Infant and Childhood Development

Question 1

What are some examples of unproblematic behaviour that can also be concerning?

Answer 1

A 2-year-old who is not distressed about separation from her mother

A 3-year-old who always does what he is told

A15-year-old who never tests the limits with his parents

Question 2

What are the different domains of development?

Answer 2

Physical Development

Cognitive Development

Social and Emotional Development

Question 3

What are the different domains of physical development?

Answer 3

Physical growth

Gross motor skills

Fine motor skills

Physical changes associated with puberty

Health/Illness

Question 4

What are the different domains of cognitive development?

Answer 4

Language

Knowledge

Memory

Reasoning

Planning

Question 5

What are Piaget’s stages of cognitive development?

Answer 5

0-2: sensorimotor - learning about the world through sensory exploration.

2-7: preoperational - Representing the world through language, symbols, internal representations of the world.

7-12: concrete operational - logical reasoning about concrete events/ideas/stimuli.

12+: formal operational - abstract and hypothetical reasoning.

Question 6

What changes during emotional development?

Answer 6

Emotion language

Emotion knowledge

Emotional recognition

Emotion regulation

Question 7

What different emotional difficulties and development exist?

Answer 7

Difficulties with feeding/sleeping/settling in infancy

Vs. depression and eating disorders in adolescence

Question 8

True or false: the same disorder may present differently at different ages?

Answer 8

True, e.g. anxiety and depression.

Question 9

What form of anxiety may present in early childhood?

Answer 9

Separation anxiety

Question 10

What form of anxiety may present in middle childhood?

Answer 10

Specific fears/phobias

Question 11

What form of anxiety may present in adolescence?

Answer 11

Social anxiety, generalised anxiety

Question 12

What form of depression may present in early childhood?

Answer 12

Tantrums, quick mood changes

Question 13

What form of depression may present in middle childhood?

Answer 13

Irritability, somatic complaints, school refusal

Question 14

What form of depression may present in adolescence?

Answer 14

Sleep and appetite disturbances, hopelessness, suicidal ideation.

Question 15

What is children’s development influenced by?

Answer 15

Risk Factors – e.g.: Poverty, Harsh or inconsistent parenting, Family violence, Single parent family, Parental mental health

Vulnerabilities – e.g.: Difficult temperament

Protective Factors - e.g.: “Easy” temperament, Positive stable relationship with an adult other than parents, High intelligence, Positive parenting

Multiple factors operate together dynamically and bi-directionally

Question 16

What comprises the transactional processes in children’s development?

Answer 16

See image

Question 17

What is a repercussion of inadequate understanding of the adjustment to illness?

Answer 17

Inadequate understanding can increase anxiety and impact on adherence

Question 18

What can childhood illness interfere with?

Answer 18

Achievement of normative developmental tasks

Question 19

What is prominent in infants and toddlers?

Answer 19

Motor and sensory exploration

Question 20

What are the limitations of infants and toddlers?

Answer 20

Limitations in verbal expression; gaps between expression and understanding

Will struggle with logical explanations

Focus on “here and now”

Limited understanding of illness;

Question 21

How is thinking in pre-schoolers?

Answer 21

Relatively literal, concrete, egocentric

Question 22

What are the developments of pre-schoolers in?

Answer 22

Independence , curiosity, language

Question 23

How is illness understood by pre-schoolers?

Answer 23

Illness understood as contagion/contamination

May attribute cause to something that co-occurred temporally

“Magical thinking” is common

“I didn’t put my seatbelt on, so we had a car crash”

“I was too naughty so Mum got sick”

Question 24

What are the developments of primary schoolers?

Answer 24

Logical thinking and abstract reasoning

Question 25

What is the primary school understanding of disease?

Answer 25

Understand causes of disease beyond contagion – e.g.: Internal causes, Body processes, Prevention of illness

Simple analogies and hypothetical examples can be understood

Question 26

What are the developments of adolescents?

Answer 26

More advanced reasoning and problem-solving skills:

• Higher-order abstract/hypothetical reasoning
• Future-oriented thinking
• Holding multiple possibilities in mind
• “Shades of grey”

Question 27

What is still developing in adolescents?

Answer 27

Regulation of emotion and behaviour

Question 28

How do adolescents understand illness?

Answer 28

• Organs and their functions
• Disease processes/mechanisms
• Role of own behaviours in causing/preventing illness
• Physical and psychological aspects of illness

Question 29

What must be considered when communicating with children?

Answer 29

• Children are not just “little adults”
• Considering developmental factors is critical in communication
• Children communicate in many different ways
• Helpful communication can promote current and future adaptation

Question 30

How do children often communicate?

Answer 30

• Non-verbally
• Younger children often will not describe feelings, fears etc. in words
• BUT they have a “language” that adults can learn to translate
• Behaviour, play, drawings, fantasy are the “words” of this language

Question 31

What are some helpful communication strategies for children?

Answer 31

• Developmentally-appropriate, unambiguous language
• Checking understanding; opportunities for questions
• Reducing threat-related language
• Honesty whilst promoting coping
• Choices (within limits)
• Use of visual aids and concrete referents