1. Normal Child Development
Back to Basics
April 24, 2008
Clare Gray MD FRCPC

2. Stages of Development Infancy (birth to 15 months)
Toddler period (15m to 2.5 years)
Preschool period (2.5 to 6 years)
Middle years (6 to 12 years)

3. Developmental Schedules
Landmarks described by Arnold Gesell
Motor and sensory behavior
Adaptive behavior
Personal and social behavior
Language

4. Major Theorists Sigmund Freud Erik Erikson Jean Piaget
Psychoanalytic perspective
Erik Erikson
Psychosocial view of eight stages of life
Jean Piaget
Cognitive perspective

5. Freud’s Psychosexual Stages
ORAL STAGE (birth – 1 year)
Mouth is the main source of pleasure and interaction
Fixation can lead to thumb sucking, nail biting, smoking and overeating
ANAL STAGE (1 to 3 years)
Anus is the main source of gratification, withholding and expelling feces and toilet training are important
Fixation can lead to extremes of order and cleanliness or disorder and messiness

6. Freud’s Psychosexual Stages
PHALLIC STAGE (3 to 6 years)
The genitals are the main source of gratification
Child attaches to the opposite-sex parent and later shifts to same-sex parent as the superego forms
Gender role and moral development are important
Interactions between the id, ego and superego form the basic personality

7. Freud’s Psychosexual Stages
LATENCY STAGE (6 to 12 years)
Sexual instincts are suspended
The super ego continues to develop through social interaction
Intellectual and physical activities are important
GENITAL STAGE (12 years to adult)
The onset of puberty causes sexual instincts to reappear
Forming mature sexual relationships is important

8. Erickson’s Psychosocial Stages
TRUST vs. MISTRUST (birth to 1 year)
Responsive caregiving gives infants a sense of trust in others and self and that the world is a good place (Hope)
AUTONOMY vs. SHAME & DOUBT (1 to 3 years)
Children become more self-sufficient and want independence; reasonable freedom of choice leads to autonomy (Will)

9. Erickson’s Psychosocial Stages
INITIATIVE vs GUILT (3 to 6 years)
Pretend play and acceptance of responsibilities help to foster a sense of direction; children must balance this with the demands of parents (Purpose)
INDUSTRY vs INFERIORITY (6 to 12 years)
Children learn to cooperate with peers and master academic tasks; competency and productivity are important (Skill)

10. Erickson’s Psychosocial Stages
IDENTITY vs ROLE CONFUSION (12 to 18 years)
Adolescents strive to develop a coherent and lasting personal identity (Fidelity)
INTIMACY vs ISOLATION (young adulthood)
Young adults work to achieve intimate relationships and commitments to other people
Those who have not formed a strong sense of self may have difficulty (Love)

11. Erickson’s Psychosocial Stages
GENERATIVITY vs STAGNATION (adulthood)
The focus is on child rearing and work productivity to contribute to the next generation (Care)
EGO INTEGRITY vs DESPAIR (late adulthood)
Older adults attempt to reflect on their lives and feel satisfied with their successes and failures (Wisdom)

12. Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development
SENSORIMOTOR (birth – 2 years)
Infants understand and organize the world through sensory information and motor activity
Object permanence develops
PREOPERATIONAL (2 – 7 years)
Children use symbolic representation for events, places and people
Worldview is egocentric
Language and pretend play develop

13. Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development
CONCRETE OPERATIONS (7 – 11 years)
Children can solve logical problems about concrete physical subjects
Conservation and hierarchical thinking develop

14. Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development
FORMAL OPERATIONS (11 to adult)
Adolescents can reason logically about abstract topics, hypothetical problems and possible outcomes of a situation

15. Temperament Stella Chess and Alexander Thomas
Identified 9 behavioral dimensions, from which reliable differences can be obtained
Activity level, rhythmicity, approach or withdrawl, adaptability, intensity of reaction, threshold of responsiveness, quality of mood, distractibility, attention span and persistence

16. Attachment
Ability to form a special relationship with significant others
John Bowlby
Universal human need to form close affectional bonds
Tendency to seek closeness to another person and feel secure when that person is present

17. Attachment
Attachment behaviours of the infant are reciprocated by the adult
The experience of security is the goal of the attachment system.
Secure, anxious/avoidant, anxious/resistant, disorganized

18. Three Phases of Adolescence
-early adolescence (10 to 13)
-mid-adolescence (14 to 17)
-late adolescence (18-24)

19. Developmental Changes
Pubertal changes
Cognitive changes
Identity construction
Peer socialization
Dealing with sexuality
School and achievement pressures
Renegotiating family relations

20. Identity Construction
In early adolescence one’s sense of self (self-concept, self-image) is more negative and less stable than in later adolescence

21. Social Development Expansion of relationships beyond the family
Shift from parents to peers as providers of companionship and intimacy
need peer’s approval and advice
development of empathy

22. Family
Early adolescents attempt to increase their emotional distance from parents as they seek to raise their level of independence
majority of adolescents report being satisfied with their relationships with their parents and rely on them for help and advice

23. Psychological Tasks
Early adolescence: accept his or her growing and changing body
Middle adolescence: separate from the internalized figure of the parent and venture out of his or her own family world
Late adolescence: crystallizing one’s own sexual and vocational identity

24. Offord Centre for Child Studies

25. DEVELOPMENTAL MILESTONES - BIRTH TO 12 YEARS Websites
ADOLESCENT MILESTONES : Websites