A child goes through several stages of development from the time of the birth and until the age of 19 years. The development would depend on various factors that might include the environment and the biological factors. Besides the emotional and psychological factors might also have an impact on the changes that occur within the timeframe of the child’s development. The development simply takes into account the change in knowledge and skills.

The paiget models provide four stages that a child undergoes from the time of birth until when they reach the age of 18. These include sensorimotor, preoperational stage, concrete operation, formal and operational stages

The sensorimotor stage

The sensorimotor stage often takes place from the time of birth to about zero to 18 months or 24 months old. The major characteristics of development at this age include the motor activity without the use of symbols. The things that are leaned at this age are based on experiences or trial and error. At this age the focus of the child is to understand the object permiance. The child understands that an object might exist even when one cannot see it.

Preoperational stage

The stage often takes place from the ages of 2 to about age 7. At this stage, the child would experience development in memory and imagination. Some of the characteristics that one might experience at this age of development in the child are egocentric. The children thus do not think beyond their viewpoints. At this age the main focus is often for the child to attach meaning to object with language. The child learns to think symbolically. In symbolic thinking the child gets the chance to relate names of things with objects.

Concrete operational 0725210952

This age often occurs from the ages of 7 to 11 years. At this age the children are less egocentric. The child also starts to logically and methodologically manipulate symbols. The focus of this stage is often for the child to work out things at in their head. It is also known as the operational though that ensures that a child can solve things without having to experience the physical world.

Formal operational

The stage takes place between the ages of 11 and older. At this stage the child has the chance to understand abstract concept by interpreting symbols. Besides, at this age the child has the ability to think of multiple variables and thus develop hypothesis that emerges from the previous knowledge. Based on the views of piaget there is intellectual development of children at every age. However when one reaches the formal operational stage they focus more on building more on the knowledge and changing how it is acquired.

Sequence and rate of development

Sequence of development is normal sequence in which children learn the various skills and the rate of development is the speed at which the child will develop. However () argues that the difference between the two is that the sequence often refers to the normal or expected sequence that the child goes through to learn the different skills. The rate of development on the other hand refers to the speed at which the development works.

Effects of personal factors in the growth of children

There are various personal factors that affect the growth and the development of a child. These aspect include looked after children, illness, disability, mental health problems, parenting, and poverty. Children that have been looked after may experience cases of emotional and physical trauma. This can impact on their emotional development as they struggle to form trust in their relationships. Illness might be able to affect the physical development of a child such as stunted growth that arises from medical treatment. A physical or learning disability will affect a child’s development.

There are external factors that affect the development of a child. These factors include diet, family and poverty, and background, personal decisions and education. Poverty is one of the major factors that often affect the development of a child. Poverty influences the child’s physical emotional and psychological health. A stable diet will help children to growth in a healthy way. Besides, the family experience might affect the growth of child. Good experience will foster good development of the child.

Theories of development

There are various theories that help to explain the growth and development of the child. These theories include Freud’s psychosexual, Erickson developmental theory, behavioral child development theories and Piaget development theory. The role of these theories helps to understand the changes that take place in the child. The theories help to understand and fully appreciate the cognitive, physical, emotional, social, and educational growth. The theories attempt to describe every aspect of development often using a stage approach.

Methods of observing child’s development

Some of the methods that are used to study child’s development include anecdotal records, running records, learning stories jotting and sociograms. In the anecdotal records the observation are recorded after the event has occurred and written in the past. It should focus on what is significant and recorded in a sequential order to focus on important details. There are also running records, where the child’s behavior is recorded by detailing everything that a child says within a given period. In jotting, one can observe and record details of significant events in the behavior and conversations of a child’s.

Difference in development

There are cases the development of child might not follow the given partten. The differences are already discus. These might include the physical, emotional, and psychological issues. These issues might affect the normal process of growth and thus the child will grow at a lower rate.

Disability and growth

The physical or learning disabilities will affect a child’s development. A child that has learning impairment will have delayed development but some child might have raised abilities in some areas.

Interventions

There are different interventions that can help in dealing child’s development. For instance interventions on provision food and healthcare can ensure that child grow effectively.

Understanding the risk factors in the development of a child is quite important. The focus of intervention on speech might help to point out areas that the child is affected and thus subjecting them to therapy might help the child to grow effectively and thus deal with the problem.

Transition

The transition of a child from one level to the other might have a huge impact on the child. There was need to have better ways of transition.