination of any kind are unable to cope at school and will thus have poor performance.
Prevention Measures
The prevention measures that can help protect an individual from the negative environment lies in having policies in place that protect the special needs children from discrimination and stigma in their home and school environments. This can be in the form of educating other children about special needs so that they know how they can relate to the special needs child. Another measure would be in enrolling the child in a special needs school where the child can interact with other children that have the same needs as they do. They will not only make them feel at home but will also enable the child to be comfortable develop without the fear of stigma form other children that have normal development.
Intervention
Intervention services for children with special needs enable the problem to be detected at an early age, and thus it is dealt with, and it may reduce the need for special education early enough. For instance, a child that is partially deaf can be given hearing aid and which may make it possible to be placed in a normal learning facility, while at the same time avoid stigma as they function like everyone else in that environment. The intervention can be in the form of a correction of the problems that the child has.
If the problem is caused by premature birth, there can be appropriate therapies to allow the child to fully be incorporated in a normal environment with others in society. They are also able to learn at the same rate as others around them. In the learning process, there is a need to determine class placement, retention rate, and transition classes. Thus the study of this stage will allow the problems that the stage has to be r4moved through school programs.
Conclusion
Children in the early childhood age develop quickly as they move through childhood. The stage, therefore, has physical development where the child has bigger proportions of their body; they began to have better motor skills and cognitive skills through which they can connect symbols to situations in life. Emotionally the children are able to express their thoughts and feelings and in showing sympathy to others. They also are empathetic. Other changes are that they have a better connection with the people around them as their social skills begin to expand. They are, therefore, able to form relationships with those close to them and attachments to those that treat them well. As far as morals go, they can tell right from wrong, and they thus act according to what they feel is right after making a judgment. Sexually, they can tell their gender form a different one and even identify themselves with it and with social expectations of their gender.
In light of these developmental changes, the children are faced with crises that can impede their growth. This paper focused on language learning and school learning. The paper, therefore, elucidated the various prevention and intervention measures that can be used to mitigate the challenge. The parents and teachers of the child at this stage have to; therefore, understand the various stages of growth, the challenges that can impede the growth and implement the preventative measures and the interventions to enable the child to mature progressively.
References
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Phase, P. PHALLIC; PHALLIC PHASE; PHALLUS EN: phallic stage (or phase); DE: phallische Stufe (oder Phase); FR: stade phallique; ES: phallic stage (or phase); IT: fase fallica; PO: fase fálica Phallic Stage (or Phase) Laplanche, J. and Pontalis, JB (1973). The Language of Psycho-Analysis.= D.: phallische Stufe (or Phase).–Es.: fase fálica.–Fr.: stade phallique.–I.: fase fallica.–P.: fase fálica.
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