COURSE OVERVIEW:

Welcome to the Child Development & Growth Stages course. This program will equip you with the skills and knowledge to understand how children grow, learn, and change over time, and to recognise the many factors that shape their physical, cognitive, social, and emotional development. Throughout this course, you will build a structured understanding of developmental concepts so you can observe children more accurately, interpret behaviour more confidently, and support each child’s progress in an informed and responsive way.

This course begins by clarifying what is meant by child development and why each child’s developmental journey is unique. You will explore why and how development differs from child to child, including the effects of environment on development, the influence of health on growth and development, and the key factors that affect a child’s health. You will examine how a child’s position in the family can shape experiences, expectations, and opportunities, and how this interacts with the development of self-image across early childhood. This foundation will help you see development not as a fixed timetable, but as an individual pathway shaped by biology, relationships, and circumstances.

The course then examines the role of genetics and prenatal influences in shaping developmental potential and risk. You will consider how genes and chromosomes affect child development, including the effects of dominant and recessive genes, inherited diseases, genetic disorders, and chromosome disorders. You will explore the purposes of genetic counselling, the use of embryo screening for inherited diseases, and the methods used to detect disorders in unborn children, alongside the developmental implications of these findings. You will also look at identical (uniovular) and non-identical (binovular or fraternal) twins as natural examples of shared and differing genetic load, and analyse how each baby grows and develops at their own pace. This will include learning how growth is measured, how average rates of growth are determined, how questions such as “How tall will a child grow?” and “Is this height normal?” are approached, and how body proportions and leg growth change across the early years.

Attention then turns to physical and sensory development, with a focus on how sensory systems underpin learning and participation. You will examine the physical development of a child and the ways in which motor skills and body control evolve across childhood. You will explore the stages of vision development, the effects of vision impairment on child development, and common eye defects such as short sight, long sight, squint, colour blindness, and astigmatism, as well as visual impairment including blindness, and their practical impact on daily functioning. You will then consider the development of hearing, the effects of hearing impairment (deafness) on child development, and the close relationship between hearing and the development of speech and non-verbal communication. You will analyse how children learn to talk, typical patterns of speech development, barriers to communication, and the role of communication therapy in supporting children whose speech or language is delayed or disrupted.

The course then explores emotional and intellectual development, highlighting how feelings, thinking, and learning capacity are intertwined. You will study the emotional development of a child, including typical emotional milestones and the ways in which children express and regulate feelings at different ages. You will explore children’s emotional reactions to stress, the factors that affect a child’s self-esteem, and how early experiences of success, failure, and relationships contribute to self-worth. You will then examine the intellectual development of children, including key cognitive processes and problem-solving abilities, and consider practical ways to encourage intellectual development through play, conversation, exploration, and structured learning. You will also identify conditions that hinder intellectual development, explore how children learn about the world around them, and analyse the role of adults in early childhood education settings in providing responsive interactions, appropriate challenge, and safe, stimulating environments.

By the end of this course, you will be able to define child development clearly, explain why development varies between children, and describe how genetic, environmental, health, and family factors interact to shape growth. You will understand key patterns of physical, sensory, speech, emotional, and intellectual development, and recognise the signs that development is progressing typically or may be delayed or disrupted. Most importantly, you will be equipped to observe children through a developmental lens, respond thoughtfully to individual differences, and work with families and other professionals to create environments and interactions that support healthy growth, learning, and wellbeing across the early and middle years of childhood.

LEARNING OUTCOMES:

By the end of this course, you will be able to understand:

• What is meant by child development?
• Why and how each child development is different?
• The effects of environment on development
• The effects of health on growth and development
• The factors that affects a child’s health
• How the child’s position in the family affects his/ her development?
• The development of self-image
• How genes and chromosomes affects child development?
• The effects of dominant and recessive genes, inherited diseases, genetic disorders, chromosome disorders on child development
• The genetic counselling
• Embryo screening for inherited diseases
• Detecting disorders in unborn children
• Identical twins (uniovular twins) and non-identical twins (binovular or fraternal twins)
• How each baby grows and develops at his own pace?
• Measuring growth and finding the average rate of growth
• How tall will a child grow? Is the child’s height normal?
• Proportions change with growth
• The growth and development of the legs
• The physical development of a child
• The effects of vision impairment on child development
• The stages of vision development
• Eye defects; Short sight, Long sight, Squint, Colour blindness, Astigmatism
• Visual impairment; Blindness
• The development of hearing
• The effects of hearing impairment (deafness) on child development
• The development of speech and non-verbal communication
• How children learn to talk?
• Pattern of speech development
• Barriers to communication and communication therapy
• The emotional development of a child
• The child’s emotional reactions to stress
• The factors affecting the child’s self-esteem
• The intellectual development of children
• How to encourage intellectual development?
• The conditions which hinder intellectual development
• How children learn about the world around them?
• The role of adults in early childhood education settings

COURSE DURATION:

The typical duration of this course is approximately 2-3 hours to complete. Your enrolment is Valid for 12 Months. Start anytime and study at your own pace.

ASSESSMENT:

A simple 10-question true or false quiz with Unlimited Submission Attempts.

CERTIFICATION:

Upon course completion, you will receive a customised digital “Certificate of Completion”.