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(Unit 8) Topic 1: The Whole Child

4 Clock Hours of Early Childhood Education

The Basics

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Think of the children that you know; each is different from the others. Some may always appear to be happy, while other children’s personalities may not seem as pleasant. Some children are active, and still others are typically quiet. You may even find that some children are easier to like. To help all of these children, you need to understand the sequence of their development.

By studying child development, you will develop a profile of what children can do at various ages. Understanding growth and development will help you plan appropriate programs for children. Knowledge of child development is essential to guiding young children and planning a developmentally appropriate curriculum.

Development

Development refers to the gradual and predictable process of increasingly complex changes that occur over the course of a lifetime. Early childhood development follows the first, and most important, phase of human development: from birth to age eight.

Growth

Growth differs from development in that it usually means an increase in size or physical maturation--not an increase in the complexity of changes.