Early Childhood Care and Education Module 02

PRINCIPLES OF GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT AND

INTERRELATEDNESS OF THE DOMAINS OF DEVELOPMENT

2.1 INTRODUCTION
Have you heard your grandmother and even your mother saying when the
child is supposed to lie prone on his chest, crawl with four legs, walk without support,
speak words etc.?
Have you ever wondered why does a child who holds a ball with two hands is
not able to grasp an object appropriately with one hand and a child who can grasp
an object cannot hold a crayon and rightly scribble on a paper?
Have you ever asked yourself why do I change rapidly or else why am I not
like my friend? This module would answer all of these questions.
The human life starts with a pin-sized fertilised cell, which is then nurtured in
the mother's womb for nine months and delivered to face the outside world. After
birth the baby is under constant interaction with the environment, comprising of
changes in size and weight called as growth and qualitative changes n the
intellectual and psycho-social arenas referred to as development.
Though the process of growth and development is continuous, rapid and
significant, development is said to be rapid and tricky in the first few years of life.
Knowledge of the pattern and trends of the growth and development need to be well
comprehended by a caretaker or a teacher (supposed to be a facilitator) to know
what to expect from them, how to guide them, and how to enrich their environment to
provide optimum development.

2.2 LEARNING OUTCOMES

At the completion of the module, the learner would be able to
 Understand the concept and differentiate the terms growth and development
 Describe the principles of growth and development and apply the same to
understanding the process of early care and early learning
 Identify the significant domains of development and recognise its
interrelatedness in the development of young children

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2.3 GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT

The two terms growth and development in general sounds as synonymous
terms, but in the field of education, the terms are entirely different. But it has to be
realised that the two terms are related to one another. Let us have a look at the
definition of these terms
2.3.1 Growth
Growth is defined as the progressive increase in the size of the body or body
parts of a child. It is the process by which the body reaches its point of complete
physical growth - growth from the fertilised egg at the time of conception to the fully
grown body of the adult.
2.3.2 Development
The term development refers to the progressive series of orderly and coherent
acquisition of various abilities. It is the gradual process of change and differentiation
from a simple to a more advanced level of complexity. Thereby development leads to
maturity.
The term progressive signifies that the changes are directional that lead
forward rather than backward. The term orderly and coherent suggest that there is a
clear relationship between the changes taking place and that precede or follow
These definitions indicate that the concept of growth and development is
separate, but they are simultaneous and interdependent processes. For example,
stunting growth may often result in deficits in development.
2.3.3 Difference between growth and development
The definitions of growth and development seem to be complex to
understand. But the following points on the difference between the two terms would
give you clarity in understanding.
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT
S.NO GROWTH DEVELOPMENT

1 Denotes structural and physical Refers to growth and scope of

changes within the body of the physical and mental progress a
individual right from conception to the person is capable of achieving
adult period
2 Refers to increase in body size, Refers to overall changes in shape,
length, height, weight etc. form or structure resulting in the

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improved acquisition of skills

3 Indicative by nature Not indicative of nature
4 Denotes quantitative changes Denotes qualitative changes
5 Occurs externally and stops at certain Occurs internally and never stops
stage and it is a continuous process
6 Quantifies physical progress Quantifies cognitive, emotional and
social (overall psychological
process)

2.3.4 Factors affecting growth and development

The growth and development of a child depend on two major factors namely
genetic and environmental influences. The potential and limitations of a child's
growth and development though determined by genetic factors, the environment aids
in the achievement of the so-called genetic potential. Hence it should be realised that
the genetic factors though beyond alterations, the environmental factors could be
minimised or maximised in tune with the genetic potential.
Some of the favourable environmental factors are adequate nutrition,
emotional support by means of adequate love, security, recognition, independence
and overall acceptance of an individual, adequate play and effective language
training.
Needless to mention, few of the unfavourable environmental factors are
malnutrition, infections, hormonal imbalances, disability, lack of love, care, affection,
improper play behaviour etc.
2.3.5 Measuring growth and development
The following subsection just lists the ways of measuring growth and
development
2.3.5.1 Measuring growth
As growth is a quantitative measure, it is measured using
 Height
 Weight
 Head circumference
 Mid-upper arm circumference
 Teeth eruption

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2.3.5.2 Measuring Development

Development is measured only by two ways as it is a qualitative measure.
They are
 Developmental milestones – The skills that a child should acquire within a
stipulated period are called developmental milestones
 Developmental Tasks – this word is coined by Havighurst, who defines that
specific tasks should be accomplished by every individual within a span of
time in their life and the success in achieving those tasks would lead to
success and happiness, whereas failure leads to difficulty in accomplishing
further tasks and ultimately unhappiness.

2.4 PRINCIPLES GUIDING GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT

To understand how growth and development occur in a child and to know the
dimensions of it, it is important to be on familiar terms with the principles guiding the
same. The ten principles that underlie the process of growth and development are
explained below.
2.4.1 The process of development is both continuous and discontinuous
The process of development starts at the time of conception and proceeds
either at a slower or a rapid rate till the organism matures. Development is a non-
stop process. Specific acquisition of features or skills could be seen as a sudden
process, and certain others develop gradually. For example, the appearance of the
first tooth occurs rapidly and overtly visible whereas the speech of a child starts with
the birth cry and progressively develops into cooing, babbling, one word and then
two-word utterance and later complete sentences. This principle also emphasises
that the development at a particular stage serves as a facilitator for development in
the other stage.
2.4.2 Developmental changes are predictable as it follows a certain sequence
and specific pattern
In general, the development proceeds in two directions as explained below
a. ‘Head to toe’ - The development proceeding from head to toe is called the
cephalocaudal pattern of growth, wherein the development starts to form the
upper portions of the body and proceed towards the lower ends. For example,
the structure and function of the head are complete before the trunk region

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and the last one to develop is the leg area. This is the reason why a child
learns to sit before he/she walks
b. ‘Near to far’ - The development proceeding from the centre of the body
towards the extremities on both sides is called the proximodistal pattern of
growth, wherein the trunk region is relatively well developed and proceeds
towards the arm and then hands and fingers. For example, babies can use
their arms before their hands
An orderly, systematic and progressive pattern of development occurs at
every stage. The developmental change progresses from simple to complex levels of
functioning and at the same time proceeds from general to specific areas. For
example, all children first learn to sit before starting to crawl or stand and could draw
a circle before a square.

2.4.3 Development proceeds from general to specific responses

While carefully observing a child's activity, one could realise that general
activity precedes specific activity. In other words, during the early days, the response
of a baby is general and slowly gets replaced with a specific response. This pattern
could be observed in all domains of development
For example, the emotion of a newborn is observed to be only a diffused form
of excitement that gets differentiated into various specific emotional expressions day
by day.

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It is this principle that explains the fact that every child’s uncoordinated and random
movements or responses get replaced by well coordinated and specific movement or
response.
2.4.4 Development involves change
As the definition of development states that it is a process of progressive
series of orderly coherent changes, development is not a static process; it involves
progressive series of change from the time of conception to the entire lifespan.
Growth refers to quantitative and indicative changes, whereas development involves
qualitative and non-indicative changes. In total, these changes happen in body size,
proportion, the disappearance of old features and acquisition of new features.
2.4.5 Development is a product of the interaction between heredity and
environment
Development occurs as an interactive effect of both the genetic and the
environmental factors. The question of which factor influences the most is still
unanswered, and researches have proved that both the factors influence the process
of growth and development equally and work hand in hand.
Hereditary potentials continue to develop for months and even years and
influence the development of the child which we call as maturation. But the learning
part depends on the environment the child is exposed to. For example, the ability to
vocalise and the capacity to produce clear sounds are the genetic potentials. But the
language a child speaks is the result of learning through the environment that the
child is exposed to. Hence the process of maturation (hereditary potentials) and the
learning (environment influence) are interrelated and interdependent.
2.4.6 Development involves considerable individual differences
Every child is said to be unique in the rate of developmental changes, though
the pattern of development is the same for all children. The individual differences are
owed to the unique combination of environmental and genetic factors of that
particular child. Hence it is not ideal to expect any two children of same age to
develop or behave similarly. For example, though the developmental milestones
state that on an average, children could speak three-word sentences by three years
of age, some children could master it even before while some other with great
difficulty could accomplish this milestone only during the 4th birthday.

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2.4.7 Development occurs as an interactive product of maturation and learning

Maturation is defined as the ability to unfold skills that are potentially present
in the individual and that come from the individual’s genetic endowment. Maturation
is seen in both phylogenetic and ontogenetic functions.
Phylogenetic functions - They are skills common to race. For example, crawling,
sitting walking etc.
Ontogenetic functions – They are skills that are specific to an individual. For
example swimming, riding bicycle, writing etc.
Havighurst has referred to this maturational readiness as the ‘teachable
moment’, as the child cannot learn until they are developmentally ready.
Learning is the development that comes from exercise and effort, but
competence may be acquired by hereditary resources. Learning takes place due to
imitation, training or experiences and later gets manifested itself in behaviour. Hence
it should be understood that maturation is only a raw potential which has to be fed
with the learning experience to develop to its fullest form
For example, every child has got an inert potential to write which gets
unfolded at a point of time, but identifying his readiness for the skill and providing
learning opportunities is very important to develop the skill of writing in him
2.4.8 Early development is more critical than later development
The famous saying ‘the childhood shows the man, as morning shows the day'
explains this principle of development. Any maladjustment in a person could be
traced to unfavourable child experiences. Appropriate childhood family structure,
enhanced environmental stimulation, well balanced emotional state, ideal child-
rearing practices are some of the conditions that affect early development positively
and thereby better adulthood.
2.4.9 Developmental changes are multi-dimensional
In other words, the process of development is said to be interrelated within the
three major domains namely physical, emotional, social and cognitive. All domains
may develop at the same pace or at different rates but influence each other. For
example, the physical development is found to be rapid at one stage of life than in
the other, wherein the other domain’s pattern of changes is just the opposite but do
influence the overall development.

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2.4.10 Development is highly plastic or flexible

Development is said to be flexible because of the fact that a particular child
who underwent a slow pace of development in a particular area might show
tremendous improvement in that area when provided the right exposure and
enriched environment.

2.5 DOMAINS OF CHILD DEVELOPMENT

To address the five major goals of the field of child development and to
make the vast interdisciplinary field into smaller bytes for convenience and
comprehensive understanding, the field of child development is categorized into
three major domains namely Physical, Psycho-social, and Cognitive domains. The
major domains and its related sub domains are illustrated below.

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2.5.1 Interrelatedness of the domains of development

It is important to consider each domain in the study of development

because all three of them are factors in the child’s growth and how they are
interrelated. They are all linked together, and one helps lead to the other. Any child
born in this world use his/her brain to help in moving his/her body and function in
their day to day life. It starts at infancy and proceeds to old age. Hence human
beings are always growing, learning and changing. An example of how one domain
of development impacts the other would be the physical development of a child who
grows up looking a certain way that doesn't fit in, they can be picked on or made fun
of by other kids. This will have a play on their socio-emotional, they may think less of
themselves and affect who they are. This could also affect their physical
development in many ways. They could become depressed, and this could cause
issues in the body and health. Depression can cause one to be physically ill, tired all
the time, loss of appetite, a complete shutdown of the body.

One more example to show the interrelatedness of the domains of

development is that writing words require fine motor skills with better coordination –
part of physical development. However, writing also requires language acquisition –
a part of cognitive development. Later the language skill influences the way a child
can communicate with others – a part of psycho-social development. Hence all the
three major domains of development gets related and intertwined with each other.

Physical
Cognitive

Socio-
emotional

CHILD DEVELOPMENT

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2.6 CONCLUSION

Towards the end of this module, each one of you would have learnt the
concept of growth and development, its relationship and the basic principles guiding
the same. By learning these principles, it could be readily realized that the
development is a systematic, orderly, progressive, multi-dimensional, multi-
dimensional, plastic and contextual. Also, the principles of growth and development
hopefully would have made you realise why and how children change from one
stage to the other and why a caretaker should equip herself in providing a conducive
and enriched environment for the holistic development of children. The module had
also made you realise the domains and its sub-areas of development and how does
one domain of development influence the development of other domains.

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