Element 1 (Blog Post): Early Childhood Developmental Milestones
I will be taking about the Early Childhood age group that ranges from 2-6 of age. In Early Childhood one major developmental milestone in the physical domain that begins for 2-year-old is a child starts to be able to put on and remove easy pieces of clothing. This is a huge milestone for a child because they are this is a small sign of independence. The child is now not completely dependent on their parents to clothe them for everything they are wearing. When you child achieves this milestone, my advice to the parents is to be there for them if they still need help every once and awhile to put on these clothing items. I think that you can look forward to your child wanting to do more things on their own but still needing your guidance and assistance. Another type of milestone in early child is in the cognitive domain is when they begin to learn how to count. This is a big step in early childhood because this is a basic skill that they will build on as they develop cognitively through the years. In this milestone I think that parents can support their kids by if they get stuck on a number or forget what comes before or after a number to help them out and count with them. I think that parents should look forward to their children trying to count in small segments to certain numbers to familiarize themselves with this new skill. A third milestone in early childhood is one in the social and emotional domain when around age 3-4 they begin to be able to regulate their emotions better. This a huge step because this prepares them to go into a Kindergarten classroom in next couple of years. According to this book called Internalizing and Externalizing Expressions of Dysfunction “As a result of this new development, the child finds new and more effective ways to cope with unpleasant emotions and discovers that these affects are directly shareable” (Toth & Cicchetti, 1991, p.25). For parents to help support their child once they reach this stage, I suggest to let them try and figure out how to work through their emotions on their own. This will help them learn how to express themselves emotionally and socially better.
Citation:
Toth, S., Cicchetti, D. (1991). Emotional Regulation, Self-Control, and Psychopathology: The Role of Relationships in Early Childhood. Internalizing and externalizing expressions of dysfunction (p. 25). Hillsdale, NJ u.a.: Erlbaum.
https://30seconds.com/dad/tip/15869/Diversity-in-Early-Childhood-Education-Why-We-Need-to-Learn-From-Our-Kids
Element 2 (Blog Post): Early Childhood: Three factors influencing development
One of the main influences that can affect a child in their early childhood development stage is their families. The family life can have a direct impact on how a child is able to progress through all aspects of their development. For example, a child’s family is in poverty or in a struggling area they might not be able to get the proper care and attention they need. The family may not have enough money where the kid can go to things like daycare where they can learn to interact with others and work on building certain skills with their caregivers. The child as a result might be neglected in some ways which can result in them not properly developing in the physical, cognitive, language, emotional or social domains that they should be for their age group. I think the best thing parents can do is try to make sure that you and your family try and give the child the best attention and care you can provide and make sure that all their basic needs are counted for so they can develop the best to their abilities. Another main factor that can influence development is nutrition. In the early childhood age group children start to become very selective with the types of food that they are willing to eat. As stated in the textbook “Preschoolers appetites decline because their growth has slowed” (Berk & Meyers, 2016, p.294). This is important for parents to know because it is not abnormal for this to happen but your kids still need nutritional foods from different food groups to make sure they have a healthy and balanced diet. I suggest possibly shaping the healthy foods with food cutters to make it more appealing for them to eat and so they are a little distracted why what they are eating. According to the Journal Article “Health Lifestyles in Early childhood”: “Individuals approaches toward health and behavior tend to cluster with people who behave in one healthy or unhealthy way often behaving in others” (Mollborn et. Al, 2014, p.388). This is important information for parents because how you eat can influence how your child eats and the eat habits they develop. The next factor that can affect a child is the quality of the childcare environment’s children are in. It is important for parents to look into the places where they are going to be sending their kids when they are not in their care. Parents should meet with the caregivers to make sure they are on the same page about how to take care of their child and make sure that the childcare center has the appropriate tools for their child to best succeed.
Citations:
Berk, L.E. & Meyers, A.B. (2016). Infants and Children: Prenatal through middle childhood (8th Ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education Inc.
Mollborn, S., James-Hawkins, L., Lawrence, E., & Fomby, P. (2014). Health Lifestyles in Early Childhood. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 55(4), 386-402. http://www.jstor.org/stable/43187065
Element 3 (PowerPoint):Early Childhood Development Literature (2)
Element 4 (Blog Post): Early Childhood: Technology
In today’s world kids are starting to use technology at a younger and earlier age than ever before. I think that technology has its fair share of positives and negatives that come with it. I think that it is important for parents to know that it is necessary to monitor how much your child is on devices like computers, iPads, and other software but at the same time being on those things is not always bad for them. Children have the opportunity to really bring out their creative sides and explore/engage with the world in a different way. There are also many software programs that can help kids with disabilities which is so important to have and continue to develop. According to the article “The Role of Technology in Early Childhood Learning”: “With the increasing availability of hardware and software adaptations, children with physical and emotional disabilities also can use computers with ease. In addition to enhancing their mobility and sense of control, computer use can also help approve the self-esteem of disabled children” (Clements & Sarama, 2002, p.340). This quote is encouraging because it shows that technology can be user friendly and helpful to any children and there is a lot to learned and gain from using technology in the early childhood that can have a positive impact on development. Technology overall has come a long way in just the past decade and many children have learned how to navigate the ins and outs for their benefit. I think that parents should look for a preschool or childcare center that is technologically advanced so their kids can get exposed to and develop skills that they will build on later in life.
Citation:
Clements, D. H., & Sarama, J. (2002). The Role of Technology in Early Childhood Learning. Teaching Children Mathematics, 340-343. doi:10.4324/9781003083528-15
https://www.rand.org/blog/2014/11/access-to-technology-is-key-to-early-childhood-education.html