Psychology accepts that no man came into this

word with a fully developed physique and set of

abilities.

 First,there is belief that the key to do

understanding of the adult personality will be
found by studying the growth and development
of the child.
 Second, many kinds of adult skills and behaviour
are acquired during childhood that if we are to
study the acquisition of much of adult
behaviour.
 Lastly,there is the necessity to study the child
and adolescent in his own right as an organism
different from adult.
Nature of Growth and Development
 The mechanisms of growth in inanimate objects
are simple accretion, while living organisms grow
by metabolism, from within.
 Organic growth consists of three elements:
-increase in size
-Differentiation of structure
-alteration of form
 Development constitutes something more than
those 3 elements of growth. Those 3 elements
while comprising development, still undergo a
series of orderly and irreversible stages that
every organism goes through from the beginning
of its life to the end.
Physical and Motor Development of the
child
 As the baby grows, it also develops. The baby’s
change in size is accompanied with
developmental changes in patterns of growth and
behaviour.
 The “developmental pattern” of growth is seen in
the direction and growth rates of the individual.
 The head starts growing at very rapid rate
almost immediately after conception.
Cephalocaudal - gradient of growth, refers to the
pattern of changing spatial proportions over time
during growth. One example of this is the gradual
change in head size relative to body size during
human growth.
Proximodistal -  trend is the tendency for more
general functions of limbs to develop before more
specific or fine motor skills. It comes from the Latin
words proxim- which means "close" and "-dis-" meaning
"away from", because the trend essentially describes a
path from the center outward.
Growth of Body Organs
The various organs of man can be grouped into
four different growth rates:
1.Positive acceleration
2.Negative acceleration
3.Reversal growth
4.S-shaped curve
Some Common Skills in the Early
Childhood Stage
1. Hand Skills
- Self feeding
- Self dressing
- Self Grooming
Play skills
Babies learn to jump from an elevated position
usually by movements resembling walking.
They learn to climb stairs first by crawling and
creeping.
They can walk alone
They go up and down steps in an upright position,
placing one foot on a step and then drawing the other
foot up after it.
 they can learn by splashing with their arms and
kicking their legs.
Patterns of Motor Control
Hand Skills
Eye control
Smiling
Head holding
Trunk Region
rolling
sitting
Arm and Hand Region
Hands
arms

Leg region
Kicking
Hitching or moving in a sitting position
Crawling and creeping