PHILOSOPHY

Child Development
Understanding child development is very important for parents and caregivers. For parents it is important to understand that development starts from the time of conception and continues through to adulthood. The most important parts are of the infancy development beginning at home. When a child is born it continuously speaking to them and playing with them helps them on the right bath for language and cognitive development. As a child gets older it is still important to speak to them and allow them to play. Most people might not realize how much play, plays into the overall development of a child. It gives them many foundations when developing their social/emotional development, language, cognitive and fine/gross motor skills. Model the type of behavior you want your children to learn. Typical Motor Development When we look at typical development we can look at developmental milestones that include physical or behavioral signs of physical, social, and cognitive progress that lead to mastery over ones environment (Christianson, 2010). Most children develop skills in similar patterns and similar times, but attaining milestones varies, based on each childs family and personal history and environment (Christianson, 2010). With that milestones are generally reported in age ranges, rather than by a specific age (Christianson, 2010). Examples of typical development would be: at two months should be able to left self with arms in the prone potion, roll from side to back and around seven months be able to sit alone (Berk, 2013). Atypical Motor Development When looking at atypical development you must first keep in mind that each child develops at his or her own pace and style. So if you start feeling like you child may not be developing along with his or her peers you can ask you self this question: Is my child showing significant delays or different patterns of achieving major milestones (Christianson, 2010)? This could be a sign of a motor or movement disorder, examples of this would be: a child who cannot maintain sitting by the tenth month or a child whose legs get very stiff every time he tries to roll over (Christianson, 2010). Older children may also be display atypical development if they are not able to eat with utensils or dress or undress, or if they have trouble cutting with scissors or drawing (Christianson, 2010). So as a parent it is important to watch for signs and address any concerns with you child doctor and if you continue to see problems the be assertive and obtain the appropriate referrals to specialists (Christianson, 2010).

Theory of Development There are many theories when it comes to child development, but the one we will look at is Albert Banduras social learning theory. Like stated before the development of a child starts at home, with parents being the biggest plays in how a child develops. Banduras theory emphasized modeling, or also known as imitation or observation learning (Berk, 2013). A baby claps his or her hands after their mother dose so, a child may hit a playmate in the same way that he has been punished at home, and a teenager who wears the same clothes and hairstyle as his or her friends at school are all displaying observational learning (Berk, 2013). As child get older they gradually become more selective in what they imitate and develop personal standards for behavior and a sense of self-efficacy, which is a belief that their own abilities and characteristics will help them succeed (Berk, 2013). If a parent who often remarks, Im glad I kept working on that task, even though it was hard, who explains the value of persistence, and who encourages it by saying, I know you can do a good job on that homework (Berk, 2013)! Soon the child stats to view themselves as, hardworking and high achieving and selects people with these characteristics as models (Berk, 2013). This is way it is important for parents to model the behaviors they would like their children to fallow. If you your child constantly see or deals with aggressive parents they too will soon start to display aggression toward the parents and toward their peers.