Early childhood development is the period of rapid physical, psychological and social growth and change that begins before birth and extends into early childhood. [1] While early childhood is not well defined, one source asserts that the early years begin in utero and last until 3 years of age. [1]
Developmental milestones represent useful markers that medical professionals and families can use to determine the developmental stage of a growing child. [2] The following table contains examples of typical milestones achieved at each time point across al four domains:
| Gross Motor | Fine Motor | Social | Cognitive/Language | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 months | Rolls over | Brings objects to mouth | Stranger anxiety | Consonants while babbling |
| 9 months | Sits without support | Pincer grasp | Separation anxiety | Understands "No" |
| 12 months | Stands well | Bangs things together | Cries when familiars leave | Responds to simple commands |
| 18 months | Walks alone | Scribbles with crayon | Hugs familiar people | Says several individual words |
| 2 years | Stands on tip toes | Stacks 4+ blocks | Plays with other children | 50% of words intelligible to a stranger |
| 3 years | Runs easily | Turns pages in a book | Copies others | 75% of words intelligible to a stranger |
Pediatric growth is measured in height or length, head circumference (used from 0–2 years of age), weight, [3] and BMI (used starting at 2 years of age). [4] It is determined by multiple factors including genetic, environmental, hormonal, nutritional and psychosocial factors. Some factors, such as maternal nutrition and alcohol, tobacco and drug exposure affect size at birth while other factors, such as genetic syndromes and family members heights have a later influence on size. [3] In addition, different endocrine factors or hormones like growth hormone, insulin-like growth factors, thyroid hormones, glucocorticoids, and reproductive hormones contribute to normal growth. [3]
Percentile growth charts, such as the figures created by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shown on this page, are used to track growth by comparing children of similar age and sex. [4] The major percentile lines are the 95th, 90th, 75th, 50th, 25th, 10th, and 5th percentiles. [4] The CDC growth reference charts define the normal range of growth as between the 5th and 95th percentiles. [4]
While it is common for babies to shift percentiles during the first 2 years of life due to shifting from an intrauterine environment to one outside the uterus, shifting percentiles after 2 years of age may be the first sign of an underlying problem. [3] Babies experience the greatest height velocity, or speed of growth, during the first 2 years of life. [3] In addition, the mid parental height (MPH) is used to calculate the expected height potential and interpret the growth curve of a child. [3] The following calculations are used for males and females respectively:
Male = (father’s height + mother’s height + 13 cm)/2
Female = (father’s height-13 cm + mother’s height)/2. [3]
Developmental delay occurs when children fail to develop milestones compared to their peers in the population. It is more of a descriptive term of a broad set of physical and psychosocial qualities than a diagnosis. [5]
Children should be evaluated for abnormal linear growth when their charted growth crosses at least 2 percentiles beyond first 2 years of life, being born small for gestational age without signs of catching up to normal size, or abnormal height velocity for a child’s age. [3] In addition, if the child’s height is more or less than 2 standard deviations (SD) below the average height for the child’s age or 2 SD below the MPH, then they should be evaluated for short stature. [3] The cause of short stature can be normal or pathological. Two normal causes of growth delay are familial or genetic short stature and constitutional growth delay. [3] Familial short stature is when the child's estimated final height is appropriate based on their MPH with shorter parental heights in less than 10th percentile. [3] Constitutional growth delay is when the child's delayed puberty causes a delay in growth which will eventually catch up after puberty begins. [3] Measuring the bone age of the child after 3 years of age can be used to distinguish a normal from a pathological cause. [3] Pathological causes in early childhood tend to be malnutrition and failure to thrive which could happen while they were developing in utero or after birth. [3]
Developmental delay is divided into Global Developmental Delay (GDD) and Intellectual Disability (ID). [6] Global Developmental Delay is defined as a delay in two or more domains of development, while Intellectual Disability is defined as deficits in reasoning, adaptive functioning, or other intellectual aspects and typically becomes apparent later in life.
Both GDD and ID have a wide range of causes, and range from genetic mutations (Fragile X Disorder, Prader-Willi Disorder, etc.) to exposure to teratogens during gestation (Fetal Alcohol Syndrome). [6] In many cases, the causes of GDD and ID in an individual can be the same.
Physical development refers to the development of movement, the brain and all other relevant stages of development that contributes to locomotion. [7] In early childhood, children develop the ability to gradually control movement, achieve balance and coordination and fine and gross motor skills. [8] Physical development milestones in early childhood include:
A child’s health and ability to thrive and flourish are linked to physical development.Providing adequate physical play experiences, opportunities for physical activity and movement in early years can enhance physical development in children.Many health and behavioural issues including difficulties with toilet training and postural disorders are strongly linked to the children’s lack of physical activity. [10]
Early childhood education and care (ECEC) play a crucial role in early childhood physical development. With the high rates of children attending early childhood education, the task of raising healthy and strong children is equally the responsibility of both parents and preschool institutions. [11] The incidence and quality of physical activity education in early childhood education have a strong positive effect on the cognitive, social and physical development of young children. [12] Early childhood is a stage of rapid growth, development and learning and each child makes progress at different speeds and rates. [13] It is essential to integrate physical training designed in accordance with the anatomical characteristics andage-related characteristics of a child's development, to ensure the normal physical development of preschool children. [14]
The importance of physical space in early childhood education and care is increasing rapidly due to the significant influence of physical space on numerous developmental outcomes including behavioural, cognitive and emotional. [15]
Early childhood is the most intensive period of brain development in human life. [16] Ensuing optimal cognitive development in the early childhood is crucial to the future academic and cognitive accomplishment of the child. [17] Cognitive development refers to the growth and advancement of mental abilities, thinking processes, and problem-solving skills. Sensory skills and visual perception during early infancy facilitate young children to quickly learn, perceive, process, and understand information from their surroundings and experiences. [18] Studies that examine the cognitive development of children stress the importance of brain development and the presence of a stimulating environment to develop cognitive skills. [18] [19] The rapid brain development in the first years of life is primarily responsible for the infants' ability to process visual information, tactile information, auditory and olfactory information and movement control and planning. [18]
The social background, family context, [20] early childhood education and care [21] and physical activities [22] are important factors that influence the cognitive development of young children.
Newborn babies communicate primarily through their cries and their cries vary depending on their requirements such as hunger, pain or even boredom. [23] By 2nd and 3rdmonth of their life, babies develop early consonant sounds like /k/ and /g/. The second half of the first year is the babbling phase where babies begin with repeated sounds like "babababa" or "mamamama". Infants vocalising more tend to develop stronger communication skills. [23] Early communication skills vary from child to child. Numerous factors influence early language and communication development including the cultural context, lived experiences, and individual differences, general progressions of development. [23]
Appropriate methods and favourable environments play a crucial role in early communication and language development. [24] There are several methods to promote early language and communication development. Turn and Talk approach is a widespread method to promote language development in young children. Under this method, children are encouraged to talk with their peers about a topic to develop their language. [24]
Social competence is defined as a behaviour that leads to successful social functioning. [25] Although children develop social competence from a very young age, the display of social competence and the process of becoming socially competent becomes at a later stage. Childcare settings that provide regular care arrangements by adults other than parent figures give a safe atmosphere to develop peer relationships under the watch of adults. [25] The social interaction needs and interests of toddlers and young children can be similar such as playing games like run-chase, throwing balls and jumping off step. Children who have the opportunity to interact with individuals other than parent figures have more opportunities to experience social interactions. There is empirical evidence indicating that more time spent with peer groups makes children more socially skilful at friendships and interactions. [26] Negative social interaction experiences leads to maladaptive behaviours. One maladaptive category of social behaviours is aggression or bullying and another type of maladaptive category of social behaviour is avoidance, withdrawal or passive acquiescence. [25]
Emotional development is a lifelong process and these skills develop at an early age. [27] In the early years, children develop basic emotions such as joy,fear, sadness, anger, interest and surprise. [28] The relationship with the primary caregivers plays a crucial role in the emotional development of young children. They try to imitate the facial expression of primary caregivers shortly after birthand it is the first form of communication. Children gradually learn to regulate emotions with healthy interaction with parents and primary caregivers. [29]
Developmental psychology is the scientific study of how and why humans grow, change, and adapt across the course of their lives. Originally concerned with infants and children, the field has expanded to include adolescence, adult development, aging, and the entire lifespan. Developmental psychologists aim to explain how thinking, feeling, and behaviors change throughout life. This field examines change across three major dimensions, which are physical development, cognitive development, and social emotional development. Within these three dimensions are a broad range of topics including motor skills, executive functions, moral understanding, language acquisition, social change, personality, emotional development, self-concept, and identity formation.
Adolescence is a transitional stage of physical and psychological development that generally occurs during the period from puberty to adulthood. Adolescence is usually associated with the teenage years, but its physical, psychological or cultural expressions may begin earlier or end later. Puberty typically begins during preadolescence, particularly in females. Physical growth and cognitive development can extend past the teens. Age provides only a rough marker of adolescence, and scholars have not agreed upon a precise definition. Some definitions start as early as 10 and end as late as 30. The World Health Organization definition officially designates an adolescent as someone between the ages of 10 and 19.
A toddler is a child approximately 1 to 3 years old, though definitions vary. The toddler years are a time of great cognitive, emotional and social development. The word is derived from "to toddle", which means to walk unsteadily, like a child of this age.
Delayed puberty is when a person lacks or has incomplete development of specific sexual characteristics past the usual age of onset of puberty. The person may have no physical or hormonal signs that puberty has begun. In the United States, girls are considered to have delayed puberty if they lack breast development by age 13 or have not started menstruating by age 15. Boys are considered to have delayed puberty if they lack enlargement of the testicles by age 14. Delayed puberty affects about 2% of adolescents.
Gonadarche refers to the earliest gonadal changes of puberty. In response to pituitary gonadotropins, the ovaries in females and the testes in males begin to grow and increase the production of the sex steroids, especially estradiol and testosterone. The ovary and testis have receptors, follicle cells and leydig cells, respectively, where gonadotropins bind to stimulate the maturation of the gonads and secretion of estrogen and testosterone. Certain disorders can result in changes to timing or nature of these processes.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to childhood:
A language delay is a language disorder in which a child fails to develop language abilities at the usual age-appropriate period in their developmental timetable. It is most commonly seen in children ages two to seven years-old and can continue into adulthood. The reported prevalence of language delay ranges from 2.3 to 19 percent.
A form of child abuse, child neglect is an act of caregivers that results in depriving a child of their basic needs, such as the failure to provide adequate supervision, health care, clothing, or housing, as well as other physical, emotional, social, educational, and safety needs. All societies have established that there are necessary behaviours a caregiver must provide for a child to develop physically, socially, and emotionally. Causes of neglect may result from several parenting problems including mental disorders, unplanned pregnancy, substance use disorder, unemployment, over employment, domestic violence, and, in special cases, poverty.
Cognitive development is a field of study in neuroscience and psychology focusing on a child's development in terms of information processing, conceptual resources, perceptual skill, language learning, and other aspects of the developed adult brain and cognitive psychology. Qualitative differences between how a child processes their waking experience and how an adult processes their waking experience are acknowledged. Cognitive development is defined as the emergence of the ability to consciously cognize, understand, and articulate their understanding in adult terms. Cognitive development is how a person perceives, thinks, and gains understanding of their world through the relations of genetic and learning factors. There are four stages to cognitive information development. They are, reasoning, intelligence, language, and memory. These stages start when the baby is about 18 months old, they play with toys, listen to their parents speak, they watch TV, anything that catches their attention helps build their cognitive development.
Language development in humans is a process which starts early in life. Infants start without knowing a language, yet by 10 months, babies can distinguish speech sounds and engage in babbling. Some research has shown that the earliest learning begins in utero when the fetus starts to recognize the sounds and speech patterns of its mother's voice and differentiate them from other sounds after birth.
A delayed milestone, which is also known as a developmental delay, refers to a situation where a child does not reach a particular developmental milestone at the expected age. Developmental milestones refer to a collection of indicators that a child is anticipated to reach as they grow older.
Early childhood is a stage in human development following infancy and preceding middle childhood. It generally includes toddlerhood and some time afterward. Play age is an unspecific designation approximately within the scope of early childhood.
Early childhood intervention (ECI) is a support and educational system for very young children who have been victims of, or who are at high risk for child abuse and/or neglect as well as children who have developmental delays or disabilities. Some states and regions have chosen to focus these services on children with developmental disabilities or delays, but Early Childhood Intervention is not limited to children with these disabilities.
The study of height and intelligence examines correlations between human height and human intelligence. Some epidemiological research on the subject has shown that there is a small but statistically significant positive correlation between height and intelligence after controlling for socioeconomic class and parental education. The cited study, however, does not draw any conclusions about height and intelligence, but rather suggests "a continuing effect of post-natal growth on childhood cognition beyond the age of 9 years." This correlation arises in both the developed and developing world and persists across age groups. An individual's taller stature has been attributed to higher economic status, which often translates to a higher quality of nutrition. This correlation, however, can be inverted to characterize one's socioeconomic status as a consequence of stature, where shorter stature can attract discrimination that affects many factors, among them employment, and treatment by educators. One such theory argues that since height strongly correlates with white and gray matter volume, it may act as a biomarker for cerebral development which itself mediates intelligence. Competing explanations include that certain genetic factors may influence both height and intelligence, or that both height and intelligence may be affected in similar ways by adverse environmental exposures during development. Measurements of the total surface area and mean thickness of the cortical grey matter using a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) revealed that the height of individuals had a positive correlation with the total cortical surface area. This supports the idea that genes that influence height also influence total surface area of the brain, which in turn influences intelligence, resulting in the correlation. Other explanations further qualify the positive correlation between height and intelligence, suggesting that because the correlation becomes weaker with higher socioeconomic class and education level, environmental factors could partially override any genetic factors affecting both characteristics.
A growth chart is used by pediatricians and other health care providers to follow a child's growth over time. Growth charts have been constructed by observing the growth of large numbers of healthy children over time. The height, weight, and head circumference of a child can be compared to the expected parameters of children of the same age and sex to determine whether the child is growing appropriately. Growth charts can also be used to predict the expected adult height and weight of a child because, in general, children maintain a fairly constant growth curve. When a child deviates from his or her previously established growth curve, investigation into the cause is generally warranted. Parameters used to analyze growth charts include weight velocity, height velocity, and whether someone's growth chart crosses percentiles. For instance, endocrine disorders can be associated with a decrease in height velocity and preserved weight velocity while normal growth variants are associated with a decrease in height and weight velocity that are proportional to each other. It's important to note that other parameters are more commonly used such as waist circumference for assessing obesity and skin fold difference for assessing malnutrition. Growth charts can also be compiled with a portion of the population deemed to have been raised in more or less ideal environments, such as nutrition that conforms to pediatric guidelines, and no maternal smoking. Charts from these sources end up with slightly taller but thinner averages.
Child development involves the biological, psychological and emotional changes that occur in human beings between birth and the conclusion of adolescence. It is—particularly from birth to five years— a foundation for a prosperous and sustainable society.
Age appropriateness refers to people behaving as predicted by their perspective timetable of development. The perspective timetable is embedded throughout people's social life, primarily based on socially-agreed age expectations and age norms. For a given behavior, such as crawling, learning to walk, learning to talk, etc., there are years within which the behavior is regarded appropriate. By contrast, if the behavior falls out of the age range, it will be considered age-inappropriate. Most people are adhered to these age norms and are aware of whether their timing is "early," "delayed," or "on time."
Mental disorders diagnosed in childhood can be neurodevelopmental, emotional, or behavioral disorders. These disorders negatively impact the mental and social wellbeing of a child, and children with these disorders require support from their families and schools. Childhood mental disorders often persist into adulthood. These disorders are usually first diagnosed in infancy, childhood, or adolescence, as laid out in the DSM-5 and in the ICD-11.
Learning through play is a term used in education and psychology to describe how a child can learn to make sense of the world around them. Through play children can develop social and cognitive skills, mature emotionally, and gain the self-confidence required to engage in new experiences and environments.
Developmental regression is when a child who has reached a certain developmental stage begins to lose previously acquired milestones. It differs from global developmental delay in that a child experiencing developmental delay is either not reaching developmental milestones or not progressing to new developmental milestones, while a child experiencing developmental regression will lose milestones and skills after acquiring them. Developmental regression is associated with diagnoses of autism spectrum disorder, childhood disintegrative disorder, Rett syndrome, Landau-Kleffner syndrome, and neuro-degenerative diseases. The loss of motor, language, and social skills can be treated with occupational therapy, physical therapy, and speech therapy.
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