COURSE OVERVIEW:

Child development refers to the sequence of physical, language, thought and emotional changes that occur in a child from birth to the beginning of adulthood. During this process a child progresses from dependency on their parents/guardians to increasing independence. Child development is strongly influenced by genetic factors (genes passed on from their parents) and events during prenatal life. It is also influenced by environmental facts and the child’s learning capacity. 

No two children are exactly alike, and each can be recognised as an individual with his or her own unique appearance and character (personality). The way a child grows and develops depends on three main factors:

• the genes inherited from the parents
• the environment in which the child grows up
• the child’s health.

Each child differs from all others because each (except identical twins) has a different set of genes, each has a different environment, and each has a different health record. From the moment of conception onwards, these factors interact continuously to produce a person who is unlike anyone else.

Identical twins have identical genes. Nevertheless, they will develop differently because the environmental factors will differ. For example, they will be in different positions in the womb and are likely to have different birth-weights; they will have different friends, different accidents and illnesses, and so on.

This course explains the different aspects of child development including the physical development, the development of vision, hearing and speech. In addition to the social and emotional development of children, then discusses the intellectual development of children.

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.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS:

You must have access to a computer or any mobile device with Adobe Acrobat Reader (free PDF Viewer) installed, to complete this course.

COURSE DELIVERY:

Purchase and download course content.

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”.