Child Development

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that, possibly the most important factor in child development, as the child progresses from infant to toddler, is stimuli because, without stimuli at this critical stage, a child will fail to develop healthy behavior and various organ functions such as eyes and brain. The author reviews the theories of Jean Piaget, who termed this age period as the "Sensori-motor Stage"; Erick Erikson, who asserted that during infancy the issue is trust vs. mistrust, and Sigmund Freud, who called this period the oral stage. The paper relates that children in this stage depend largely on expressive language, bridging the gap for children struggling with oral communication by using gestures such as pointing.

Table of Content
Piaget
Erikson
Freud
Language Development
Neglect and Abuse

From the Paper:

"The environment of the child is what shapes these early years. Environment in this case includes all of the external factors and influences upon that child. There are several environments, including prenatal, social, physical, learning and emotional, that if missing or negative, can have substantial impacts on the development of a child. The early years are when the roadmap of the child's mind comes to fruition, and is the time when the child's surroundings are the most important factor in developing a balanced, healthy child, physically, emotionally and intellectually."

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