Child Development Facts

           

Child Development

            The article, Child Development, from the CDC provides many facts on child development and some specifics related to it. This article taught me that the early years in kids’ lives are extremely important for their health and development. I also learned that healthy development means that children with various skills are able to grow up with their specific needs met that include emotional, social, and educational needs as well. I believe that this is very important because of how significant it is for these specific needs to be met because they are such a large part of daily living. I also learned about some of the developmental milestones, which include smiling, taking their first baby step, and waving "hello" and "goodbye". In order for these milestones to be met, these children will be crawling, walking, moving, speaking, playing, and learning as well.

            This article also taught me that all children develop at completely different paces. Some children may develop quicker than others just because of the environment that they are in. It is completely impossible to say which children will develop which skills at a certain time because of how inconsistent the development process goes with each child. The milestones are very generalized because it is known that children will reach these specific steps, but the time of these steps is unknown. I also learned that some parents become scared if their child did not reach the specific milestone by a certain time in their childhood, so that is when they should go talk to their family doctor to see if there are any concerns with the child. 

            The growth of a child is monitored through health professionals and through the parents of the child as well. During the many childhood doctor visits, the doctor and nurse will look for any developmental problems that the parents should be concerned about. It is also the responsibility of the parent to make sure that they are communicating with their family doctor if they suspect that something is wrong. The term, developmental screening, is used for children with and without special needs to determine if children are having any developmental delays or if they are developing properly and in a timely manner. It is important to make sure that your family doctor is using developmental screening tests to see if there are any problems because if there are, then you should act as soon as possible to get help with the delay. 

            Here are some specific developmental skills that you should be looking at while your child is developing. During 0-1 years of age, infants will be learning that they have surroundings, explore, and focus their vision. These are things to look for while your child is 0-1 years old. In the next stage when your child is 1-2 years old, they tend to explore more of their surroundings, including people as well. Between 2-3 years, the child should be going through social and emotional changes in their world. While your child is 3-5 years old, the child is interacting with their extended family and learning colors as well. During their middle childhood years (6-8 years old), children should be learning to tie his/her shoes and learning to play sports as well. During the ages of 9-11 years old, the child should be having more of an interest in his/her friends than just his/her family. From the ages of 12-14 years old, children will be dealing with hormones and the physical and emotional changes that go along with them. Lastly, during the ages of 15-17 years old, children will be finishing up the puberty stage and starting to mature. Those are some of the specific developmental skills that children will go through while growing up. 
            I believe that this section from the CDC did a great job providing information regarding child developmental and all of the specifics that go along with it. This should be a very useful article for you to look through because it provided accurate information on this subject and specific skills that children will be going through during specific ages. It also provided you with information regarding developmental screening tests and how important it is to make sure that your family doctor is making use of those during the many childhood doctor appointments that you will be attending with your child. The CDC website also provides a wide variety of information related to child developmental that should be a useful tool for you because of all the information that is has provided within it. 

Reference: 
Child Development. (2015, November 06). Retrieved February 15, 2016, from        http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/childdevelopment/positiveparenting/adolescence2.html