Physical Development Throughout the Stages
Units 3 and 4 have been devoted to understanding physical development in infancy/toddlerhood, childhood, and adolescence. For this Assignment, please use the Unit 4 Assignment Template to write a descriptive essay describing major trends in physical changes from infancy/toddlerhood, early childhood, middle childhood, and adolescence, by focusing on body growth and motor development.
Provide one detailed example of the two types of physical development for each stage and be sure to cite the textbook information/research findings to support your ideas.
For each of the four stages explain:
How heredity (nature) and the environment (nurture) can influence physical growth.
Your assignment should be a 2-page descriptive essay, not including the title and reference pages, and should include the following elements:
Title page: Provide your name, title of assignment, course and section number, and date.
Body: Answer all the questions in complete sentences and paragraphs.
Your responses should reflect professional writing standards, using proper tone and language. The writing and writing style should be correct and accurate, and reflect knowledge of skills and practice in the human service profession.
Reference page: Sources listed in APA format.
Include a minimum of two scholarly or academic sources to support your responses and conclusions.
Use Arial or Times New Roman 12-point font, double-spaced and left aligned.
Use standard 1" margins on all sides.
Use APA formatting and citation style.
Thinking About Physical Development Throughout the Stages
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Thinking About Physical Development Throughout the Stages
Child development refers to a sequence of physical and emotional changes that a child experiences from birth up to the beginning of adulthood. The development process is divided into infancy, early childhood, middle childhood, and adolescence. This essay is an analysis of the stage and description of changes that occur in each.
Infants need a conducive environment to learn how to move and utilize their motor functions. Body movements are often uncontrolled; therefore, they need to know how to move their bodies and adjust in different situations. Gradually, the babies start to pick up on different reflexes, some faster than others. For instance, the sucking reflex is immediate as it allows them to nourish themselves. The reflex is accompanied by rooting, a clutching tendency where the child nuzzles their face and mouth into the caregiver's chest. Over time, the child develops responses such as head-turning, stepping, Moro response, grasping, and tonic neck CITATION Joh14 \l 1033 (Worobey, 2014). Cognitive skills largely depend on genes that represent attention, working memory, and declarative memory abilities. The hereditability of cognition starts at this stage and increases moderately by age. Physical hereditability of nature is limited to prominent characteristics such as skin color, eyes, and hair.
Early childhood development (ECD) includes changes in cognitive, motor, and social-emotional domains. This stage refers to the period between birth and eight years old where the environment influences the child. It is also assumed that the human brain grows by 90% of its adult size by this age. The heritability of cognition also increases to 40%, with the child showing tendencies and likeness to the parents. Therefore, this stage sees the child develop language, cognitive and motor skills, emotional regulation, and attachment. Also, children between the ages of 3-4 start forming a robot-like stance typical of new walkers. They are also interested in hopping up and down, especially when they get excited. On the other hand, cognitive milestones can manifest themselves through success in school, self-discipline, eating habits, and conflict resolution CITATION Ang21 \l 1033 (Oswalt, 2021).
Middle childhood involves development from the age of 6 to 12, where the children start to display a sense of independence from their parents. School is the environment that defines this stage since the child is more conscious of such en...