CHILD AND ADOLESCENT DEVELOPMENT
Chapter 1 The Child and Adolescent Learners
CHILDHOOD AND ADOLESCENCE
• Childhood is the state or time of being a child; especially the period from infancy to puberty. It is the time for
innocence, free from responsibility but vulnerable to outside forces.
• The Convention of the Rights of the Child defines a child as “every human being below the age of 18 years
unless under the law applicable to the child, majority is attained earlier”
▪Adolescence is the transitional period of psychological and social human development following the onset
of puberty during which a young person develops from a child into an adult (ages 13—19 years old).
▪It represents a complex and sometimes disturbing psychological transition, accompanying the requirement
for the accepted social behavior of the particular adult and culture.
THE RIGHTS OF CHILDREN AND YOUNG PERSONS
• Presidential Decree No. 603 - Dated December 10, 1974 provides the list of Rights of Children and Young
Persons. It aims at understanding children better and for the Filipino teacher to be more aware of the
children's rights.
• Article 3: Right of the Child - All children shall be entitled to the rights herein set forth without distinction as
to legitimacy or illegitimacy, sex, social status, religion, political antecedents, and other factors.
•The Children Act of 1989 is a legislative measure aimed as a central pillar of law and policy regarding children.
• The Article 3 of Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) states that the Philippines is obligated
to give primary consideration on the best interest of the child, being the state party of the CRC.
•The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child 1989 (UNCRC) is the most widely ratified
international human rights treaty in its entire existence. It was adopted by the General Assembly on November
20, 1989 and ratified by the United Kingdom in 1991.
Chapter 2: Physical and Motor Development of Children and Adolescents
DEVELOPMENT
• Development - means the progressive series of changes of an orderly, coherent type toward the goal of
maturity.
• Development is progressive (refers to changes that are directional, leading forward) as well as orderly and
coherent (there is a definite relationship between each stage and the next stage in the developmental
sequence).
• There are three aspects of development: Anatomic Physiologic and Behavioral.
Two Principles of Development
Infants need to learn how to move and to use their bodies to perform various tasks, a process better known as
motor development.
1) Phylogenetic Principle - States that development follows an orderly sequence which is predictable and is
true to all members of a certain race.
2) Ontogenetic Principle - The rate of development is unique to every individual. It is brought about by one's
hereditary as well as environmental influences.
Predictable Trends of Development
1) Cephalocaudal Trend - development proceeds from head to foot direction.
2) Proximodistal Trend the parts of the body nearest the center are the parts which develop earlier.
Causes of Development
1) Maturation - the development or unfolding of traits potentially present in the individual from his heredity
endowment.
2) Learning - The result of the activities of the child himself.
Eight Stages of Development
1) Pre-natal Stage - From conception (when the ovum is fertilized by the spermatozoon producing a zygote or
fertilized egg) to the time of birth.
2) Infancy or Babyhood - (0-2 years old) Foundation age when basic behavior patterns are organized and many
ontogenetic skills emerge.
3) Early Childhood - (2-6 years old) Characterized as pre-gang, exploratory and questioning age. Language and
elementary reasoning are acquired and initial socialization is experienced. EED 1112 Eight Stages of
Development
4) Late Childhood - (6-12 years old) Gang age, age of creativity, development of social, self-help, play and
school skill.
5) Adolescence - (13-19 years old) Transition age from childhood to adulthood when sex maturation and rapid
physical development occurs resulting to changes in way of feeling, thinking and acting.
6) Early Adulthood -(19-40 years old) Age of adjustment to new patterns of life and new roles such as spouse,
parent and bread winner.
7) Middle Age - (40-retirement years) Transition age when adjust to initial physical and mental decline are
experienced.
8) Old Age - (Retirement-death) Increasing rapid physical and mental decline. Psychological as well as physical
illnesses are experienced.
Infants' Reflexes
1) The sucking reflex allows babies to drink milk and nourish themselves in the days of life.
2) Another permanent life-supporting reflex is head turning. This reflex allows a baby to turn his head if
something (a (abla blanket, pillow, or stuffed animal) is blocking his airflow.
3) Another reflex that also babies survive is the rooting reflex. When babies root, they may nuzzle their face
and mouth into the caregiver's chest or shoulder.
4) For the first 3 to 4 months, babies have a grasping reflex. They will grasp anything place in their palm and
hold it with amazing strength for their size.
5) The Moro response is another reflex that is present during the first 6 months of life. A baby with arch her
back, flail out, and then curl up if she feels as although she is being dropped.
6) The Tonic Neck occurs when babies lie awake on their backs with their heads facing to one side, they will
extend the arm on the side of their body that they're facing. This reflex may help prepare them for voluntary
reaching later in their environment.
Adolescents' Changes
• Puberty physical differences that differentiate males and females. These are either primary changes (changes
in reproductive system itself) or secondary changes (like changes in the person's breasts in females or growth
of facial hair for males).
• Spermarche - first ejaculation of semen for men.
• Menarche- beginning of menstrual cycle for Menarche women.
Brain Development
*The brain's ability to change from experience is known as plasticity. The human brain is especially plastic
early in life, which is why the "nurture" part of the equation is so important.
*As a child's brain develops, it goes through several critical periods, as developmental phase in which the brain
requires certain environmental input or it will not develop normally.
Factors Affecting Development
1) Maternal Nutrition the nutritional status of the women during adolescent pregnancy and lactation has a
direct impact on the child's health and development.
2) Child Nutrition the Child's state of nutritional balance is crucial in his early developmental age.
3) Early Sensory Stimulation Toys, soothing sounds and other sensorial stimulation contribute to the child's
development.
Factors Affecting Growth
1) Genetic History
2) Nutrition
3) Medical Conditions
4) Exercise
5) Sleep
6) Emotional Well-Being
EXCEPTIONAL DEVELOPMENT
* Physical Disabilities - Persons with physical -Physical disabilities may experience functional, visual,
orthopedic, motor, or hearing impairments, which may impact upon their ability to walk, play and learn.
*Physical disabilities are also often defined and categorized by some degree of limitation in the use of upper or
lower extremities and maintaining posture and positioning.
EXCEPTIONAL DEVELOPMENT
* Sensory Impairment - Persons with physical disabilities may experience mild to severe deficiencies of the
sensory organs, particularly on sight and hearing.
Sensory Impairments Classes (For Sight 1)
1) Visual Impairment any visual problem that calls for specific modification. It may include visual acuity
problems such as: reduced visual acuity (poor sight), amblyopia (lazy eye), hyperopia (farsightedness),
myopia (nearsightedness) and astigmatism (imperfect vision).
2) Blindness - the inability of a person to see anything.
Sensory Impairments Classes (For Hearing)
1) According to Onset: congenitally (those born deaf) and adventitiously (became deaf due to accident or
illness).
2) According to Language Development: prelingually (lost hearing before language is developed) and
postlingually (lost hearing after language is developed).
3) According to place of Impairment: conducive (impaired outer ear hearing), sensory neural (impaired inner
ear hearing) and mixed (flat loss of hearing).
Exceptional Development –
• Learning Disability Refers to disorders that affect broad range of academics and functional skills, including
inability to listen well, speak, process information re readily, talk, read, write, spell, add numbers, reason, and
organize information.
Sensory Integration
•Refers to the ability of the individual to process and makes use of the information in the process. It depends
on three conditions:
1) Normal Intelligence refers to child performance at above normal range using non-verbal measures which
include language concepts.
2) Academic Achievement Deficit condition where the child shows academic achievement deficit in at least
one subject.
3) Absence of other handicapping condition (exclusion criteria) - there must be no manifestation of
impairment, retardation, and and cultural neglect.
Different Types of Learning Disabilities
1) Dyslexia Reading
2) Dysgraphia - Writing
3) Visual Agnosia – Sight
4) Motor Aphasia Speaking
5) Dysarthria Stuttering
6) Auditory Agnosia Hearing
7) Olfactory Agnosia Smelling
8) Dyscalculia – Math
Exceptional Development
• Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD) - is a neurodevelopmental mental disorder that makes it
difficult for a person to pay attention and control impulsive behaviors. He or she may also be restless and
almost constantly active.
• Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) - this disorder is like ADHD symptoms but in this disorder is absence of
being hyperactive.
