Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Principle of growth and development

Children may vary among each othe i their rate of growth and dvelopment. But stil all of them follow certain principles as follow.
  • Growth and development is a continuos prcess from conception to adolescence. The rate of growth varie at different ags. During prnatal d infancy period the eate of growth is very rapid. This growth rat gradully declines during early childhood During te middle hilhood the growth rate is slo. the growth rate again becomes rapid durn puberly. Thus infancy and puberty ar two specific periods of rapid growth.
  • The development takes place:
a.  In the cephalo-caudal directin.That means development proceeds from head to toe. For example the first step towards walking  is head control then sitting abilility.
b. Fom general to specific: That means general development takes place before special development. For example during skill development the gross motor skills will be developed before fine motor skills.

Thursday, August 5, 2010

Developmental Tasks

In the process of physical growth and the development of abilities and skills the children are expected to carry out certain responsibilities or tasks at certain stages of dvelopment. These tasks are called developmental tasks. Havighurst, a psychologist, has defined the developmental task as "the task which arieses at certain periods in the life of an individual, the successful accomplishment of which leads to satisfaction and success with later tasks while the failure leads to dissatisfaction and difficulty with later life."  Some of these developmental tasks arise out of physical maturation e.g. learnng to sit, stand or walk. Wereas other developmental taks arise from social pressure e.g. learning to play , speak, read etc. and some developmental tasks arise out of personal values and desires e.g. preparing for a vocation.

Purposes of developmental tasks
  •  Developmental taks serve as guidelines to know what the chiild is expected to do at different ages.
  • Developmental tasks enable the parents to motivate children to do what is expected of them.
Developmental taks enable the parents to know what lie ahead and what the child is expected to do in the successive stages.

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