BASIC CONCEPTS

ON HUMAN
DEVELOPMENT
 HUMAN DEVELOPMENT
is a pattern of movement or change that begins at
conception and continues through the life span.
Development includes growth (positive) and decline
(negative).
 life stages and focuses on the physical,
intellectual, emotional
and social changes that humans go
through.
1. Growth predominately concentrates on the physical changes that take place
across different parts of the body. Growth is measured using a range of intervals
such as height and weight.

2. Development refers to the pattern of movement of change that begins at

conception and continues through the human lifespan. It is also refers to the order
of sequence that humans follow and mainly focuses on the attainment of skills and
abilities.

3. Maturation is the process with which we develop, grow and change throughout
our entire lives. Maturation is a multi-faceted and automatic process. There is
mental, physical, emotional, somatic growth and development in the child. Some of
the changes are even genetic in mature. During one’s lifetime, there are many types
of maturation. But the two most important kinds of maturity during childhood are
physical and cognitive maturation.
Types of Maturation

Physical Maturation
Cognitive Maturation
 PHYSICAL MATURATION
As the name suggests it indicates the physical development and
growth that we go through as we get older. A child goes through
some very distinct physical maturity as they progress through all
their development stages. For example, in the early stages of
development, a child depends on reflexes majorly. Then as they age,
they develop their motor skills and coordination. They also grow
taller and add more weight as they develop. Their body goes through
hormonal changes as they leave adolescence and enter early
adulthood.
 Cognitive Maturation
This refers to the cognitive development of children from birth to
adulthood. It refers to how babies think, learn, interact with their
environment, etc. Some important aspect of cognitive development
is the processing of information, language development, reasoning
skills, development of intellects and memory.
 Major Principles of Human Development
Development proceeds from the head downward.
Development proceeds from the center of the body outward.
Development depends on maturation and learning.
Development proceeds from the simple (concrete) to the
more complex.
Growth and development is a continuous process.
Growth and development proceed from the general to
specific.
There are individual rates of growth and development.
Development proceeds from
the head downward.
This is called the cephalocaudle principle. This principle describes the
direction of growth and development. According to this principle, the child
gains control of the head first, then the arms, and then the legs. Infants
develop control of the head and face movements within the first two
months after birth. In the next few months, they are able to lift themselves
up by using their arms. By 6 to 12 months of age, infants start to gain leg
control and may be able to crawl, stand, or walk. Coordination of arms
always precedes coordination of legs.
Development proceeds from the
center of the body outward.
This is the principle of proximodistal development that also describes
the direction of development. This means that the spinal cord develops
before outer parts of the body. The child’s arms develop before the hands
and the hands and feet develop before the fingers and toes. Finger and
toe muscles (used in fine motor dexterity) are the last to develop in
physical development.
Development depends on
maturation and learning.
Maturation refers to the sequential characteristic of biological growth and
development. The biological changes occur in sequential order and give
children new abilities. Changes in the brain and nervous system account
largely for maturation. These changes in the brain and nervous system
help children to improve in thinking (cognitive) and motor (physical) skills.
Also, children must mature to a certain point before they can progress to
new skills (Readiness).
Development proceeds from the
simple (concrete) to the more
complex.
Children use their cognitive and language skills to reason and
solve problems. For example, learning relationships between
things (how things are similar), or classification, is an important
ability in cognitive development. The cognitive process of
learning how an apple and orange are alike begins with the
most simplistic or concrete thought of describing the two.
Seeing no relationship, a preschool child will describe the
objects according to some property of the object, such as color.
 Growth and development is
a continuous process.
As a child develops, he or she adds to the skills already acquired and the new
skills become the basis for further achievement and mastery of skills. Most
children follow a similar pattern. Also, one stage of development lays the
foundation for the next stage of development. For example, in motor
development, there is a predictable sequence of developments that occur
before walking. The infant lifts and turns the head before he or she can turn
over. Infants can move their limbs (arms and legs) before grasping an object.
Mastery of climbing stairs involves increasing skills from holding on to walking
alone. By the age of four, most children can walk up and down stairs with
alternating feet. As in maturation, in order for children to write or draw, they
must have developed the manual (hand) control to hold a pencil and crayon.
 Growth and development proceed
from the general to specific.
Each child is different and the rates at which individual children
grow is different. Although the patterns and sequences for growth
and development are usually the same for all children, the rates at
which individual children reach developmental stages will be
different. Understanding this fact of individual differences in rates
of development should cause us to be careful about using and
relying on age and stage characteristics to describe or label
children.
 There are individual rates of
growth and development.
In motor development, the infant will be able to grasp an object with the whole
hand before using only the thumb and forefinger. The infant’s first motor
movements are very generalized, undirected, and reflexive, waving arms or
kicking before being able to reach or creep toward an object. Growth occurs
from large muscle movements to more refined (smaller) muscle movements.