1. Identify and describe biopsychosocial milestones associated with the development of autonomy in early childhood.
There are milestones associated with the childhood autonomy; developing motor skills, acquiring social skills and verbally expressing themselves. Motor skills include running, jumping and throwing. Social skills are showing consideration of feelings in peers and others around them in a respectful and clear manner. Verbally expressing will allow the children to sing, communicate and use cognitive skills.
2. Identify the age ranges associated with what is considered the toddler phase of development.
The toddler phase of development starts from ages 2-5 and lasts 2-3 years.
3. Compare the gross motor skills of a typical 1-year-old with those of a 4-year-old.
Gross motor skills are the use and development of large muscle groups. A one year old may start using their gross motor skills by lifting their head, rolling over, etc. A four year old’s gross motor skills have developed in running, jumping and throwing but it starts to become faster, stronger and harder.
4. Compare the fine motor skills of a 2-year-old with those of a 3-year-old.
At the age of a two year old, a child’s fine motor skills begin but may not be capable of completing a task due to limited ability. The two year old should be able to work with puzzles, hold a crayon and stack five or more blocks. The three year old’s skills become more organized and complete more projects.
5. Critically evaluate Piaget's preoperational stage of development.
The preoperational stage of development involves children from the ages 2 to 7 years old. There are two sub stages to preoperational; the symbolic function and intuitive thought. Symbolic functioning happens between the ages of two and four years old. In this sub stage, children begin to think about whole scenarios about other people and themselves to incorporate ideas into their life. This is where they being playing “doctor” because they can conceive the thoughts and ideas in their immediate environment. Intuitive thought develops between the ages of 4 and 7. During this sub stage, children begin to have a questioning thought process such as “how” and “why”. However, formal logic is not yet developed. I can see how Piaget developed this theory but I would like to know who was a part of his studies and if that would have a large impact on his results.
7. Critically evaluate the social and emotional functions that preschool programs need to target to prevent childhood aggression. There are many strategies and techniques that provide children to work through their aggressive behaviors rather than denying or negate their real emotional experience. One strategy is using the “ignoring or incompatible technique”. Which is used to ignoring all behaviors with exempt of dangerous and aggressive and positively reinforcing acts incompatible with aggression. The “time out procedure” allows adults to remove children from a harmful activity and keep a close eye on them, while withdrawing attention to the student. The “modeling and coaching strategies” relies on peers and older adults to serve as a good example for the students. Children are often more likely to reinforce positive behavior and reactions when alternative positive reactions are around. The last is the “creating non-aggressive environments,” which relies on adults to create an area that will reduce the need for physical interaction.
8. Identify and describe cognitive and emotional risks for children in early childhood who are exposed to disasters such as Hurricane Katrina.
Children who experience disasters are more likely to experience long term emotional problems. They may show symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder, which they believe they are re-experiencing the distress the disaster brought on them from months to years it can last. Children may experience many emotional reactions to events, such as; fear, loss of control, anger, loss of stability, isolation and confusion.
9. Identify warning signs for potential violence in preschool and school-age children.
Warning signs for preschool aged children of violence include; multiple temper tantrums, frequent aggressive outbursts, impulsive behavior, refuses to follow directions, non-attachment towards others, cruel behavior towards other people and animals. School ages children warning signs consist of; disruptive behavior, physical with other students, reacts to criticism in intense anger, few friends, does not listen, exhibit reactions to the sensibility of others and cruel behavior towards peers and animals.
11. Critically evaluate the role played by language development in facilitating the regulation of emotions and behavior in preschool children.
anguage development is the ability of progressing the learning of new words. By the age of three, children have learned about 900 words. They also being to start making small conversation about others but not objects and places. Over the next three years, their vocabulary expands to between an average of 8,000 to 14,000 words. In regulation of emotions, children often have a hard time expressing what they actually mean or feel. If they are happy, they will show it by smiling and laughing. But if they are upset, they will be frowning and most likely physically strike out. If a child is not competent in language development they may become frustrated and lash out in a physical way.
12. Identify and contrast critical milestones for the development of empathy in early childhood.
At the age of three, children begin to share because to them it is more fun to play. By four years old, they being to show empathy in sharing by developing the ability to recognize the feelings of others.
14. Assess the peer groups of preschool children and how they influence each other.
In preschool, the children are often interacting physically and emotionally with other students. They feel comfortable seeing the other students every day and spending more time with them in the classroom. The children will begin to feel more comfortable and playful towards each other. However, if there is a child lacking social skills they will be missing more of school leaving them behind in school work and peer attachment.
15. Critically evaluate the strengths and limitations of Project Head Start.
Project Head Start was developed to provide a preschool experience for the economically disadvantaged. Over the past 30 years, this has increased the children’s IQ levels, gave the children an opportunity to learn and grow with other students in the same socio-economic group. However, this program is underfunded and cannot provide for all eligible children.