CHAPTER 5
TYPICALLY AND ATYPICAL
DEVELOPMENT AMONG CHILDREN
Introduction
Have you ever wondered how children develop? Maybe at one time you have
compared your development with that of a sibling or cousin of yours. If this is the case,
you are interested in child development which is pattern of growth, change and stability
that occurs from conception up until adolescence. Children do not grow at the same rate
at the same time. This also goes for the student in an inclusive classroom. Knowing
their capabilities can help better as their teacher. Find out more about their
development as this chapter focuses in the typically and development among children
from infancy to adolescence.
Objectives:
At the end of the chapter you will be able to:
Identify typically and atypical milestone in the various stages of child
development: and
Differentiate typical and atypical development of children in various stages of
their development.
I. CHILD DEVELOPMENT AND ITS IMPORTANCE
To ensure that a child meets his/her developmental milestones, it is crucial to
observe and monitor his /her development. The milestones or development skills that
need to be mastered usually at the same rate act as a guide for ideal development. It is
done by checking the progress of a child based on his or her age to see if the child is
developing within expectations. For others, checking the milestones can help detect any
difficulties at a particular stage. Intervention can then be given which can help in the
development of a child. Usually, it is the parents, teachers and pediatricians who use
the checklist.
II. CHILD DEVELOPMENT THEORIES
During the early 20th century, interest in child development began, specifically, that
which focused in detecting abnormalities. Certain theories were discovered based on
this interest to appreciate the growth that children experience from birth to adolescence.
A. Psychosocial Development Theory of Erik Erikson
This is an eight- stage theory that describe the changes one goes through in a
lifetime. The main focus of Erikson’s theory is the conflict or crises one experiences
through social interaction. Starting from birth, each person is faced with a conflict that
needs to be resolved since it has an impact on the function of the succeeding stages. If
one overcomes the crisis of each stage a psychological virtue emerges.
Stages of Psychosocial Development
Figure 5.1 Stages of Psychosocial development.
B. Cognitive Development Theory of Jean Piaget
This theory is concerned with the through processes of a person and how they are
used to understand and interact with the environment. Piaget’s theory focuses on
children’s intellectual development and has four stages.
A. Sensorimotor Stages – From birth two years old, a child’s knowledge is limited to
his or her use of the sense.
B. Preoperational Stages – From two to six years old, a child learns through the use
of language. However, mental manipulation of information does not take place
yet.
C. Concrete Operational stages – From 7 to 11 years old, a child begins to think
logically and have better understanding of mental operations. However, abstracts
conceptual are still difficult to understand.
D. Formal Operational Stages –From 12 years old adulthood, a person has ability to
think in abstract concepts.
C. Sociocultural Theory of Lev Vygotsky
This theory believes that children learn actively through hands on experiences.
Vygotsky highlights the importance of others people such as parent, caregivers and
peers in the development of children. Culture plays an integral role as well. Interaction
with the others allows learning to be integrated in the child’s understanding of the world.
Also included in the theory is the zone of proximal development, which is the portion in
between what one can do on his or her own and with help. Children best learn when
they are in this zone.
D. Social Learning Theory of Albert Bandura
This theory believes that learning takes place observation and modeling. As a
child the action of the people in his or her environment, new information is
acquired and new are developed.
III. TYPICAL AND ATYPICAL DEVELOPMENT
The development of a child usually follows a predictable pattern. There are certain
skills and abilities that are observed to gauge a child’s development are called
development milestones. Examples of these sitting, not all reach a milestones at the
time, thus the terms typical and atypical development. Let us defined the two terms first
before we took further into what makes a child’s development typical and atypical
The term typical development refers to the normal progression where children
grow by acquiring knowledge, skills, and behavior called development milestones at a
certain frame.
Atypical development is a term used when development does not follow the course.
More so, a child is developing atypically when he/she reaches a milestone earlier or
later than other children his/her age.
There is no clear way to identify if a child is developing typically or atypically.
However, there are three commonly accepted principles of child development that one
should look into. The principles are as follows:
1. Rate of development differs among children
2. Development occurs in a relatively orderly process
3. Developments takes places gradually
IV. DOMAINS OF DEVELOPMENT
The developmental milestones are categorized into four domains namely, physical,
social and emotional, language, and cognitive.
The physical domain refers to the development of physical changes such as size
and strength. The development occurs in both gross and fine motor skills. The
development of the senses and their uses are also part of the physical domain which is
influenced by illness and nutrition.
A child’s experience, expression, and management of emotions along with the ability
to establish positive relationship with others refers to the social- emotional domain. This
includes both the intrapersonal and interpersonal processes that take place in a child.
The language domain refers to the process of acquiring language in a consistent
order without the need for explicit teaching from the environment.
Construction of thought process which includes remembering, problem solving, and
decision making refers to the cognitive domain.
V. STAGES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT
Stages, along with age are used as ranges to mark significant periods in human
development timeline. In each stages, growth and development occurs in the four
domains mentioned above.
The stages are as follows:
A. Infancy (birth to 2 years)
B. Early childhood (3 to 8 years)
C. Middle childhood (9 to 11 years)
D. Adolescence (12 to 18 years
Pause and Ponder
Before we go to the typical and atypical development milestones, let us pause and ponder
about the following question below.
1. Do you have a baby brother or sister? What was he/she like while growing
up?
2. When you are in grade school, what were the similarities and differences
between you and your classmate?
3. As an adolescent, what are the changes that you have noticed within you?
Infancy (birth to 2 years) is a critical stages in child development because growth is
rapid. Many believe that this stage is the most important stage in one’s life since the
changes that occur in infancy will affect the later stages development. This stage is also
known as the building block for the succeeding stages in the attainment of crucial
knowledge, skills and behaviors. Let us look at the chart below to see the typical and
atypical developmental milestones in the infancy stage.
Table 5.1. Typical and atypical development during infancy
DOMAINS TYPICAL ATYPICAL
Holds head without Does not hold head
support up
Pushes legs down when Does not put weight
feet are on flat surface on legs
PHYSICAL
Rolls over Cannot sit without
Sits without support support
Crawls Does not walk
Walks steadily
Begins to run
Smiles at people Does not smile
Likes to play Shows no affection
Shy or afraid of Does not recognize
strangers familiar people
SOCIO-EMOTIONAL
Cries when caregiver
leaves
Copies others
Shows independence
Makes cooing and Does not coo and
babbling sounds babble
Responds to own name Does not say a
Makes different sounds single word
LANGUAGE
Responds to simple Does not speak in
requests sentences
Tries to say words
Says sentences
COGNITIVE Watches things as they Does not watch
move things as they move
Uses eyes and hands Does not know what
together to do with common
Recognizes people at a objects
distance
Transfers object from
one hand to another
Explores things in
various ways
Uses things correctly
(eats with spoon)
Finds hidden things
Early Childhood (3 to 8 years old) is a period of life with slow growth and rapid
development. Most psychologists label this stages as the exploratory and questioning
stage since the children enjoy discovering new things in their surroundings. Interactions
with family and the people around them will help shape their development (see Table
5.2).
Table 5.2. Typical and atypical development during early childhood
DOMAINS TYPICAL ATYPICAL
Runs well Falls down often
Climb easily Needs help in
PHYSICAL Hops and stands on physical activities
one foot
Can use toilet on
his/her own
Shows affection Does not want to
Takes turn in games play with others
Cooperates with Usually withdrawn
other children
SOCIO-EMOTIONAL
Shows concern and
sympathy
Shows more
independence
LANGUAGE Follows two to three Has unclear speech
step instructions Can’t tell stories
Use pronouns articulately
Tells and retell
stories
Speaks clearly
COGNITIVE Play make-believe Does not play with
Works with simple simple toys or
toys make-believe
Names colors and Loses skills once
numbers had
Draws a person
Names letters
Shows development
of mental skills
Middle Childhood (9 to 11 years) is a stage that brings various changes in a
child’s life. Independence is a characteristic that children in this stage asserts.
Developing friendships is another milestone that is evident in this stage. Children should
be given more tasks to develop their sense of responsibility to further develop their
growing independence.
Table 5.3. Typical and atypical development during middle childhood
DOMAINS TYPICAL ATYPICAL
Growth spurt may
take place
Becomes clumsy Has limited mobility
PHYSICAL
Increased in
appetite
Forms stronger
friendships
Becomes aware of
body changes due Has difficulty
SOCIO-EMOTIONAL making and keeping
to puberty
Shows more friends
concern about looks
May feel stressed
about school work
Continues to speak Has unclear speech
clearly Can’t tell stories
LANGUAGE Expresses one’s articulately
thought articulately
Increased attention Experiences
span problems with
Sees the view of comprehension and
COGNITIVE other people more attention
clearly Unable to keep up
with the school’s
curriculum
Adolescence (12 to 18 years) is the period where puberty begins. By the end of
this stage, most will have completed puberty. The child is now called a teen during this
stage. The teen is becoming more vocal about his/her opinions due to the development
of a unique personality. Peer pressure, however, will be present, which is why guidance
from parents and guardians is very much needed.
Table 5.4. Typical and atypical development during adolescence
DOMAINS TYPICAL ATYPICAL
Reaches adult Limited mobility
PHYSICAL
weight and height
Becomes interested Has limited peer
in opposite sex connections
Begins conflict with May exhibit
parents inappropriate
Shows more behavior in public
SOCIO-EMOTIONAL independence from
parents
Continues to speak Has unclear speech
clearly Can’t tell stories
LANGUAGE Expresses one’s articulately
thought articulately
Acquires and uses Is below grade level
defined work habits
COGNITIVE Shows concern
about the future
Behaviors that are atypical should be observed keenly and recorded carefully. At
times, the recorded observations might just be isolated events with no significant impact
on later development. However, they might also be early warning signs of needs. The
observed patterns will be useful to confirm if there is such a need.
Review
1. State the various child development theories and discuss each one with a
partner.
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
2. What are the various child development theories in relation to the different
milestones of each stage?
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
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3. Enumerate and discuss the various domains of development.
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
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4. Using the Venn diagram below, compare and contrast the different stages in
child development
Reflect
1. Look for photos that will represent various milestones for every stage. Roam
around the room to share the photos with classmates. As a variation, students
may just show the photo first and then ask the students to name the specific
milestone, stage, and domain. Jot down answers on the table provided below.
Description of Photo Stage of Development Milestone
2. By, pairs create a chart or web on various developmental stages that shows how
the milestones build on each other. Once done, present the output to the class or
other pairs.
3. Choose a child as your case for observation. Use the tables included in this
chapter to note the child’s development and come up with a summary after the
observation. If observation is not possible, you may interview a primary caregiver
to know about child’s developmental.
Practice
1. This domain refers to the process of acquiring language in a consistent order
without the need for explicit teaching from the environment.
a. Physical
b. Language
c. Socio-emotional
d. Cognitive
2. The stage in child development where puberty begins.
a. Infancy
b. Early childhood
c. Middle childhood
d. Adolescence
3. Which of the following is a typical milestone in early childhood development and
is under the social domain? A child__.
a. Begins to smile at people
b. Reaches for a toy with one hand
c. Turns head toward sounds
d. Walks up and down stairs holding on
4. All are commonly accepted principles of child development EXCEPT for
a. The rate of development differs among children
b. Development occurs in a relatively among children
c. Child development does not follow a predictable pattern
d. Development takes place gradually
REFERENCES
Berger, Kathleen Stassen. (2003).The Developing Person through Childhood and
Adolescence. New York: USA worth Publishers.
Bergin, Christi and David Allen Bergin. (2015).Child and Adolescent Development in
Your Classroom. 2nd Edition. CT: USA Cengage Learning.
Berk, Laura E. (2008).Infants, Children and Adolescents. 6 th Edition. New York: USA
Pearson Education, Inc.
Bjorkland, David F. and Carlos Hernandez Blasi. (2015). Child and Adolescent
Development: an Integrated Approach. Philippine Edition.
Friend, M., & Bursuck, W. D. (2009). Including Students with Special Needs. Boston,
MA, USA: Allyn & Bacon
Wisconsin Department of Health Services. (n.d). Retrieved from:
https://www.dhs.wisconsin.gov/clts/waiver/country/mod4-matrices.pdf
https://www.dhs.wisconsin.gov/clts/waiver/country/mod2-matrices.pdf
https://www.dhs.wisconsin.gov/clts/waiver/country/mod1-matrices.pdf
https://www.dhs.wisconsin.gov/clts/waiver/country/mod3-matrices.pdf
