Child Development Stages By Age
Table of Contents
Introduction
Life’s journey begins with conception in the womb of the mother. Development of a child goes on throughout the life.
The approximate nine month period spent in mother’s womb is known Pre-natal period. A child is said to be born when fetus emerges from the internal environment(womb) and has its first contact with the external environment is called post-natal period. It is in fact the beginning of the computation of chronological age. The period between the birth to two years is called Infancy period followed by the phase of childhood lasting for about 10 to 12 years. This is followed by the period by the period of Adolescence when one attains puberty and is capable of reproduction. It is the transition period from childhood to adulthood. On attaining maturity in all aspects viz., physical, mental, emotional and social, one attains the status of the adult which lasts for long time until begins to show the signs of ageing.
During all these developmental stages, human beings exhibit typical behavioural characteristics in all dimensions of behaviour and personality. Development involving quantitative as well as qualitative changes in one’s structure and its functioning that starts from the earliest stages of any organism. The organism, in course of time, reaches its peak to be called mature for its full growth and development.
Let us now discuss the child development stages by age in details.
Theories on Development Processes
Various theories tracing the child development processes in one or the other dimensions of one’s personality at definite developmental stages have emerged.
A few of these well-known theories are as follows :-
- Freud’s Theory of Psycho-sexual Development
- Jean Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development
- Erickson’s Theory of Psycho-social Development
- Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development
Stages of Cognitive Development
Cognitive Development is defined as the emergence of the ability to consciously understand and articulate their understanding in adult terms. Cognitive development is how a person perceives, thinks and gains understanding of their surroundings through the relations of genetic and learning factors.
Jean Piaget, a Swiss Biologist have suggested the Stages of Cognitive Development as follows –
- Sensori-motor Stage
- Pre-operational Stage
- Concrete Operational Stage
- Formal Operation Stage
Let us discuss the abovementioned stages in detail.
Sensori-motor Stage
From Birth to about 02 Years
Absence of Language
Motor interactions with environment
Pre-operational Stage
From 2 to 7 Years
Learning of Language
Thought process displays high degree of egocentrism
Concrete operational Stage
From 7 to 11 Years
Beginning of logical thinking
Classify objects, understands number system
Formal operation Stage
From 11 to 15 Years or Later
Think abstractly, Test Hypothesis, deals with problems present in the environment
Scientific Thinking
Problem Solving
Stages of Psycho-social Development
Psycho-social Development is the development of self-understanding, social relationships and one’s relationship to the society from infancy through later life.
Erik Erickson postulated that the development of an individual is the result of his interaction with his/her social environment. Right from the birth, social development puts an individual under pressures or conflicts, called crises, by making specific demands at different stages of his life. The individual tries to meet these specific demands or resolve the crises by reacting psychologically in his own way, depending upon his circumstances. The complexity of the demands from society or social environment goes on increasing as the child advances on the ladder of growth and development.
Erickson’s stages of psycho-social development covering entire life span of an individual may be represented in the following manner :
- Infant
- Toddler
- Preschooler
- School-Age Child
- Adolescent
- Young Adult
- Middle-Age Adult
- Older Adult
Infant
Birth to 1 years
Trust -vs- Mistrust
Needs maximum comfort with minimal uncertainty to trust himself/herself, others and the environment.
Toddler
1 year to 3 years
Autonomy -vs- Shame and Doubt
Works to master physical environment while maintaining self-esteem.
School-Age Child
3 years to 6 years
Creative -vs- Inferiority
Tries to develop a sense of self-worth by refining skills.
Adolescent
6 years to 12 years
Identity -vs- Role Confusion
Tries integrating many roles into self-image under role model and peer pressure.
Young Adult
12 years to 20 years
Intimacy -vs- Isolation
Learns to make personal commitment to another person.
Middle-Age Adult
20 years to 45 years
Satisfaction -vs- Stagnation
Learns to make personal commitment to another person.
Older Adult
45 years onwards
Ego Integrity -vs- Despair
Reviews life accomplishments, deals with loss and preparation for death.
Stages of Moral Development
Morality is synonym to ‘rightness’ or ‘goodness’. It refers to a specific code of conduct that is derived from one’s culture, religion, personal philosophy that guides one’s actions, behaviours and thoughts. Child development by age also includes moral development.
Moral Development is the emergence, change and understanding of morality from infancy through adulthood. Morality develops across a lifetime and is influenced by an individual’s experiences and behaviour when faced with moral issues through different periods of physical and cognitive development.
Lawrence Kohlberg puts forward the theory of the development of moral judgement in the individual , right from the years of early childhood.
Kohlberg suggested the Stages of Moral Development which are as follows :-
- Premoral
- Conventional Morality
- Self-accepted Moral Principles
Let us discuss in detail –
Kohlberg suggested moral development as the development of an individual’s sense of justice. He clarified that internal or cognitive processes like thinking and reasoning also play a major role in one’s moral development. In other words, the way children make moral judgement depends on their level of intellectual development as well as on their upbringing and learning experiences. He identified three levels of moral development, each containing two stages. The movement from one stage to another stage depends on cognitive abilities rather than the simple acquisitions of moral values of one’s parent, elders and peers.
Premoral
From 4 to 10 Years
STAGE 1 :Moral judgement to avoid punishment
STAGE 2 :Moral judgement based on self-interest
Conventional Morality
From 10 to 13 Years
STAGE 3 :Moral judgement is controlled by likes and dislikes of others to obtain approval of others.
STAGE 4 :Moral judgement is controlled by laws and morals of the social systems.
Self-accepted Moral Principles
From 13 to Late Adulthood
STAGE 5 : Begins to think in rational terms, valuing the rights of human beings and the welfare of the society.
STAGE 6 : Acts according to the inner voice of their conscience ignoring self-condemation, feeling of guilt or shame.
Conclusion
The course of one’s life from conception till death is divided into certain specific stages referred to as the stages of growth and development. Development, in general, from conception onward in various dimensions of one’s personality is found to follow the principles of development.
Interspersed with examples, illustrations and tables, this text book is ideally for postgraduate students of education and psychology. It can also be profitably used by teachers, guidance and counselling personnel and administrators of educational institutions.
