Early Childhood Development 101

Child development may be defined as the various changes that occur for humans (e.g., physical, cognitive, social, and emotional) between birth and adulthood.  Child development may also examine changes that occur prenatally (i.e. before birth).  The changes that happen before birth and in the early years of life impact us all and shape who we become as adults.  Early child development often focuses on the first five years of life.

Child development is a multidisciplinary field which relies on knowledge from several other fields such as psychology, sociology, human development, and the medical field.  The study of child development is important to improve outcomes for children and in turn, society as a whole.  The following course provides key knowledge of this field.  Each lesson includes and introduction, a lesson which contains the major aspects of each topic area, a conclusion section which summarizes the lesson, and a quiz on the lesson.  Some lessons also contain helpful online resources for learning more about early childhood development.  After taking this course, a person should be familiar with the basics of the field of child development, the four key domains of child development, developmental milestones, and development disabilities.  

What is child development? 

Child development may be defined as the various changes that occur for humans -- physical, cognitive, social, and emotional -- between birth and adulthood. Child development may also examine changes that occur prenatally (before birth). The changes that happen before birth and in the early years of life impact us all and shape who we become as adults. Early child development often focuses on the first five years of life. 

The study of child development is often broken down into major domains of development. These include physical, cognitive and social-emotional development. In addition, language/literacy development and identity development are often studied within child development. The chart below summarizes each of these domains.

Why does child development matter?

The main reason that child development is a field of study is to improve child outcomes. There are many uses for the knowledge generated from the study of child development. For one, child development knowledge can be used to inform parenting practices and optimize outcomes for individual children. For example, the study of infants generates knowledge to help parents learn what to expect during their child's first year of life and interpret infant behaviors, like crying and eye-gazing. Understanding a baby's behaviors helps parents better meet the needs of their children and improves outcomes for children.

Another use of the knowledge generated from the study of child development is to inform the practices used by child care professionals, such as child care providers, teachers, social workers, child psychologists, and pediatric doctors and nurses. For example, child development studies help define the normative physical changes that should occur for children, which enables medical and mental health professionals to detect the presence of development disabilities and disorders, like autism. 

The knowledge generated from the study of child development is also used to inform public policy. Policies that affect children may operate on the micro level (e.g., local community regulations) or on the macro level (e.g., federal legislation). For example, in the U.S., federal law makers have used the results of child development studies to shape educational programs.

Child development is studied using major theories of the broader field of human development and scientific research, which are guided by these theories. The concept of "nature versus nurture," which refers to the idea that all humans are influenced by both nature-based factors (e.g., genetics) and nurture-based factors (e.g., home environment in which one is raised), is one that underlies the study of child development. The theories used in child development all vary in the degree to which they emphasize heredity versus environmental influences.