Child Growth and Development | Research & Encyclopedia Articles

Child Growth and Development

Child growth includes the period between toddlerhood to pre-adolescence. In the post-toddler period, nutrition continues to be critically important. The child's coordination, language, ability to think, and social skills advance rapidly. In the pre-school years (approximately ages four and five, and sometimes six), socialization and preparation for schooling take on greater importance. From age four onward, early childhood programs are more likely to be associated with education and preschools, but health and nutrition remain key components of what young children need. In the early primary school, a period of transition into school and the world at large (roughly ages six to eight), depending on the degree of synchronicity between home and school, this transition can be relatively easy or extremely difficult. In preadolescence, the period of childhood just before the onset of puberty, (10-12 in girls and 11-13 in boys) children feel disorganized, and their growth is rapid and uneven. They are not quite adolescents yet because their sexual maturity has not fully completed, and they are often referred to as tweens, meaning between the stages of childhood and teen years. Children at these ages try to meet the expectations of both parents and friends.

At three years of age, children can use short sentences, follow simple instructions, and often repeat words they overhear in conversations. At four years of age, the child can understand most sentences, understand physical relationships (on, in, under), uses sentences that are four to five (or more) words long, can say his/her name, age, and gender, and use pronouns. Strangers can understand the child's spoken language. According to Brown's Stages, a framework designed to understand and predict the path that normal expressive language development, children at 36-42 months are expected to have a "mean length of utterance measured in morphemes" of about 2.75 morphemes. This corresponds to the Stage III language development. Stage IV and V, that should be reached at 40-46 months and 42-52 months respectively, are characterized by improvements in speaking as well as using articles, regular past tense (-ed endings), third person regular and irregular, auxiliary verbs, contractible copulas, and contractible auxiliary verbs.

By the end of the fourth year, the child asks abstract (why?) questions, and understands concepts of same versus different. By age five, children should be able to retell a story in their own words and use more than five words in a sentence. By the time a child is six years, improvements consist of answering "What would happen if..." questions, understanding the "opposite of", telling left from right, using all pronoun forms correctly, and using sentences that are close to simple adult sentences in terms of formulation.

As children enter their school years, they become increasingly independent, spending much of their days outside the home while in school and with peers. As the child progresses in school, comprehension, communication patterns, and usage of language will become more sophisticated. Usually, children will understand more vocabulary words and concepts than they may be able to express. Children at this time should be able to engage in narrative discourse and share ideas and opinions in clear speech. Further development depends on family, social and educational environment.

Many believe that genetics is the most significant factor in a child's potential to succeed in the academic world. However, genetics is not the only determining component of a child's potential to succeed. Environment and experience both play a significant role in the learning process.

A child's brain develops exponentially during the earliest years of their young life. Brain cells are formed during the first two years and, in the early years a child develops the basic brain and physiological structures upon which later growth and learning are dependent. All interactions between babies and their parents encourage the development and growth of synapses. Even the earliest experiences can have the most significant effect on the young developing brain. In addition, stimulation of a child's senses affects the structure and organization of neural pathways in the brain during the formative period The journey to learning begins with the initial step when a parent teaches their infant to adapt to their new surroundings, by teaching them to eat, learn, and respond to stimuli. Evidence from the fields of physiology, nutrition, psychology, education, and other fields continues to accumulate to indicate that the early years are critical to all of later life. The early years are critical in the formation of intelligence, personality, and social behavior, and the effects of early neglect can be cumulative. Molecular biology offers new understandings of the way the nervous system functions, the ways in which the brain develops, and the impact of the environment on that development. By age six, most of these connections are already organized and able to provide opportunities for perceptual and motor experiences at an early age, favorably affecting various learning abilities in later life. The environment affects not only the number of brain cells and the number of connections, but also the ways in which they are wired. In fact, the brain uses its experience with the world to refine the way it functions. Early experiences are important in shaping the way the brain works. Again, there is evidence of the negative impact of stress during the early years on brain function for developing a variety of cognitive, behavioral, and emotional difficulties.

A child's growth is a continuous process of a gradual sequencing from one stage of physical development to another. Growth pattern is largely determined by genetics and under hormonal control. It is a very complex process, and requires the coordinated action of several hormones. Human growth hormone (hGH), produced in the body by the pituitary gland plays a significant role in the building of cells, tissues, blood vessels, muscles, bones, and organs. Human growth hormone is responsible for cell growth through the teens and rebuilding and repairing cells throughout our entire life cycle. hGH is produced in abundance in the preadolescence and adolescence stages. In adolescents it stimulates linear growth and the aging of the bones. In addition, hGH stimulates the intracellular transport of amino acids and causes nitrogen retention, a supposed marker of protein anabolism. The levels are four times higher in the child through adolescent years than in more advanced ages. The major role of hGH in stimulating body growth is to stimulate the liver and other tissues to secrete insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1). IGF-1 stimulates proliferation of chondrocytes (cartilage cells), resulting in bone growth. Growth hormone does seem to have a direct effect on bone growth in stimulating differentiation of chondrocytes. IGF-1 also appears to be the key player in muscle growth. It stimulates both the differentiation and proliferation of myoblasts. It also stimulates amino acid uptake and protein synthesis in muscle and other tissues.

Normal growth, supported by good nutrition, adequate sleep, and regular exercise is one of the best overall indicators of good health. A significantly malnourished child may be pushed off the "natural" genetically determined growth curve. Severe hyponutrition, enough to affect a child's growth rate, is uncommon today in the United States and other developed countries unless the child has an associated chronic illness or disorder. Extra food or greater than recommended amounts of vitamins, minerals, or other nutrients will not increase the ultimate height to which a child will grow.