1. Studying Children Child Development 1

2. Why is Child Dev. Important? Childhood prepares us for adulthood. A child’s brain develops in response to stimulation. What’s Stimulation? Any activity that arouses a baby’s sense of sight, sound, touch, taste, or smell. Stimulation improves: curiosity attention span memory nervous system development

3. Stimulation Babies who receive more stimulation develop more quickly and have a more secure self-image! =

4. Neural Connections Newborn babies’ brains contain about 100 billion nerve cells! Those cells have about 50 Trillion connections! By age 3, children have twice as many connections as an adult. Where do they go between childhood and adulthood?! Unused pathways removed as child matures, so.... Babies who learn more will keep more connections!

5. Research Child Development researchers agree that.... There are 5 basic areas of Child Development Physical Emotional Social Intellectual Moral

6. There are 5 general rules of child development. #1 Development is similar for each individual. Children go through the same stages in about the same order (not necessarily at the exact same time).

7. #2 Development builds upon earlier learning Development follows a sequence. The skills learned at one stage build on those mastered earlier.

8. #3 Development proceeds at an individual rate. While all children pass through the same stages of development, each child goes through these stages at his or her OWN pace!

9. #4 The different areas of development are interrelated. -Changes occur in many areas at the same time! #5 Development is continuous throughout life. The rate of development varies, but development does not stop!