Development Through Life Stages free essay sample

Life begins with conception. A woman normally produces one egg cell each month, roughly two weeks after the last menstrual period. This egg can then be fertilized if sexual intercourse takes place while the egg is in the fallopian tube. Fertilization means that the genetic material in the sperm joins with the genetic material in the egg to start new life. Pregnancy Pregnancy is the period from conception to birth when a woman carries a developing foetus in her uterus. Pregnancy begins when a sperm penetrates an egg. One to one and a half days later, the single fertilized cell begins to divide, after two or three days there are enough cells to make the fertilised egg the size of a pin head. The collection of cells travels to the lining of the uterus where it becomes implanted. At this stage the collection of cells is called an embryo. After eight weeks, the embryo may have grown to between three and four centimetres, has a recognizable heart bear ad the beginnings of eyes, ears, a mouth, legs and arms. At this stage the growing organism is called a foetus. During the final seven months before birth, all the organs continue to develop. By twenty weeks, the foetus will have reached about the half the length of the baby at birth, by thirty two weeks, the foetus will be about half its birth weight. Birth and Infancy Usually about nine months after conception the baby will be born. The new born babe has to take easily digestible food such as mothers milk in the first weeks in order to grow. A new born baby does not have a fully developed brain but can usually hear sounds, tell differences in the way things taste, identify the smell of their own mother or carer. Infants are born with various temporary and primitive reflexes such as: turning their head towards any touch on the cheek. This helps the baby get the nipple into their mouth to feed, if you place your finger in the palm of the babys hand, they will grasp your finger tightly, this is called the grasp reflex, if a baby is startled they will throw their hands and arms outwards, arching the back and straightening their legs, this is called the startle reflex, if a new born baby is help upright with their feet touching the ground, they will begin to make movements as if trying to walk, this reflex is called the walking reflex. Babies are helpless when it comes to muscle co-ordination and control. Babies cant hold up their head, roll over, sit up, or use their hands to move objects deliberately. Despite their muscular inability, babies have the ability to recognise and interact with people. Babies prefer the sound of human voices to other sounds and soon learn to recognise their mothers voice. Babies are born with the natural ability to sense objects. The sensorimotor stage is a stage when thinking is limited to sensing objects and performing motor actions. Jean Piaget, a Swiss development psychologist believed that a baby would not have a working system for remembering and thinking about the world until babies reach about 18 months old. At around 3 months infants begin to make babbling noises as they learn to control the muscles associated with speech and around 12 months infants begin to imitate sounds made by carers such as ‘da-da’; this develops into the use of single words. At around 2 years infants begin to make two-word statements such as cat goed (using the wrong tense) and the infant begins to build their vocabulary. At around 3 years children begin to make simple sentences such as I want a drink This develops the ability to ask questions but use of the wrong tense still occurs. At around 4 years children begin to use clear sentences that can be understood by strangers. Children can still be expected to make mistakes with their grammar. At 5 years children can speak using full adult grammar. Vocabulary will continue to develop through their whole lives. Social Development for newborn and infants occurs while interacting with carers because they seem to have an in-built tendency to interact with carers. By 2 months they may start smile at human faces, at 3 months infants will respond when adults talk, at five months infants can distinguish between familiar and unfamiliar people. Infants make their first relationships as they form an emotional attachment to carers. In the later stages of infancy, infants will play alongside other children. Bowlby (1953) argued that infants have an in-built need to form an attachment with a carer. The quality of this attachment may affect emotional development for the rest of the child’s life. Childhood During this stage children grow steadily but extremely rapidly during infancy. By the age of six, a childs head will be ninety per cent of adult, even though the body still has a lot of growing to do. Reproductive organs remain small until the onset of puberty. Childrens practical abilities continue: at the age of two, children may be able to run and climb stairs one step at a time, by age four children may be able to kick and throw objects, by age six or seven, a child may be able to skip and ride a bicycle. The pre-operational stage ( pre-logic ages 2-7) is a stage that Piagit believed that children could no think in a logical way. Piagit explained that pre-operational children connot properly understad how ideas like numbers, mass and volume really work. A child might be able to count to 10 but might not understand what the number 10 really mean. For example if there are two, two litre bottes (and the child wasnt aware of both the bottles containing 2 litres) of water and one of the bottles is longer in length and thin by width and the other is short in length and big in width then a child in this stage might say the two litre bottle longer in length is longer because it is simply longer or taller. The concrete operational stage (7-11 years) can think logically provided the issues at hand are simple logical puzzles. For example if you ask a seven year old a question such as Bill is taller then Bob, but Georgia is smaller than Samantha so who is the tallest? they may find it difficicult to mentaiily imagine the information given to them, this is called abstract logical thinking but if the seven year old was given a picture of Bill, Bob, Georgia and Samantha then they would point out quickly who is the tallest, this type of thinking is called concrete logical thinking. Young children are emotionally attached and dependent on the adults that care for them. Children begin to learn social roles and behaviour within their family. This is called first or primary socialisation. A family environment would provide a safe environment which children can explore social relationships with other children such as co-operative play. As childs age increases, the amount of independence coincides. Children also build relationships built on a sense of mutual trust. Friendships become more important as children grow towards adolescence. Even before children reach adolesence they may start to form a circle of friends that share common interests and agree with each other. Children use their imagination to begin to understand the social roles that other people play. Children begin to imagine an idea of themselves or a me. Relationships between family members may influence a childs amount of self-worth. The way way that a child gets on with teachers and friends may influence their self-confidence. These factors can ultimately develop a childs permanent sense of confidence and high amount of self worth or a sense of failure and inferiority. At around 3 years children begin to make simple sentences such as I want a drink This develops the ability to ask questions but use of the wrong tense still occurs. At around 4 years children begin to use clear sentences that can be understood by strangers. Children can still be expected to make mistakes with their grammar. At 5 years children can speak using full adult grammar. Vocabulary will continue to develop through their lives, this is of course unless their mental capacity deteriorates as they reach the end of their lives.