Chapter 1 Development Developmentalists Developmental change Cumulative Relatively irreversible Transactional Takes place in an ecosystem Development refers to change focus on major change in child s life that are consequential Development progresses The term development refers to changes that we see in children over relatively long periods of time that have significant impact on their lives Understanding and anticipating developmental changes in children s lives can be most useful to parents and professionals who deal with children on a daily basis Each and every child s development is filled with windows of opportunity for enhanced development BEGINS AT CONCEPTION researchers and practitioners who study the development process Developmental change refers to the gradual accumulation and integration of relatively permanent age related changes in biological and psychological systems through transactions with the environment Gradual over relatively long periods of time Over weeks months Developmental change needs to be observable Accumulation integration Bits and pieces accumulated together and when they integrate you see the change Development is cumulative Developmental changes build upon one another A child s features at one point in time combine with new additions to form more complex features Virtually every change is a potentially important advance in some skill or ability even if the final form of the ability remains unclear More serious reversals in development are referred to as regression Regressive behaviors may be brought on by illness injury deprivation abuse or severe trauma Simple cause and effect explanations do not capture the complexity of children s interactions with the people around them In practical terms every action you direct toward your child has some important reaction in the child Over time the sequence of transactions between your child and his or her social and physical environments form a unique pathway through development Ecology is the study of the relationships between living organisms and their environments The ecology of human development refers to the study of the Supine Prone Regression Opportunity Risk Vulnerability Resilience Microsystem Mesosystem Exosystem Macrosystem How should we handle development in our children transactions between an active growing human being and the settings in which the developing person lives Baby is on back for sleep Baby is on stomach pushing development Development can regress turn and go backwards Should not happen influences from the environment that have a positive facilitating effect on development supports development and promotes the realization of that potential external negative undermining influences on development Risk threatens to undermine development and sacrifice the child s potential Internal factor Inside the child genetic biological base to it lurks inside the child waiting to have a negative effect on the child The tendency to fall prey to risk Internal factor Can be part of or physical or emotional makeup that gives us strength when bad things happen to us When we are challenged enormously we show great strength the tendency to overcome risk In the microsystem children interact with family peers and services such as day cared and school The family system is typically the dominant force in the microsystem The mesosystem describes relationships among elements of the microsystem The relationship between the family and the day care center is an important example The exosystem identifies social supports available to the family in the community For instance while some employers offer day care services and flextime to employees other employers show no concern for the family s ability to provide care for its children during working hours deals with the cultural context of development societal values reflected in social policies toward children Knowing that development is gradual suggests that we must take our time and be patient Knowing that it is cumulative and irreversible suggests that every experience is important Knowing that development is transactional suggests that developmental change does not result from doing something to a child or simply by sitting back and passively observing We can promote favorable developmental outcomes only by entering into transactions with our children encouraging change as we experience change in ourselves Those who seek to promote children s optimal development must be prepared to grow with their children
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