A CHILD'S
DEVELOPMENTAL GROWTH
Erik Erikson. Childhood
and Society. rev. ed. New York: W. W. Norton, 1993.
8 Stages of Man
Trust vs. Mistrust
(birth - one year)
Growing
sense of "normal"/predictable experience, trust outsiders for food and
comfort, trust oneself to control one's body
Autonomy vs. Shame
and Doubt (birth - three years)
Achieving muscular control,
walking, climbing, and manipulating. Developing powers of choosing and deciding.
Initiative vs.
Guilt (three - six years)
Developing sense of ambition and
social responsibility. Imaginative play helps children gain sense of
the roles and institutions of society.
Industry vs. Inferiority (six
years - puberty)
School age in which children
develop a capacity for productive work, cooperative effort, and pride in
achievements. Feelings of competence and
mastery.
Identity vs. Role Diffusion (adolescence)
Boundary between childhood and
adulthood. Earlier tasks are combined to produce a
lasting sense of identity, who one is and one's place
in society.
Intimacy vs. Isolation (young
adulthood)
Establishing meaningful intimate
relationships with others. Feelings of connectedness.
Generativity
vs. Stagnation (middle
adulthood)
The
giving of oneself to the next generation: child rearing, productive work,
caring for others.
Ego Integrity vs. Despair (old age)
Review of past life and
consideration of its meaning and impact.
Life's worth.
Maslow,
Abraham H. Motivation
and Personality. rev. ed. Reading,
Mass.: Addison-Wesley, 1987.
Physiological Needs
Food, cleaning, comfort
Safety
Security in presence of others,
physical and emotional stability
Love and Affection
Touch, caring, time spent with
child
Esteem
Sense of self-worth, validity
Self-actualization
Consideration of who I am and
who I want to become
Need to Know
Why things are as they are.
Aesthetic Needs
Religion,
spirituality, beauty, honor, art, etc.
COGNITION
Inhelder, Barbel and Jean Piaget.
The Growth of Logical Thinking. New York: Basic Books, 1962.
Sensory Motor
(birth - two years)
Focus on coordination, touching,
holding, manipulating. Importance of rhythm.
Preoperational (two
- seven years)
Development of
symbolic thinking (language, drawing, play). Egocentrism - cannot take
another person's point of view. Direct
experience informs thinking. Importance of repetition.
Assimilation of ideas into existing framework, then
accommodation/change to new thinking patterns.
Concrete
Operational (seven - eleven years)
Developing skills at classifying
objects and events leads to orderly thinking.
Concept of "conservation". Flexible and reversible thought leads to love
of mysteries and puzzles. Can cope with multiple perspectives. Perception that they are
smarter than adults, known as “cognitive conceit.”
Formal Operational
(eleven - adult)
Ability to understand and
construct abstract theoretical thoughts and don't rely on concrete
evidence. Can see possibilities not
based on prior experience.
OVERVIEWS
Huck, Charlotte. Children's Literature in
the Elementary School. 7th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2001.
Birth - Two
Rapid
development of senses, learns through activity and
participation, limited attention span, plays with sound, learning basic
concepts and vocabulary, building basic trust, interests centered in self and
the familiar, learning basic self-help skills.
Ages 3 - 5
Rapid
language development, very active, short attention span, still egocentric,
curious about immediate surroundings and people, beginning interest in how
things work, reliance on firsthand experiences, rudimentary sense of time
(before now, now, not yet), fantasy world is very real, seeks warmth and
security, beginning to assert independence, absolute judgments of right and
wrong.
Ages 6 and 7
Continued
language development, increasing attention span, trying adult skills, continued
reliance on firsthand experience, curious about a wider range of things,
egocentric, beginning understanding of time, more able to separate fantasy and
reality, beginning empathy, growing sense of justice, wants to follow "the
rules", developing humor, curious about gender differences and
reproduction, developing fine motor skills such as whistling, growing independence,
importance of family relationships.
Ages 8 and 9
Wide
variation in reading ability, some completely absorbed, peer group acceptance,
begins to see others' viewpoints, questioning death, empathy for others,
flexible and reversible thought, appreciates imaginary adventure, enjoys slapstick humor, increasing ability
for problem-solving and word play, proficient in sports and crafts and hobbies,
interest in collecting, classifying and categorizing with new clarity, seeks specific
information to answer questions.
Ages 10 and 11
Onset
of puberty and increasing interest in sex, growing understanding of social
roles, peer acceptance very important, exclusion of others and prejudice,
challenging adult authority, interest in future vocation, sustained interest in
specific activities, testing own skills, likes complex puzzles, seeing many
dimensions to problems, understanding of chronology, developed sense of
justice, searching for values, understands abstract relationships.
Ages 12 and 13
Developing
sex drive, interest in older concerns, identity is important, peer pressure,
egocentrism means one's problems are unique, ability to manipulate symbolic
language and make hypothetical judgments, relative values, sensitive
to complexity in human relationships and feelings.
Arbuthnot,
May Hill. Children
and Books. 3rd ed. Chicago:
Scott, Foresman and Co., 1964.
Basic Needs of
Children
Competence - the need to achieve
Material Security - the need for physical
well-being
Intellectual
Security - the
need to know
Emotional Security - the need to love and to be
loved
Acceptance - the need to belong
Play - the need for change
Aesthetic
Satisfaction -
the need for beauty and order
Compilation
of:
Desalvo, Nancy N. Beginning with Books. Library Professional Pubs.,
1993.
Greene,
Ellin. Books, Babies, and Libraries. Chicago: ALA, 1991.
Thomas,
James L. Play, Learn, and Grow. Bowker, 1992.
Birth - Six months
Color
sight develops about 4 months, needs oral and tactile stimulation, learning
listening skills, concerned with trust and dependency.
Seven - Twelve
months
Learning
language - especially naming, beginning memory, recognizes caregivers,
curiosity, repetition and familiarity are important, storyline not important.
One - Two 1/2 years
Beginning
speech, imitating adults' actions, mobile, like to pretend and play with
others, beginning independence.
Two 1/2 - 5 years
Advanced
speech and movement, increased motor control, increasing independence.