Page 1 - LESSION 6.pmd

Growth and Development

6 Notes

GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT

You must have noticed that a newborn cannot sit without support. But an infant
four months old can sit with support for a minute. By nine months, most infants
can sit without support for 10 minutes or longer. Similarly, in toddlers or children
between one to three years, there is a marked transition in terms of a child's
growth and developmental milestones. This makes us wonder how such rapid
growth takes place in young children. Another question that arises is, how do
children of a similar age group go through similar changes? Can we identify any
predictable patterns in the growth and development of children? What are the
factors that affect the growth and development of children? In this lesson, you
will find answers to these questions. You will study what is meant by growth and
development and what the principles guiding them are. You will also study the
factors that affect growth and development.

LEARNING OUTCOMES
After studying this lesson, you will be able to:

• differentiate between growth and development;
• explain the principles of development;

• discuss the role of heredity and environment on children’s development;
and
• describe the factors affecting growth and development of children.

6.1 WHAT IS GROWTH?

We tend to talk about growth and development together. Indeed the processes of
growth and development go hand in hand in each individual. That is why
sometimes we may think that they are one and the same. But this is not so! We
can differentiate between the two terms which are distinctly different.

EARLY CHILDHOOD CARE AND EDUCATION 75