Child Growth and Development

Script
Introduction
Welcome to "Child Growth and Development from Infancy to School-Age." This two hour
course is part of a series of online trainings designed to help you, as child care providers and
directors, implement current, research-based best practices in your child care environments.
During today’s training, you will learn the stages that children go through and the milestones
they exhibit from birth through the school-age years. It’s fascinating to understand the
differences and changes that children exhibit during these first years of life, and it is the
foundation for providing the highest quality of care.
Learning Objectives
Before we begin, let's take a moment to review the learning objectives for this course. Once you
have completed the course, you should be able to:
 Explain why it’s important to study child growth and development,
 Describe the various domains of child development, and
 Identify behaviors and milestones children will exhibit as they grow and develop through
approximately age eight.

Why Study Growth & Development?

It is important for child care professionals to learn about the ways in which children grow and
develop. Understanding the patterns of how children develop enables child care providers to plan
meaningful, engaging activities that support children as they gain new skills. Ideally, caregivers
will provide learning experiences that challenge children to extend their current abilities, but are
not so challenging as to create excessive frustration. To plan activities that are developmentally
appropriate for the children in your care, you first have to know what children know and are able
to do right now, and then you have to think about where their developmental trajectory is headed.
Without these two pieces of information, it is impossible to be intentional about activity
planning.
It is also important for child care providers to have a firm grasp of the typical patterns of growth
and development so that they can identify children who may need additional support. This might
mean providing targeted activities in the child care setting to help boost specific skills, or it may
mean referring a child to outside services to be assessed for the possibility of a developmental
delay or disability. The earlier children with disabilities and delays are identified, the better their
long-term outcomes are likely to be.
Now that we know why it is important to learn about growth and development, let’s take a
moment to explore what growth and development are, and look at some of the characteristics of
the growth and development we typically see in young children.

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Growth and Development
While we often speak of growth and development together, they are not the same thing. Growth
is when something gets taller, bigger, stronger, or longer. Development is a broader term that
includes advances in the body (such as brain synapses connecting, or eyes focusing more clearly
with age) and skill development. Growth is a part of development. Development includes both
visible changes and changes that cannot be seen with the naked eye.
Growth and development are complex processes. It is true to say that children grow in a
sequential fashion, meaning they must reach and achieve one milestone before attempting the
next. However, it is also true to say that they grow and develop all at once, meaning it is
impossible to separate the domains of development. For instance, motor development happens
sequentially. Children will sit up, then crawl, then walk before running. Language development
is also linear. Children observe others talking and learn to copy the shape of the mouth, then they
make sounds, and then they babble. As time goes by, babbles turn into words and words turn into
sentences, and sentences turn into conversations. While many aspects of growth and
development are sequential, growth and development also happen in an integrated fashion. Many
different skills are developing at the same time and are closely related. For instance, a child who
has a secure attachment will be more closely attuned to the adult faces around him, thereby
spurring language development. A toddler who is learning to walk will experience new things
that will facilitate cognitive development and brain growth. A preschooler who is using
manipulatives will be learning math skills and improving her fine motor skills.
A child’s growth and development are affected by both nature and nurture. For instance, a child
born to very tall parents will likely have the genetic material to allow her to also be a very tall
person. However, her eventual growth can be impacted by nurture. If she is not provided with
proper nutrition, she may never reach her potential height. Here’s another example: a child who
is born with Down syndrome (a genetic condition) will have certain characteristics, including
possible limitations in some areas of development. Nurture also plays a role in this child’s
development, though, because we know that children with Down syndrome who are given every
opportunity and raised in a healthy, nurturing environment can far surpass others whose
environments are less conducive to optimal development. Even a child’s social-emotional
development, which we usually think of as being dependent on a child receiving warm, nurturing
care in his environment, can be affected by nature. All infants are born with a set of biological
traits that affect their personalities, called temperament, and these have an impact on the child’s
social-emotional development. The important thing to remember is that the answer to the age-old
question of nature or nurture is… “BOTH!”
Children grow and develop in a specific pattern, and yet every child is unique and develops at
her own pace. This means there is a broad range of typical development, with some children
reaching milestones well before or after others. Still, understanding what children should be able
to do around certain ages can be useful in planning experiences that promote development, and
also for identifying children who may need additional support. Remember, these are rough
guidelines, not hard-and-fast checklists. It is normal for some children to reach these milestones
after the estimated times we will discuss throughout this course. If you notice that a child in your
care is reaching many milestones significantly later than her peers, then you may need to refer
the family to the appropriate services in your community for further evaluation.

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Because of this complexity, it can seem overwhelming to try to understand how children gain so
many new skills and abilities so quickly, in such interconnected ways. To help break down the
development process, researchers often talk about categories of skills that are closely related.
These categories are called domains of development. Let’s discuss the four most commonly
recognized domains of development in more depth. We will use these four domains to organize
information about growth and development throughout the rest of this course.
Domains of Development
There are four commonly recognized domains of development. They are: physical development,
cognitive development, language development, and social-emotional development.
Physical development includes how the body changes as children mature, as well as gross and
fine motor development. Gross motor development refers to how children learn to crawl, pull up,
walk, and run. Fine motor development refers to how they learn to use their hands and fingers to
move from random movements to grasping, using a pincher grip, grabbing, pulling, and holding.
Cognitive development is about learning. It is the more academic of the domains and looks at
how children learn to reason, think, project, plan, evaluate, and negotiate. It is the domain that
speaks to early math and science learning and problem solving skills.
Language development refers to how children learn to send and receive messages to
communicate with the people around them. It includes the patterns of skill development that lead
to reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills.
Social-emotional development includes things like how children learn to express their
personalities, and how they learn self-regulation, attachment, trust, empathy, sympathy, and
friendship skills.
Let’s take a closer look at how children develop in each of these domains as they mature. As we
explore each domain in more detail, we will focus on how children develop in that domain as
infants, toddlers, preschoolers, and school-age children. For our purposes, we will use the term
‘infant’ to refer to children between birth and 17-months of age. ‘Toddlers’ will refer to children
between 18 and 35 months old. ‘Preschoolers’ will refer to three to five year olds, and ‘school
age children’ will be defined as children six years old or older. Remember that within each of
these age groups there may be large individual differences between children. Also note that some
children may exhibit characteristics of older or younger children, either due to developmental
delays or simply due to individual differences in development.
Physical Development
The first domain of development we will explore is physical development. Physical development
is often the domain that we notice first in very young children. Their growth is so rapid and new
skills so evident, that we tend to see these pieces of development quite clearly. As we stated
before, physical development refers to the ways in which children’s bodies are growing and
changing and the gross- and fine-motor skills they are acquiring. With the increased incidence of
childhood obesity, it is important that caregivers work to give all children opportunities to
engage in physical activity throughout the time they spend in care.
Physical Development: Infants

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Children experience more physical changes in infancy than in any other stage of life. Babies’
bodies are growing rapidly and their skills are expanding at an astounding rate.
Infants’ bodies are growing and changing in a number of ways. Embryonic skeletons are made of
cartilage, which gradually hardens to bone – a process that continues throughout childhood and
even into adolescence. By the end of the first year, most babies’ heights are 50 percent greater
than at birth, and they may weigh three times their birth weight. Infants have what is commonly
called “baby fat.” This layer of fat helps to keep their body temperature constant. Toward the end
of the first year, this will begin to dissipate and children will begin to slim. Their body shapes
will change to become more adult-like, though they will still be top-heavy throughout
toddlerhood. By the end of infancy, children may have several teeth (with new ones erupting
regularly), may have transitioned entirely from breast milk or formula to table food, and may
begin to gain some awareness of their bladder and bowel functions. While they may not actually
be able to control bowel and bladder functions for many more months, being aware of their
bodies’ cues is the first step to successful toilet learning.
The development of gross motor skills is one of the most obvious changes that occur as infants
mature. During the first year and a half of life, most infants go from being unable to support their
own heads to fully mobile walkers. While these changes happen gradually, gross motor skills
emerge relatively quickly. For example:
 A 4-month-old can probably roll from side to side, and may be able to roll over entirely,
 A 5-month-old can probably sit without support,
 A 7-month-old can probably sit straight up without assistance, and bounce up and down
when you hold her in a standing position,
 An 8-month-old can probably stand while leaning against something, and is probably
starting to pull up,
 A 9-month-old can probably crawl quickly, and may start taking steps,
 A 10-month-old can probably “cruise” – taking sideways steps while holding onto
furniture,
 By 12 months old, a baby is probably able to stand alone, and may be starting to walk
more often than she crawls, and
 Between 12 and 17 months old, infants learn to move more quickly and use their large
muscles in a variety of ways (including dancing!).
Due to the awareness created by the “Back to Sleep” and “Safe Sleep” campaigns, young infants
are now spending a great deal of time on their backs to reduce the risk of Sudden Infant Death
Syndrome, also called SIDS. Because of this, it is important for young infants to spend regular
time on their stomachs when they are awake. This is known as “tummy time.” Without this time,
infants may be delayed in some areas of gross motor development, such as rolling over, sitting,
and crawling.
Fine motor skills also develop quickly during infancy. Newborns will start to work toward
bringing their hands into their field of vision. Very young infants engage in “pre-reaching,”
which is when they swipe toward an object. While they rarely connect with the object of interest,
they are learning about the process of reaching. By three to four months old, most babies will be
able to regularly connect with the object they are reaching for, and they will usually grab objects
with both hands. Five-month-olds can typically reach, grab, and hold onto objects they find

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interesting. By six months old, babies are especially adept at grabbing and pulling objects –
including caregivers’ hair and jewelry! They may also be able to move a toy from one hand to
the other. As their depth perception improves, their capacity for reaching improves as well. By
seven months, many children can reach with one arm rather than both. Over the next several
months, they will be able to reach for objects that are moving or spinning. Older infants can
typically hold things while crawling, drop and throw items, successfully manage finger foods,
and use a cup and simple utensils. One-year-olds use their developing fine motor skills to begin
to scribble with purpose, build with manipulatives (such as blocks), and use art materials like
paintbrushes or molding dough.
Physical Development: Toddlers
Toddlers’ bodies are still growing very quickly, and they are still actively developing gross and
fine motor skills. Toddlers are typically gaining weight and height and assuming a more erect
posture. While they are still top-heavy, they are gradually taking on the proportions of older
children, and look less and less like babies as time passes. By the time they turn two, most of
their teeth have erupted, and their brains have already grown to about 80% of their adult size.
Toddlerhood is all about gross motor development! This period of childhood gets its name from
the “toddling” movements of young children who are in the process of mastering walking.
Toddlers can practice walking almost six hours a day, and travel the length of 29 football fields!
Be sure there are unobstructed, safe areas where toddlers can practice their walking skills in your
program. By the time they turn three and move from being toddlers to preschoolers, children
have typically mastered a variety of body movements, like running, squatting while playing,
riding tricycles, and climbing stairs (though they may still not be ready to climb stairs with one
foot on each step).
Even though toddlers are known for their gross motor development, they are also working hard
to develop fine motor skills. Toddlers can start helping as you dress and undress them, especially
unbuttoning, un-zipping, and un-snapping articles of clothing. During this period, they may learn
how to turn doorknobs without assistance. This can be a challenge to caregivers, so be on the
lookout for toddlers trying to escape! Toddlers tend to be able to grasp smaller manipulatives and
puzzle pieces with ease, relative to infants. Remember, though, that many toddlers are still prone
to putting things in their mouths. All toys available to toddlers should be large enough to prevent
choking.
Physical Development: Preschoolers
As a preschooler, a child’s height increases dramatically and he loses the “baby” shape of his
body once and for all. As he becomes slimmer and taller, he looks less like a baby and more like
an older child. By three years of age, all of a child’s 20 baby teeth have typically emerged.
Coordination, or the use of abilities controlled by more than one part of the brain, is developing
during the preschool years. It’s important that preschoolers take part in a variety of activities.
Allowing for many different activities, involving both gross and fine motor skills, can help
children develop the ability to carry out increasingly complex tasks.
Preschoolers can show a great deal of skill in gross motor activities. Three-year-olds can jump,
hop, and gallop. By the time they are four years old, most children can walk up and down stairs
by using alternating feet, skip with one foot, and can pedal quickly and steer smoothly on

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tricycles. A preschooler may start out still trapping a ball against her chest to catch it, but by the
time she enters school age, she will probably be able to catch the ball with her hands. Preschool
children are notorious for their high energy levels and constant motion. They need outdoor time
for jumping, climbing, riding tricycles, hopping, running, skipping, etc. Toys that are provided
for them must include items that encourage gross motor movement.
Fine motor skills are becoming more and more sophisticated during the preschool years.
Encouraging the use of small manipulatives that can be linked, sorted, and stacked helps children
learn to control the small muscles in their hands. Other fine motor activities that are popular with
preschool children include stacking blocks, completing puzzles, and stringing beads. These
children are becoming more adept at using their fine motor skills in their artwork, and may enjoy
painting, coloring, drawing, creating collages, and sculpting using clay or dough. During this
period, children tend to experiment with writing, and may become very skillful at using writing
utensils.
Physical Development: School-Age Children
By the age of about six, the school-age years, children move into a slow but steady growth
pattern. The next large growth spurt will occur in adolescence. Body proportions are beginning
to change, with a more grownup, less “little kid” body shape. Slender arms and legs begin to
grow in proportion to the more slender trunk. By around age eight, boys and girls tend to weigh
about the same.
Motor skills are extremely important during this period of time. School-age children are
developing more complex movements, which are building on the foundational ones developed
during the preschool years. Fundamental skills such as walking, running, reaching, climbing,
jumping, and kicking are being used in combination to allow children to perform complex tasks
like chasing, stepping sideways, throwing, and catching. School-agers are increasing their
running speed, are able to skip, and can throw, kick, and swing a bat with some degree of
accuracy. These children are typically able to transition from tricycles to bicycles with training
wheels, and are later able to have the training wheels removed. They may become interested in
organized games (such as freeze tag) outdoors. To allow school-age children to practice all these
skills, both indoor and outdoor play areas should include plenty of space and equipment to
promote gross motor activity.
School-aged children also need opportunities to continue to develop fine motor skills. During
this period, children might exercise their fine motor abilities by playing with balls, exploring and
digging outdoors, building with blocks, engaging in a variety of open-ended art activities that
require the use of hands and fingers, cutting with scissors, working on puzzles with smaller
pieces, using household utensils and tools, and, of course, writing.
Cognitive Development
The second domain of development we will explore is cognitive development. While we can see
the physical growth and development of children, they are also growing cognitively by leaps and
bounds. The brain is physically growing and changing, senses are being honed and developed,
and these changes allow children to take in and organize information in new and exciting ways.
Remember that cognitive development refers to the pre-academic and academic skills that start

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appearing even in early infancy, and which become more and more sophisticated through school-
age.
Cognitive Development: Infants
Infants develop their cognitive skills by exploring their worlds in increasingly intentional ways.
As the haphazard movements of their hands give way to grasping and then reaching, infants gain
access to many opportunities for brain development and learning. Babies learn by repeating
behaviors and witnessing their effects, observing the world around them, and employing an
almost endless supply of curiosity to seek out new experiences. Infants take in information using
all of their senses.
There are several important skills infants develop in the cognitive domain, which set the stage for
later academic learning. Categorization is a cognitive skill that begins very early in infancy. This
ability allows children to begin to make sense of the many stimuli that are appearing to them on a
regular basis by grouping objects and ideas based on common characteristics. For example,
infants begin to categorize things into animate and inanimate, and to look for common functions
and behaviors (such as noticing that people behave differently than dogs, and so forth). By the
time they reach one year old, many babies are engaging in basic scientific play, such as sorting
and classifying, using their categorization skills.
Older infants start to show the ability to problem solve. For instance, a six or seven-month-old
child might pull a string to bring a toy closer. By the end of the first year, children are using trial
and error, and are successfully using tools to get an object that they desire. These older infants
will easily move around objects to reach their goals, and will search for hidden objects.
The increased attention span of the older infant allows her to begin to observe for the purposes of
imitating. Children around seven months of age will begin to imitate sounds and simple actions,
such as clapping.
Infants are also learning the concept of cause and effect, as they start to make connections
between events. An early way infants experiment with cause and effect is by first dumping, and
then filling and dumping, containers. For instance, a baby around nine or ten months of age may
crawl to his high chair when dinner is being prepared, or he may begin to struggle when he sees
the car seat, anticipating the straps. Older infants enjoy banging things together, and learn cause
and effect from the noises they produce. A nine-month-old enjoys knocking down a structure
built by a caregiver, observing the motion and sounds produced by her actions. Using their
understanding of cause and effect, one-year-olds can open cabinets and lids, and can look for lost
toys.
Cognitive Development: Toddlers
Toddlers are learning cognitive skills that will form the foundation for academic learning in the
preschool and especially school-age years. They are learning to process and use information, use
their imaginations, sort and classify objects, and observe and imitate the people around them.
As they grow, toddlers gradually form categories for information. Over time, these categories
become more differentiated. They begin to use logical thought when trying to solve problems.
By the second half of the second year, toddlers may be able to give explanations for other’s
actions, such as “She was mad…” or “He likes to…”

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Up until now, children have typically played with toys in the way they were intended. In
toddlerhood, we start to see imagination come into play, and toys are often used symbolically.
Blocks may become pretend food. A broom may become a fishing pole. Caregivers should
encourage this natural progression by allowing children to use the materials in creative ways, as
long as no one will be injured and the materials are respected.
Toddlers are starting to explore sorting and classification of materials. They might naturally
decide to put all the red blocks in a pile or all the cars together, regardless of color. Sorting and
classifying are early math skills. By providing a variety of manipulatives for toddlers to explore,
caregivers can promote these emerging skills.
Children this age are constantly observing and imitating the things they see in everyday life, such
as cooking, shopping, or working on a car. They are developing an understanding of the roles of
grownups and are trying them on to see how they fit. Providing a variety of dramatic play
materials and pretend settings is a great way to encourage observation and imitation.
Cognitive Development: Preschoolers
Preschoolers’ cognitive skills are becoming more sophisticated, and more closely resemble what
we think of academic learning. As they begin to understand more about physical events and
principles, they begin to separate fantasy from reality. This process takes time, and they may still
fear monsters and react to scary stories and nightmares. Preschoolers also have a grasp on cause
and effect, and can use simple if-then comparisons and some logical reasoning.
Categories are starting to really develop in the preschool years. Whereas toddlers can recognize
some broad categories, such as people, buildings, and plants, preschoolers may be able to create
more detailed categories, such as warm and cold-blooded animals, zoo or farm animals, flowers
and vegetables, and many other categories of everyday life.
Preschoolers are explorers and scientists by nature. They want to understand what is going on in
the world around them. They are continuing to build on information they have gained as
toddlers. During this period, children learn to make decisions, plan their own activities, solve
problems, and practice critical thinking skills.
Cognitive Development: School-Age Children
School-age children are learning to think and plan for themselves. They are exercising more
creativity, independence, exploration, and choice than ever before. This can be seen in the detail
of their pretend play themes, and their attention to detail in organizing group games (especially
games with child-made rules).
At the same time, their thought patterns are becoming more logical, and their problem-solving
skills are continuing to develop. This is apparent in their use of mathematical thinking skills,
such as seriation, spatial reasoning, mental representation, classification, and conservation.
Seriation is the ability to order items in a sequence, such as longest to shortest. Spatial reasoning
is the understanding of space, which manifests in children becoming interested in maps and
starting to understand directions to and from some of their favorite places. Mental
representations include their ability to successfully draw an image that accurately depicts aspects
of their neighborhood or other actual places. Classification, as we’ve mentioned already, is the
ability to put things into categories based on one or more characteristics. Conservation is the

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ability to understand that certain qualities of an item or substance stay the same when other
properties are changed. For example, conservation of volume means that the child understands
that five ounces of water is the same amount, whether it is poured into a short, wide bowl or a
tall, thin glass.
Language Development
The third domain of development we will discuss is language development. Children are born
with an intrinsic need to communicate. Throughout the early years of life, they acquire the ability
to listen, to speak, to read, and to write. These skills, all together, help them receive and send
messages to the people around them. We call these receptive and expressive language skills.
Receptive skills include listening and reading, and are how we take in messages. Expressive
skills include speaking and writing, and are how we send messages to others.
Language Development: Infants
Infants are learning language skills from the very beginning, even though very young children
are not capable of reading, writing, and speaking for themselves until much later. Newborns are
very sensitive to the pitch and range of the human voice. In fact, they seem to enjoy the sound of
the human voice more than any other type of sound, and will focus their attention in the direction
of human voices. Infants acquire receptive speech (the ability to understand what other people
are saying) long before they can use expressive speech (the ability to say things for themselves).
This allows them to follow simple commands before they can express them. For instance, a child
can understand, “Bring me your toy,” long before he can say, “I will bring you the toy.”
Infants learn to be communicators extremely early in life. A very young infant is able to hold his
head up for longer periods of time and is beginning to make sounds, such as gurgling or
squeaking. By three or four months, infants start to gaze in the same direction as their caregivers,
and may engage in back and forth exchanges of cooing or babbling with caregivers. Five-month-
olds typically respond to language, and are beginning to use the back-and-forth dance of
conversation. They are also learning the rules of grammar, just by hearing the conversations
around them.
Making sounds is a new favorite hobby of seven-month-olds, and babies this age will often
squeal, scream, coo, or make other sounds, just for the pleasure of hearing themselves. Infants
this age are beginning to recognize some words, so adult-child conversation can be expanded
even further. Older infants’ language is increasing rapidly. By ten months, most children will
have a few words, most notably “ma-ma” and “da-da,” or other words used to call for parents.
They may also begin to say “no,” along with the classic side-to-side head shake. One-year-olds
are beginning to gain important language skills. These children are beginning to use holophrastic
speech. That is, they are using one or two words to imply an entire thought. For instance, they
may say “me” or “me do” to mean that they want to do something on their own. “Mommy bye-
bye” may mean “Mommy is leaving.” They are learning to use language to meet their needs,
possibly adding gestures as appropriate. They understand the back-and-forth rhythm of
conversation.
Gestures and body language play an important role in the development of language skills. Babies
who are engaging in games such as peek-a-boo are beginning to learn about the give-and-take of
conversation. Somewhere between the 9th and 12th month, children begin to point at objects in an

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effort to communicate their needs or wants to the adult who is present. This type of
communication (getting someone to do something the baby wants) is called protoimperative
behavior. Gestures allow infants to communicate before they are capable of expressive speech.
Language Development: Toddlers
Language development continues to be important as children enter the toddler stage. Toddlers
add words slowly at first, but the growth of their vocabularies rapidly accelerates. Between the
ages of one and two, children will acquire one to two new words a day on average! The more
words caregivers use, the more words children learn. Caregivers can read to and talk with
children, comment on the child’s play, and expand on children’s attempts at language. In
Western cultures, early emphasis is on naming words (such as words used to label people, places,
and things), with action words coming along later. Children as young as two will coin new words
based on what they know in order to describe a new object. They might use the word “workers”
for “tools” or say “cooker-lady” to refer to a female chef.
Language development is fast and furious at this age and vocabulary is exploding. Most children
can use almost 1,000 words by the age of three. Children are able to use longer sentences and
understand a sentence with multiple ideas. They have excellent memories and will begin to tell
stories. They are very curious and eager to use their new skills. “What’s that?” is a favorite
question of toddlers. They have an excellent command of the language and can speak about
objects and events, even when they are not present. They can also follow simple commands and
make requests.
Language Development: Preschoolers
Many preschoolers have a firm grasp on spoken language, and are beginning to dive deeper into
the development of their written language skills. Although researchers differ as to their opinions
on when the sensitive period for language begins to diminish, all of them agree that language is
acquired at a very young age, and a second language is more easily acquired early in life. As
children enter the preschool years, interactions with adults should become more and more
sophisticated. If they are learning a second language, preschoolers can be expected to pick up the
new language quite quickly.
Preschoolers are starting to learn nuances of meaning in the words they use, as well. To help
them continue to expand their vocabularies, caregivers can use more sophisticated words, such as
“vehicle” rather than “truck,” or “conversation” rather than “talk.” If preschoolers can say
“Tyrannosaurus Rex” (and they can!), then they can use almost any word we give them.
Language Development: School-Age Children
School-age children are even more capable of intricate language, and caregivers should work to
use interesting, engaging speech. In addition, it is important to engage children in actual
conversations, with both the child and the adult taking part. Interactions are rich when they
include a back-and-forth dance of language between the adult and the child.
School-agers also benefit from plenty of opportunities to reinforce the reading and writing skills
they are learning at school. Many school-age children enjoy reading and writing, and will select
these activities even when other choices are available.
Social-Emotional Development

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The last domain of development we will address in this course is social-emotional development.
According to the Center on the Social and Emotional Foundations for Early Learning, the term
social-emotional development refers to the developing capacity of the child from birth through
early childhood to form close and secure adult and peer relationships; experience, regulate, and
express emotions in socially and culturally appropriate ways; and explore their environment and
learn – all in the context of family, community, and culture.
Caregivers promote healthy development by working to support social-emotional wellness in all
young children, making every effort to prevent the occurrence or escalation of social-emotional
problems in children at-risk, identifying and working to remediate problems that surface, and,
when necessary, referring children and their families to appropriate services.
Social-Emotional Development: Infants
Social and emotional development starts long before a child can talk or move around on her own.
Infants quickly understand emotions and learn to show them in their own way. They show likes
and dislikes, and seek out ways to communicate their wants and needs to the adults who care for
them. When adults respond quickly and in a warm manner, infants are encouraged to continue
the “conversation” that they have started.
A two-month-old is more alert and can begin to respond to people in his world. A four-month-
old is beginning to show preferences for certain toys, and may start to show some fear of
strangers and fuss or show other signs of boredom when left alone. By five-months, children are
beginning to respond to their own names. Five-month-olds understand the difference between
familiar faces and strangers. They smile and respond to the smiles of others.
By seven months of age, infants will be carefully watching the adults around them in order to
imitate behaviors. Seven-month-olds are becoming social beings, giving hugs and kisses to
family and friends. Separation anxiety may begin to surface as they continue to differentiate
between familiar people and strangers. Older infants are becoming increasingly independent and
enjoy doing things on their own. They may become frustrated when things they try do not work.
A one-year-old’s sense of self is becoming very strong and, with that, he is developing a strong
sense of personal property rights. “Mine” is a favorite word of one-year-olds. “No” is also a
favorite as children begin to understand that they are separate people with their own likes and
dislikes. They are becoming less wary of others, and are more willing to explore other
relationships, including friendships.
One-year-olds may begin to engage in parallel play, which means playing beside other children
in common activities, but not necessarily playing “with” the other child. They show
understanding for the feelings of others and can show both sympathy and empathy, though they
may not be able to do this consistently. They enjoy helping and imitating the adults in their
world. While their help sometimes makes things take longer than the task would take for an
adult, giving children a chance to assist, or even attempt to do things on their own with proper
supervision, builds self-esteem and problem-solving skills.
Social-Emotional Development: Toddlers
Some of the social-emotional skills toddlers are developing include learning to form satisfying
relationships with others, to communicate, and to experience and regulate their emotions.

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Toddlers may be increasingly social. Younger toddlers tend to engage in parallel play, and are
often not ready to play with other children in a cooperative fashion. They may begin to imitate
one another’s play as they sit side-by-side. Before they enter the preschool years, they may
regularly interact with peers, and even show consistent preferences for certain playmates. Still,
throughout the toddler period children may find it difficult to share and take turns, and may
hoard toys to avoid having to make decisions about which toys to use and which to allow others
to play with.
Older toddlers are self-aware and most are still fairly self-centered. Words like “no,” “me,” and
“mine” are common as children continue to discover their own identities, separate from the
identities of parents and other adult caregivers.
Joy, sadness, and frustration are just some of the emotions that all children experience during
their first years. Toddlers watch important adults to figure out how they should feel and act in
certain situations. With adult help, they increasingly learn how to control or regulate their
emotions so that they don’t get overwhelmed by them. Caregivers can facilitate this learning by
naming children’s emotions for them. This helps children learn to identify and understand their
feelings, which is a big step in the process of self-regulation.
Social-Emotional Development: Preschoolers
Preschoolers are beginning to be very social. They are playing with others and developing
friendships. They may show strong preferences for specific playmates and types of play.
Through both large and small group play activities, preschool children increase their social skills,
such as sharing, empathy, and playing successfully with others. Even as they start to form
friendship groups, preschoolers are showing the ability to interact successfully with many peers
and adults. Their social circles are widening.
Preschoolers are beginning to show many prosocial behaviors, or behaviors that allow them to
have successful interactions with the people around them more consistently. They not only
understand their emotions, but are learning to actively self-regulate them. Learning how to
manage emotions such as anger or sadness can help them behave in more prosocial ways. For
example, they are learning that anger can be dealt with by using words, rather than physically
acting out. Other emotions, such as joy, frustration, and sadness, can also be expressed in
socially appropriate ways, and preschoolers are ready to learn these with guidance from adults.
Preschoolers are also more aware of the feelings of others than ever before. They tend to show
empathy for peers who have had bad experiences, such as when someone falls down on the
playground. They are beginning to be able to place themselves in the situation of others and take
on another person’s perspective.
Preschoolers are also learning about the world around them, including that there are people who
do not look, sound, or act like them. This is a wonderful time for children to learn about
differences between people, such as differences in race, gender, ability, culture, and occupation.
Young children tend to be more naturally accepting of differences than adults, and may ask
matter-of-fact questions about differences that can make adults uncomfortable. Generally,
answering questions openly and honestly will allow children to satisfy their curiosity and move
on.
Social-Emotional Development: School-Age Children

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School-agers are becoming much more proficient with social behaviors. They tend to play in
groups and play organized games with rules. Social groups, and even cliques, are forming. While
they may have skills like turn-taking, empathy, compassion, and including others in play
experiences, these skills take time and practice to fully develop. Caregivers should be aware of
these social skills and continue to encourage them. Bullying can emerge during this age range,
and caregivers need to be aware of how the social groups are functioning.
School-age children are aware of gender differences, and often separate themselves into gender
groups for play. Even though they tend to separate by gender, all children should be allowed
opportunities to participate in all types of play, and this separation should not be reinforced by
adults.
During the school-age years, children’s capacity for empathy increases. For instance, not only
can they empathize with a peer who has physically hurt himself, but also with one who is sad or
angry. They also start to understand that what they see on people’s faces may not necessarily
reflect their true feelings.
Though they may feel fears, school-age children have learned to mask some of them. Their fears
tend to be more generalized, such as worrying about school or friends. These fears may show up
in behaviors such as nail biting, feigned illnesses, or a change in sleeping habits. Older children
need to feel safe and be able to gain the attention of adults when needed. If a trusting relationship
is in place, children will feel more comfortable approaching the adult for help with a situation
when needed.
School-age children tend to compare themselves negatively with others. Comments such as, “I
can’t draw” or “I’m not good at soccer” may be common during these ages. Adults can offer
children encouragement and opportunities to practice various skills in order to improve their own
view of themselves.
Children who have reached school-age have typically developed more self-control and are able
to work with their own emotions in more socially acceptable ways than their younger
counterparts. However, they still need help labeling their emotions sometimes. Often, children
are encouraged to ignore their feelings and this can make it difficult for them to express emotions
properly. If children can learn to recognize and label their feelings, they can also learn prosocial
ways to deal with those feelings. For example, if a child can understand her anger, she can learn
to react in non-physical ways when she is angry.
Conclusion
Children are complex beings, but fortunately, we have some well-established guidelines to help
us with our understanding of how they develop. During this course, we have defined growth and
development, outlined the four main domains of development, and explored how children
develop physical, cognitive, language, and social-emotional skills from infancy to school age.
Here are the major messages we would like you to take with you in your professional
interactions with children and families:
 Caregivers need to learn about patterns of growth and development in order to plan
meaningful, appropriately challenging activities for children. Knowing about growth and
development allows you to identify children who need additional support in the child care
setting, or who need to be referred to outside agencies for further assessment,

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 Growth refers to physical changes in children’s bodies, while development refers to both
physical and abstract changes that occur as children mature. The development process is
complex, with certain sets of skills developing sequentially and others developing at the
same time. Child growth and development is influenced by both nature and nurture, and
though it tends to follow a general pattern, it is unique to each individual child.
Milestones are general guidelines about what many children know and are able to do at
specific ages,
 A domain of development is a group or category of skills that develop in an interrelated
way. There are four commonly recognized domains of development: physical, cognitive,
language, and social-emotional,
 More physical development takes place in infancy than in any other period of life. Infants
grow rapidly, develop gross motor skills that eventually enable them to become mobile,
and develop fine motor skills that allow them to begin to reach and grasp. Toddlers are
very focused on the development of gross motor skills, but are also beginning to grasp
smaller objects using more developed fine motor skills. Preschoolers look more and more
like “big kids.” They explore a wide variety of gross motor movements, and can
successfully complete many different fine motor tasks. School-age children grow slowly
but steadily, are beginning to engage in more complex gross motor movements, and still
need opportunities to practice fine motor skills,
 Cognitive development in infants is apparent in their categorization and problem-solving
abilities, extended attention spans, imitation of sounds and actions, and exploration of
cause and effect. In toddlerhood, cognitive development involves more detailed
categorization, the application of logical thought to problem solving, as well as the onset
of imaginative and pretend play, sorting and classification skills, and dramatic play that
imitates adult roles. Preschoolers’ cognitive development allows them to begin to
separate fantasy from reality, have a firm grasp on cause and effect, use simple logical
reasoning, categorize a wide variety of objects and people, and explore their
environments in more scientific ways. Cognitively, school-agers are able to create plans,
exercise creativity and independence, pay attention to details, and apply mathematical
thinking skills, including seriation, spatial reasoning, mental representation,
classification, and conservation,
 Infants acquire receptive language long before expressive language, communicate using a
variety of sounds and gestures before they can form proper words, and learn the rules of
conversation from back-and-forth interactions with adults. Toddlers acquire new words
very quickly, create their own words based on what they know about an object or person,
and can form sentences, talk about objects or events that are not present, follow simple
commands, and ask questions. Preschoolers’ language development involves expanding
their vocabularies to include more nuanced words. They are also primed for second-
language learning. School-age children can engage in complex conversations with peers
and adults, and benefit from plenty of opportunities to read, write, speak, and listen, and
 In the social-emotional domain, infants can learn to understand and express emotions,
show preferences, communicate needs and wants, differentiate between familiar people
and strangers, give and receive affection, acquire a sense of self and exert their
independence, and begin to engage in parallel play. Toddlers become increasingly social,
are more and more expressive of preferences, become very self-aware and egocentric,
and observe adults to learn how to regulate and express their feelings. Preschoolers

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 expand their social circles, learn friendship skills like sharing and empathy, can learn to
express emotions in prosocial ways, and are curious about differences between people.
School-agers tend to play in groups, can play organized games with rules, may form
cliques or engage in bullying, may separate themselves by gender, can empathize in a
variety of situations, are learning to mask their fears and compare themselves with others,
and can express their emotions in socially appropriate ways with adult guidance.
Thank you for your attention, and for your commitment to ensuring the well-being of the
children in your care.

This course was developed and produced by the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service of
the Texas A&M University System in cooperation with the Texas Department of Family
and Protective Services, Child Care Licensing Division, and using funds provided by the
Texas Workforce Commission.

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