Case of Study

My case of study is based on a toddler whose name is Axel Alexander Rodriguez, he is 2 years old, and he lives with his parents; and also in a middle child whose name is Assly Marielos Zapata, she is 8 years old, and she lives with her parents. They were studied according to her stage in the physical, cognitive, and psychosocial area of development. In this case, I studied them according to what some researcher and experts have said about childhood stages and areas in their theories of children’s development.

Before recording the case of study:

I looked for all the information that I find about the stages and areas that we were asked to include on it. It is important to mention that I only looked for information about two stages: toddlerhood and middle childhood due to the fact that I could not find the child at the early stage. All the information that I got was from some webpages and the handouts that we have been studying in the class.

Then, I asked for the children’s mother if they could borrow me their children, I explained them the activity, and they agreed with that.

Finally, I chose the activities that I was going to ask them to do, I looked for the camera, and I started to record them.

During recording the case of study:

 Firstly, I asked the toddler, whose name is Axel, to do all the activities that I had for him. At the beginning, I thought that he was not to do the activities if I was recording him. However, he showed more interested in doing all the activities.

Once I had recorded the toddler, I asked the middle child whose name is Assly, to do the activities that I had for her (you could see the activities in the video). As she is older, she has more understanding that being in front of a camera is not an easy task. Nevertheless, she tried to hide those nerves.

 After recording the case of study:

Once that I had recorded the children, I started to order every video according to the area and stage which they belonged. Then, I joined all of them in the movie maker program in order to see how it was going to be. As I had never edited a video, it was my first time. When I joined all the videos, according to what I saw in the program, I thought that the whole video was not going to appear, so I started to record myself in order to talk about the theories. I joined the audios with the videos, and as my computer was not working well, I could not see the video before saving it. It lasted more than one hour to be saved. Once that it was saved, I watched it and I realized that the whole videos were there and that there were parts in which I did not speak because I forgot to include them. However, I left it like that because I did not have enough time to fix it, and because I had several things to do. 

Now, talking about my finding on these children, I could realize that Salvadorian children are not far of the reality of American children, due to the fact that both children were able to perform accurately all the tasks, I mean in the same way as an American children would do it. It is important to mention that these children are from the country side. However, it was not a problem for them to perform well the tasks. Although it is true that not all children from the country side develop in the same way because it depends mostly on the parents’ background and education that children receive. Thus, I consider that these children performed well the activities because of those main factors that contribute to the children’s well development. In addition, I can say that in the physical area, children from this part have a better physical development because of the environment that living in the country side produces. That is why, we can notice that Axel’s physical development is even advanced according to his age because a two year old child is not able to kick a ball and run in the way as this boy does it. The same happens in Assly’s physical development because she is able to ride the bicycle and drive very fast since she was around five years of age, so I truly believe that children from the country side have a better physical development. On the other hand, talking about psychosocial development is the same for most Salvadorian children no matter where they live. Finally, in their cognitive development, I can say that children from the country side have less advantage comparing with children from the city. Nonetheless, Assly and Axel’s cognitive development is working according to their age.

References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piaget's_theory_of_cognitive_development

http://psychology.about.com/library/bl_psychosocial_summary.htm

http://psychology.about.com/od/developmentalpsychology/ss/early-childhood-development_3.htm

Papalia, D., et al. A child's world. pp. 239-290. Mc Graw Hill. USA, 2006

RELEVANT FACTS ABOUT ATTENTION DEFICIT DISORDER (ADD)

Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), also known as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD, similar to hyperkinetic disorder in theICD-10) is a psychiatric disorder of the neurodevelopmental disorder class in which there are significant problems of attention and/or hyperactivity and acting impulsively that are not appropriate for a person's age. When a person shows ADD/ADHD, that person has trouble concentrating, difficulty focusing on the task hold, and acts impulsively without thinking.

In some people, these and other exasperating behaviors are uncontrollable, persistently plaguing their day to day existence and interfering with their ability to form lasting friendships or succeed in school, at home, and with a career.

These symptoms must begin before seven to twelve years of age and must have been present for more than six months for a diagnosis to be made. There are three subtypes:

Predominantly inattentive (ADHD-PI or ADHD-I): When symptoms of hyperactivity-impulsivity, but not symptoms of inattention have been presented for at least 6 month.

Predominantly hyperactive-impulsive (ADHD-HI or ADHD-H): When symptoms of inattention, but not of hyperactivity-impulsivity have been presented for at least 6 month.

Combined (ADHD-C): When symptoms of both inattention and hyperactivity-impulsivity have been presented for at least 6 month.

ADHD does not show physical signs that can be detected by a blood test or other lab test. Its symptoms often overlap with those of other physical and psychological disorders.

It usually appears during childhood although it can also be diagnosed in adulthood; however, it happens when it was presented in childhood, but not diagnosed.

Some important facts about ADD are:

-It is about 3 times more common among boys than girls

-The symptoms of ADD do not always go away because up to 60% of child patients retain their symptoms into adulthood.

-Sometimes many adults are not aware of this disorder because they may have been wrongly diagnosed with depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, or a learning disability.

-ADD has been identified in every nation and culture that has been studied.

ADD/ADHD is often accompanied by: Anxiety, learning disabilities speech or hearing problems, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and behavioral problems such as oppositional disorder or conduct disorder.

When a person shows these problems, there must be evidence that these behaviors are present in two or more settings: at home, school or work, with friends, family, etc. For example, someone who can pay attention at work but is inattentive only at home would not qualify for a diagnostic. However, it can be done when a child’s hyperactivity, distractibility, lack of concentration, or impulsivity starts affecting school performance, friendships, or behavior at home.

ADD/ADHD can be caused by genetic factors, environmental facts (if the mother smokes), nutrition and food, and brain damage.

If a child presents this disorder, he/she must be treated with a professional.

It is very crucial to know about this disorder because in our culture is easy to see children and even older people with any of those problems. However, we just make our diagnostic without thinking what can surely be, without looking for professional help, and because of those mistakes children’s performance can be affected. Also, if we know that a child or an older person has a disorder, we will understand the reasons of their behavior, and if they are our students, we could not discriminate them, but use different and creative methods and techniques in order to improve the student’s performance and learning. 

References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attention_deficit_hyperactivity_disorder

http://psychcentral.com/disorders/adhd/

MAIN BEHAVIORAL AND COGNITIVE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN BOYS AND GILRS

MAIN BEHAVIORAL AND COGNITIVE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN BOYS AND GILRS (MIDDLE CHILDHOOD)

There is no doubt that since birth, children born with significant differences between boys and girls. Although it is true that we cannot notice all of those differences with a simple view, they truly exist. Gender differences in cognitive, social, and personal characteristics have been investigated since the early 1900s. Research has identified differences in several specific cognitive skills as well as in a range of social and personal characteristics. Even when gender differences are significant and consistent over time, we still do not fully understand why they exist. Different experiences and socialization are almost certainly involved, but biological factors may also have important effects. Though boys and girls have similarities, their differences are above their similarities. Thus, in the following paragraphs, I present some main behavioral and cognitive differences between both.

Behavioral Differences:

“Peers provide the earliest discrimination of gender roles, but before long, peers join the process of responding to and modeling masculine and feminine behavior” (Papalia, 2006, 323). During the schools years, peers become so important to gender development that the playground has been called “gender school”. When children are in their middle childhood, boys and girls differences increase because they are more likely to engage in same sex groups. Also, their interest in playing different games is increased. For example, boys prefer to engage more in rough play, competition, conflict, ego displays, risk taking, and activities that cover large areas of physical space. However, girls prefer to perform tasks involving flexibility and fine-motor coordination, and to engage in games in which they can talk and act in a more reciprocal manner.

Aggression and assertiveness are two main categories of behavior between boys and girls because they differ by whether they can hurt others; aggression is directed against someone or something, whereas assertiveness may be defined as speaking up for oneself, being self-confident. Boys show more physical aggression, such as hitting or kicking, than girls; this difference is present during all life. Boys also show higher levels of assertiveness than girls, though the difference is not as great as for physical aggression. Aggression can take different forms; it does not have to be physical. For instance, relational aggression seeks to hurt others through social means such as name-calling or exclusion. Girls are significantly more likely than boys to show relational aggression.

In addition, girls often receive ratings from others, and evaluate themselves, as more helpful, cooperative, and sympathetic than boys, but their actual behavior is not consistently different from that of boys. However, girls are more likely to seek and to receive help than are boys, and sometimes girls are more easily influenced than boys although when attempting to influence others, boys are more likely to use threats and physical force whereas girls tend to use verbal persuasion or, if that does not work, simply to stop their efforts to influence the other person.

Cognitive Differences:

Males are more likely to use one side of the brain for a given task, while females use both sides of the brain. Because girls access both the thinking and feeling functions of the brain at the same time, they process information best when it is presented in a larger context. In general, boys prefer information presented in an objective and fact-oriented manner.

In cognitive skills, the largest and most consistent gender differences are found in verbal, language, and certain spatial skills. For example, girls have a larger vocabulary, and show a higher level of language complexity. The biggest differences in verbal skills are in spelling, overall language measures, and writing. Differences in other specific skills tend to be smaller.

In addition, during the middle childhood boys and girls are developing self-control and are able to follow simple directions; they enjoy participating in organized activities and games with rules; learning is rapid, as attention span and memory improves; thinking is logical and concrete; boys and girls can carry on conversations with adults, as their ability to speak and express ideas develops; focus is on the present, with a growing awareness of the future; youth begin to understand how to learn, as they start to see that strategies such as study and practice can improve ability and performance; boys and girls are beginning to think for themselves and develop their own opinions, but continue to need help in solving problems. There is a strong need to demonstrate mastery of skills and be recognized for competence. Boys and girls develop a “sense of industry” and learn to cooperate with peers and adults.

On the other hand, it is said that boys are better than girls in mathematics. However, it depends on students' ages and skill levels, as well as on the particular area of mathematics being assessed. The only consistent differences found in elementary school favor girls, both for computation and for grades in math. In studies of very talented populations, boys perform better on several mathematics skills. Gender differences favoring boys appear at adolescence and increase during the high school years, but only in areas involving mathematics problem solving.

Without any doubt, boys and girls are different not only in their physical appearance but also in their way of thinking, feeling, and acting in the same or different situations, so we need to take all this information into account because it is helpful for us, as future parents and teachers. Through it, we could understand why many times boys show more aggressiveness into the problems, and girls understand them and act in a more passive way. Also, to understand why many times children feel better working and playing with same sex groups. All of them are because of those differences among both kind of children, boys and girls.

References:

http://www.bgcgrandrapids.org/uploads/files/Youth_Development_Characteristics.pdf

Papalia, D., et al. A child's world. pp. 239-290. Mc Graw Hill. USA, 2006

GROSS AND FINE MOTOR SKILLS

GROSS AND FINE MOTOR SKILLS THAT CHLDREN DEVELOP DURING EARLY AND MIDDLE CHILDHOOD.

During childhood, the progression of physical development can be an astounding thing to observe. One of the best ways parents can ensure that their kids achieve key physical developmental is to create an environment that encourages kids to explore the world.

Also, during childhood, children develop considerably their gross and fine motor skills:

Gross motor skills:

Children make an effort to stay upright and move around, they move their legs with more confidence and carry themselves more purposely, moving around in the environment become more automatic.

From 1 to 2 Years

Children become increasingly independent and this age and tasks requiring balance and hand-eye coordination begin to emerge. During this stage of development, most children are able to:

Pick things up while standing up

Walk backwards

Walk up and down stair without assistance

Move and sway to music

Throw ball underhand (4 feet)

Pedal tricycle 10 feet

Catch large ball

Jump to floor from 12 inches  

From 2 to 3 Years

Building on earlier skills, children become increasingly adept at activities that require coordination and speed. From one to three years of age, most kids begin to:

Run in a forward direction

Jump in one place

Kick a ball

Stand on one foot

   

From 3 to 4 Years

Physical abilities become more advanced as children develop better movement and balance skills. From age three to four, most kids begin to:

Ride a tricycle

Go down a slide without help

Throw and catch a ball

Pull and steer toys

Walk in a straight line

From 4 to 5 Years

During this period of development, children become increasingly confident in their abilities. Most children begin to:

    Jump on one foot

    Walk backwards

    Do somersaults

   

From 7 on… children continue mastering all these abilities

Fine motor skills:

These are children’s abilities to place and handle things such as: pick up objects, writing, among other activities that involve the coordination of the small muscles with the body.

From 1 to 2 Years

Paste using pointed finger

Color or paint by moving the entire arm

Scribble with markers or crayons

Turn knobs and handles

From 2 to 3 Years, children begin to:

Cut paper

Turn pages of a book

Draw a circle

Hold a crayon between the thumb and fingers

From 3 to 4 Years, most kids begin to:

Print first name

Cut following a line

Pour from various containers

Pull and steer toys

Build tall towers with toy blocks

Manipulate clay into shapes

From 4 to 5 Years, most children begin to:

Cut paper with safety scissors

Print some letters

Copy shapes including squares and crosses

Write some words

Reproduce letters

Cut interior pieces from paper

Draw rectangles, circles, squares, and triangles

From 7 on, children continue mastering their fine motor skills

It is important that parents, caregivers, and all people who is around children’s environment help and facilitate the development of children’s gross and fine motor skills. In this way, many problems of delay development can be avoided. Also, all people who is in the child’s environment have to contribute to her/his development by teaching to the child all the abilities that the child should master according to her/his age, and observing if the child presents serious problems in her/his development in order to look for professional help and the child could be threated on time.

References:

Papalia, D., et al. A child's world. pp. 239-290. Mc Graw Hill. USA, 2006

http://www.bhcmhmr.org/poc/view_doc.php?type=doc&id=12755&cn=462

Stages of the Childhood

STAGES OF THE CHILDHOOD

Childhood is the period of life that begins since the first year of life and ends before puberty, it is around eleven years of age. This period is divided into different stages. However, I am going to focus on three of these stages of the childhood which are: toddlerhood, early childhood, and middle childhood.

Also, before talking about those stages, it is important to mention that every stage has three different areas which children develop in order to have a good growing, these areas are: physical, cognitive, and psychosocial.

Physical Development:
It is the development that children show in their body. According to how they are growing, their body is changing and their physical abilities and skills are becoming stronger. During these changes, children develop fine and gross motor skills.

Thus, to encourage gross motor skill development, it is essential to give kids plenty of opportunities to practice their abilities by giving them the time, space and resources they need to roll balls, run, jump, balance, etc. Offer kids the chance to engage in play, but do not pressure them to be experts at every single thing. It is important to know that kids need to be able to explore their abilities and build confidence in their skills.

Parents and caregivers can help children develop fine-motor skills by giving children play experiences involving drawing, putting together puzzles or stringing beads to help them build better find-motor movements and improved hand-eye coordination.

Cognitive Development:

Childhood is not only a period of amazing physical growth, it is also a time of remarkable mental development. Cognitive abilities associated with memory, reasoning, problem-solving and thinking continue to emerge throughout childhood.

Piaget developed an interest in the intellectual development of children. Based upon his observations, he concluded that children are not less intelligent than adults, they simply think differently. Piaget created a theory of cognitive development that described the basic stages that children go through as they mentally mature. He believed that children are like "little scientists," actively trying to make sense of the world rather than simply soaking up information passively.

Piaget’s stages of Cognitive Development

• The Sensorimotor Stage: A period of time between birth and age two during which an infant's knowledge of the world is limited to his or her sensory perceptions and motor activities. Behaviors are limited to simple motor responses caused by sensory stimuli.

• The Preoperational Stage: A period between ages two and six during which a child learns to use language. During this stage, children do not yet understand concrete logic, cannot mentally manipulate information and are unable to take the point of view of other people.
• The Concrete Operational Stage: A period between ages seven and eleven during which children gain a better understanding of mental operations. Children begin thinking logically about concrete events, but have difficulty understanding abstract or hypothetical concepts.
• The Formal Operational Stage: A period between age twelve to adulthood when people develop the ability to think about abstract concepts. Skills such as logical thought, deductive reasoning and systematic planning also emerge during this stage.

Psychosocial Development:

Erik Erikson's theory of psychosocial development is one of the best-known theories of personality in psychology. Much like Sigmund Freud, Erikson believed that personality develops in a series of stages.

Stage	Basic Conflict	Important Events	Outcome
Infancy (birth to 18 months)	Trust vs. Mistrust	Feeding	Children develop a sense of trust when caregivers provide reliabilty, care, and affection. A lack of this will lead to mistrust.
Early Childhood (2 to 3 years)	Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt	Toilet Training	Children need to develop a sense of personal control over physical skills and a sense of independence. Success leads to feelings of autonomy, failure results in feelings of shame and doubt.
Preschool (3 to 5 years)	Initiative vs. Guilt	Exploration	Children need to begin asserting control and power over the environment. Success in this stage leads to a sense of purpose. Children who try to exert too much power experience disapproval, resulting in a sense of guilt.
School Age (6 to 11 years)	Industry vs. Inferiority	School	Children need to cope with new social and academic demands. Success leads to a sense of competence, while failure results in feelings of inferiority.

In each stage, Erikson believed people experience a conflict that serves as a turning point in development. In Erikson's view, these conflicts are centered on either developing a psychological quality or failing to develop that quality. During these times, the potential for personal growth is high, but so is the potential for failure.

STAGES IN CHILDHOOD:

TODDLERHOOD 1-3

The toddlerhood is the stage that starts since the first year, and ends until the third year of age. Toddlers learn to walk, talk, use toilets, and do things for themselves. Their self-control and self-confidence begin to develop at this stage. 

I had the opportunity to study a toddler, his name is Axel. According to the tasks that I asked him to do, he is in a good stage because he was able to perform all the activities in the correct way as a two year old would do it. For example, in his physical development, I asked him to run, kick a ball through playing with some other children, and ride a tricycle; in fact, the boy was able to do all the activities very good as if he were a 3 year old child. In his cognitive development, I asked him to separated toys according to shape, and he was able to do it. And in his psychosocial development, I asked him to recognize family members, and choose between cars or dolls, although at the beginning of the second task, he was choosing wrongly, at the end he chose what a boy would choose. So I consider that this child has developed well the three areas because most of them do it as two year old boy would do it, and even though he wanted the dolls, he knew they were not for him.

Physical development

Now, talking about the physical development of a toddler, children at this stage should be able to use their gross and fine motor skills:

Gross motor skills:

·         Jump in place

·         Carry toys while walking

·         Begin to run

·         Stand on tiptoes

·         Kick a ball

·         Climb up and down from furniture

Fine motor skills:

·         Build tower with a few blocks

·         Show preference for one hand or another but handedness not completely established

·         Pour out contents of container

Cognitive development:

In this stage children should be able to:

·         Find hidden objects

·         Sort by shapes and colors

·         Play make-believe games

·         Recognize names of people and objects

·         Use phrases and two-word sentences

·         Follow instructions

·         Repeat words

·         Have vocabulary of fifty or more words

Psychosocial development:

At this stage, children are able to:

·         Imitate others to please them

·         Excited about being with other children

·         Want to be more independent

·         Recognize family members

·         Start having knowledge about gender identity, roles, and typing

EARLY CHILDHOOD 3-5

The early childhood stage is the period between 3 years and 5 years of age of a child.

Children have newfound power at this stage as they have developed motor skills and become more and more engaged in social interaction with people around them. They now must learn to achieve a balance between eagerness for more adventure and more responsibility, and learning to control impulses and childish fantasies. 

Physical development:

Physical abilities become more advanced as children develop better movement and balance skills. At this stage, most children begin to:

·         Ride a tricycle

·         Go down a slide without help

·         Throw and catch a ball

·         Pull and steer toys

·         Walk in a straight line

·         Build tall towers with toy blocks

·         Manipulate clay into shapes

·         Jump on one foot

·         Walk backwards

·         Cut paper with safety scissors

·         Copy shapes including squares and crosses

Also, in this stage, a child:

• Gains greater control over large and fine motor skills; movements are more precise and deliberate, though some clumsiness persists.
• Enjoys vigorous running, jumping, climbing, and throwing etc.
• Span of attention increases; works at tasks for longer periods of time, though
• Functioning which facilitates learning to ride a bicycle, swim, swing a bat, or kick a ball.
• Can Tie Laces, string (like shoes).

Cognitive development:

 “The cognitive world of the preschool child is creative, free, and fanciful. Preschool children’s imaginations work overtime, and their mental grasp of the world improves” (Papalia, 2006, p.282).  Thus, children at this stage are able to:

• ·         Have fluent speech
• ·         Know right from left
• ·         Number fingers
• ·         Understand events that are taking place
• ·         Pay more attention to tasks

• Can concentrate effort but not always consistently.
• Understands time (today, tomorrow, yesterday) and simple motion (things go faster than others).
• Folds and cuts paper into simple shapes.
• Recognizes seasons and major activities done in the times.
• Has fun with problem solving and sorting activities like stacking, puzzles and mazes
• Enjoys the challenge of puzzles, counting and sorting activities, paper-and-pencil mazes, and games that involve matching letters and words with pictures.
• Recognizes some words by sight; attempts to sound out words
• In some cases the child may be reading well.
• Reverses or confuse certain letters: b/d, p/g, g/q, t/f.
• Able to trace objects.

Psychosocial development:

In early childhood, children’s emotional lives and personalities develop in significant ways and their small worlds widen. In addition to the continuing influence of family relationships, peers take on a more significant role in children’s development and play fills the days of many young children’s lives (Papalia, 2006, p.314). 

At this stage, children’s development increases in the development of their self, emotional maturity, moral understanding, and gender awareness. For example, children are able to:

• Outgoing; friendly; overly enthusiastic at times.
• Moods change rapidly and unpredictably; laughing one minute, crying the next; may throw tantrum over minor frustrations (a block structure that will not balance); sulk over being left out.
• Imaginary playmates or companions are common; holds conversations and shares strong emotions with this invisible friend.
• Boasts, exaggerates, and "bends" the truth with made-up stories or claims of boldness; tests the limits with "bathroom" talk.
• Cooperates with others; participates in group activities.
• Shows pride in accomplishments; seeks frequent adult approval.
• Enjoys role-playing and make-believe activities.
• Relies (most of the time) on verbal rather than Physical aggression; may yell angrily rather than hit to make a point; threatens: "You can't come to my birthday party"
• Name-calling and taunting are often used as ways of excluding other children.
• Establishes close relationships with playmates; beginning to have "best" friends.

MIDDLE CHILDHOOD 6-9

School is the important event at this stage. Children learn to make things, use tools, and acquire the skills to be a worker and a potential provider. And they do all these while making the transition from the world of home into the world of peers.

Talking about my case of study, I had the opportunity to study a child of this stage, her name is Assly. I consider that this girl has had a good development in all areas due to all the tasks activities that I asked her to do were well done physically, cognitively, and psychosocially, she was able to perform them just as an 8 year old child would do it.

In her physical development, she was able to draw and paint the picture of her house, and she added some trees and the sky to it.

In her cognitive development, she was able to do Piaget’s conservation task by thinking operationally.

In her psychosocial development, she showed that she is more likely to show preference by same sex playmates.

Physical development:

In these years, many children place great emphasis on the development of their own physical ability. Activities such as hitting a ball, riding a bike fast and doing a handstand will often carry considerable status within a peer group, particularly for boys.

Generally speaking, energy levels will be high, and children will:

·         be able to draw a picture of a house, and will include the garden and sky 

·         be able to ride a two-wheeler bike 

·         like to climb and swim 

·         be able to throw and catch a ball.

Cognitive development:

At this age, children are often very excited by and genuinely interested in the outside world. Children will be able to absorb information with enthusiasm and frequently remember remarkable detail about subjects that interest her/him.

In these years, your child might:

·         begin to have some understanding of money (around six years)

·         understand that Santa isn’t real (at about 7-8 years)

·         be able to tell the time (by 7-8 years)

·         read to herself

·         start to plan ahead

·         know left from right

·         like to have collections (stamps, games, cards and so on).

Psychosocial development:

Over these middle years, you’ll see the gradual development of your child’s social skills, and an increasing ability to relate to others.

·         have some understanding of rules (around age six) and might want to add some rules of her own (around age seven)

·         be starting to like team games (at around eight years)

·         start to understand another person’s view of things (usually around eight or nine)

·         be more careful with his own belongings (at about nine years)

·         be beginning to show signs of being more responsible

·         like to win at games, but might not be able to lose cheerfully

·         tell lies or steal, and might not yet have fully developed a proper understanding of right and wrong

·         like going to school, unless he has a problem there

·         have problems with friends – this is normal for most children from time to time

·         Enjoy going to a sleepover at a friend’s house.

·         Make individual differences among them and other people

·         Judge rightness or goodness

·         Show preference by same sex playmates

·         Be influenced by peers

As children become increasingly mobile and more physically active, it is important to have some basic safety precautions in place. Parental observation is crucial to minimize risks while still giving kids the freedom they need to explore and play. In the same way, parents and caregivers help and caring is vital for children’s cognitive and psychosocial development due to depending on them children are going to have a good or bad development, so they must be alert in all areas and stages of childhood in order to prevent delays or illnesses that can affect their development.

Resources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piaget's_theory_of_cognitive_development

http://psychology.about.com/library/bl_psychosocial_summary.htm

http://psychology.about.com/od/developmentalpsychology/ss/early-childhood-development_3.htm

Papalia, D., et al. A child's world. pp. 239-290. Mc Graw Hill. USA, 2006