Chapter 1 Introduction Development refers to changes that we see in children over relatively long periods of time that have significant impact on their lives The Concept of Development Development refers to change but humans go through many types of change only some of which may be considered developmental Developmentalists researchers and practitioners who study the development process have defined development as the gradual accumulation and integration of relatively permanent age related changes in biological and psychological systems through transactions with the environment Development is Gradual Development is Cumulative To facilitate your children s development you must be both persistent and consistent in your efforts bring about change over extended periods of time Development changes build upon one another A child s feature 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 Developmental Change is Relatively Permanent Developmental change is typically irreversible that is under most circumstances developmental change does not go backward Unfortunately some less favorable developmental changes may also become relatively permanent Ex Children who are maltreated or fail to develop close emotional relationships with caregivers in their early years may develop relatively permanent difficulties in forming social relationships Although irreversibility is the rule there are some extraordinary circumstances that can reverse a child s developmental advances Fortunately such reversals in development tend to correct themselves over time as children adapt to their new circumstances Regression more serious reversals in development Regressive behaviors might be brought on by illness injury deprivation abuse or severe trauma Unlikely to self correct and may require specialized interventions Development is Transactional Developmentalists have come to recognize that single direction cause and effect explanations of behavior and development are overly simplistic They believe that children influence their environment as much as their environment influences them Development Takes Place in an Ecosystem Ecology is the study of the relationships between living organisms and their environments The ecology of human development refers to the study of the transactions between an active growing human being and the settings in which the developing person lives Urie Bronfenbrenner From this perspective we conceive of children developing within an ecosystem interacting with nested levels of environmental influences Four Levels of Ecosystem Microsystem children interacts with family peers and services such as day care and school The family system is typically the dominant force in the microsystem Mesosystem describes the relationships among elements of the microsystem Ex The relationship between the family and the day care center Exosystem identifies social supports available to the family in the community The availability of social support for families in the community e g neighbors and social services can make the difference between hard times and crisis Macrosystem deals with the cultural context of development societal values reflected in social policies toward children With millions of children living in poverty and families under increasing stress support for our social and educational services plays a critical role in the welfare of children in society Development at Risk Each child s pathway is paved with risk and opportunity that determines how much of that potential he or she will fulfill Risk threatens to undermine development and sacrifice the child s potential Opportunity supports development and promotes the realization of that potential Resilience the tendency to overcome risk Vulnerability the tendency to fall pray to risk Facilitating Development More conscientious parents select experiences for their children such as toys games and TV programs that provide unique opportunities for learning Good teachers recognize the potential for learning in their curriculum and anticipate teachable moments that make children s learning virtually irresistible Each and every child s development is filled with windows of opportunity for enhanced development Those who believe that developmental change can be promoted simply by doing something to a child or by sitting back and waiting for nature to take its course are dangerously naive Doing nothing borders on neglect overdoing it borders on abuse Chapter 3 Conception and Prenatal Development Prenatal Stage Development the period that begins with conception and ends with the birth of the newborn infant On average prenatal stage lasts about 266 days Opportunity is afforded when a genetically healthy couple who have mutual affection decide to conceive a child and have sexual intercourse at the precise moment that a viable egg has been ovulated Risk will begin as the egg and sperm move slowly toward each other in the mother s fallopian tube and will build rapidly as the developing baby is exposed to potentially harmful agents that hamper and distort development of the embryo and fetus Vulnerability may derive from genetic factors within the developing fetus that can interfere with the normal process of development and defy intervention Conception Development begins with the act of conception Female Reproduction Menstrual cycle the timing of these hormonal secretions and the processes they regulate Typical 28 day cycle but its timing and duration vary considerably from one woman to another The cycle begins with the onset of the menstrual period or menses typically four or five days of bleeding from the vagina Toward the end of the menstrual period a hormonal secretion from the pituitary gland stimulates the growth of several immature eggs in one of the two ovaries Several eggs will respond by starting to develop but only one egg normally ripens in each cycle As the egg ripens the ovary sends out a hormone of its own known as progesterone which stimulates the endometrium the lining of the uterus to prepare for the arrival of the fertilized egg The mature egg works its way to the surface of the ovary and approximately 14 days after the first day of the cycle the egg breaks through the ovary wall in a process called ovulation The fertilized egg is transported toward the uterus by hair like
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