(2 years to 6 years) is a critical period in the development of the human potential. Foundations for all aspects of development are laid during this stage.

EARLY CHILDHOOD

EARLY CHILDHOOD (2 years to 6 years) is a critical period in

the development of the human potential. Foundations for all aspects of development are laid during this stage. It is the child acts on his needs. If these attempts are supported and are quite successful, he develops a sense of confidence in himself. It is also referred to as preschool age.

• CHARACTERISTICS OF EARLY CHILDHOOD1.ACTIVITY AGE- A healthy child engages in all kinds of tasks.2.DISCOVERY AGE- The young child starts to learn many things about himself and his environment3.EXPLORATION AGE- The child manipulates his body and his environment.4.SOCIALIZATION AGE- The child begins to meet people in his neighborhood and community5.IMITATION AGE- The child copies just any model who gets his attention.

6. PLAY AGE- the child engages in different kinds of play activities.7. VOCABULARY AGE- the child accumulates vocabulary from his interactions.8. CURIOSITY AGE- the child tries to understand his environment.9. INQUISITIVE OR QUESTIONING AGE- the preschool always asks about the varied things in his environment.10. TROULESOME AGE- if the child is not properly guided his explorations sometimes create trouble for him and his family

DEVELOPMENTAL TASKS OF EARLY CHILDHOOD

THE PRESCHOOL CHILD IS EXPECTED TO DEVELOP THE FOLLOWING DEVELOPMENTAL SELF-HELP SKILLS:1. Control of elimination2.Self-feeding, self-dressing and doing some things

without much help3.Development of motor skills that allow him to

explore and do things to satisfy his curiosity4. acquisition of adequate vocabulary to communicate

his thoughts.

PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT DURING EARLY CHILDHOOD

A. BODY PROPORTIONS

Changes in body proportions and the fact that a child’s body affect both his appearance and behavior. These in turn affect peoples’ reaction to him. The way people react has a strong effect on the way a child will feel about himself. If the adult shows acceptance and affection, the child will feel good about his appearance. This will contribute to his self-esteem or self worth.

B. CHILDREN’S ILLNESSESIllnesses are more common

during the preschool years than when the child grows older. Even healthy children experience some of these illnesses. Respiratory tract disorders and digestive upsets are the most common problems. If they have been immunized, they will not or have only very mild cases of chicken pox, measles, poliomyelitis, and diphtheria.

C. PHYSICAL DEFECTSChildren with physical defects

should be taught at an early age to accept their condition. They should be treated as much as if he were normal. They should be given every chance to learn to do things like normal children. They should learn to do things for themselves.

D. FACTORS THAT EFFECT GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT1.HEREDITY- If the parents are tall, chances are the child will also be tall2.BODY BUILD- Small-boned children usually grow more slowly.3.SEX- Boys tend to be taller and heavier than girls.4.NUTRITION- Proper nutrition, specially protein intake effects growth and development.

5.HEALTH- Healthy children grow and develop faster than those in poor health.6.EMOTIONAL STATE- Children from happy homes grow faster than those who are suffering stressful conditions.7.TEETHING- Teething may affect appetite and slow down physical growth and development.8.PHYSICAL AND PLAY ACTIVITIES- Children who are encouraged to explore and engage in play activity grow and develop faster.

MOTOR DEVELOPMENTDEVELOPMENT OF MOTOR SKILLS

Motor development depends to a great extent on the child’s physical condition. when a child is healthy , he strengthens all his muscles, establishes his coordination, acquires balance, fine tunes the movement of his small muscles, and learns to move for specific purposes progressively. HANDEDNESS

Handedness is established between 3-6 years. during this period children abandon the tendency to shift from the use of one hand to the use of other hand. They begin to concentrate on learning skills with one hand as the dominant hand and the other as auxiliary hand.

INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT

THE PREOPERATIONAL PHASE

1. Deferred Imitation- The preoperational child can imitate what he has previously observed but which is now not present.

2. Symbolic Play- Children often play games of “pretending”. they reenact some experiences common to them like being put to bed, scolder, or hugged using a doll to represent themselves.

3. Drawing- Serves as an imitative expression of what they have seen

4. Mental Image- This is an internalized kind of imitation.

5. Verbal Evocation- Children use a word or two to signify a past event in their experience.

THE PRECONCEPTUAL PERIODo During a preconceptional sub period children begin to

use language to direct their behavior. Language greatly enhances their ability to imitate the complex behavior of other.

o EGOCENTRISM- is the inability to distinguish between how one experiences events and how others experience them. What he sees, he assumes others must see; how he feels, he assumes others must also feel.

o ANIMISM- or the attribution of life like properties to inanimate objects; the ‘moon walks’ his toy needs food and so on.

THE INTUITIVE PERIOD

Piaget discovered several characteristics of preoperational thought during the intuitive period; inattention to transformations, centration, and irreversibility. Each of these characteristics is an obstacle to the development of truly logical thought. They are illustrated by the conversation tasks.

EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT

CHILDREN’S EMOTIONS

Early childhood is characterized by heightened emotionality. emotions like love, fear, joy, and anger are experienced by the child just like the adult. However, young children’s emotions are usually felt more strongly and expressed more openly than those of adult CHILDREN’S FEAR

Among two-year old, common sources of fear are noise, objects that make noise and strange objects, persons and situations while four-year olds manifest fear of darkness, imaginary creatures, and being alone, and experience dreams that give rise to fear reaction.

DEALING WITH CHILDREN’S FEAR

1. Setting up counter resources and skills that are helpful in meeting the fearful situation when it accurse

2. Promoting familiarity with the feared object by providing situations in which there is opportunity, but not coercion, to become acquainted with it

3. Arranging for the child to observe other who show no fear in the feared situation

4. Direct reconditioning.

SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT DEVELOPMENT OF THE CHILD’S SELF-CONCEPT

The family, playmates, teachers, classmates, and peer group exert a great influence in forming the child’s self-concept during childhood .They constitute his or her primary group which forms part of what is called significant others. These significant others become models for the child who usually identifies with them and patterns his behavior after them. SEX-ROLE IDENTIFICATION

An other aspect of the self-concept is sex-role identification. Knowledge and attitudes about sex differences are both inborn and learned. An individual’s sex identity is born with him.

FATHER-SON RELATIONSHIPS AND MASCULINE IDENTITY The relationship with the father is critical to the boy’s development of masculine identity. The boys derives his male self-concept from his father through the process of identification. When the father-son relationship is inadequate because of physical or psychological absence, Then the boy is likely to form a identification with the remaining available parent masculinity

THE ROLE OF EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION preschools-nursery, day care centers or kindergarten classes provide excellent socialization experiences from young children. Students have supported that enriched early childhood education is beneficial to children

THE ROLE OF THE FAMILY1.SUPPORT- The child needs support for his physiological and psychological needs.2.MODEL- The easiest way to begin learning something new is to watch someone else do it.3.IDENTITY- Who am I? what can I do? this question is more honestly answered by parents than anybody else in his environment.

4.LOVE- What do children write about when asked to write father’s day or mother’s day greetings?all sorts of “thank you for…” because that much impresses in their minds the little things parents do for them.5.ENCOURAGEMENT- Children need encouragement, especially from the parents. Filipino parents often fail to notice the positive things children are able to do.

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