Fundamental Areas of Child Development

4 Areas of Child Development

Social/Emotional Development—socialization – learn values and proper behavior

·      Achieve a sense of self: knowing oneself and relating to others – both adults and children

·      Take responsibility for self and others:  following rules and routines, respecting others, taking initiative

·      Behaving in a prosocial way: showing empathy and getting along in the world (such as learning to take turns)

Physical Development –

·      Achieve gross motor control:  move the large muscles in the body, especially arms and legs, consciously and deliberately (balance, run, hop, skip, catch, throw)

·      Achieve fine motor control: use and coordinate the small muscles in the hands and wrists with dexterity (scissors, writing tools )

Cognitive Development –

·      Learning and problem solving: ask questions, make predictions, test solutions

·      Thinking logically :  gathering and making sense of the information by comparing, contrasting, sorting, classifying, meaning , counting, understanding patterns.

·      Representing and thinking symbolically: using objects in a unique way, ie using a cup to represent a phone, pretending to be a firefighter, making a graph to show the weather over time.

Language Development

·      Listening and Speaking: using language to communicate with others

·      Reading and Writing: Making sense of written language, gaining knowledge of alphabet, writing letters, and words