Child development

• What is child development?

  Process by which each child evolves from helpless infancy to independent adulthood
• What are the 4 main domains of child development?

  Gross and fine motor skills

  Speech and language

  Social and personal activities of daily living

  Performance and cognition
• Why is child development important?

  Reflects neurological maturation
• When does fetal brain development start?

  4th week of gestation
• What are some questions related to pregnancy to ask during a history?


  Smoking

  Drinking

  Drugs

  Medication
• What are some gross motor development skills?


  Sitting

  Rolling

  Crawling

  Standing

  Walking

  Climbing

  Running
• What are some fine motor development skills?


  Reaching

  Playing with hands and feet

  Using both hands

  Palmar grasp

  Pencil holding

  Drawing
• What are some speech and language development skills?

  Expressive: Cooing, babbling etc

  Receptive: Single words, 1 and 2 level instructions etc
• What are some social, emotional and behavioural developmental skills?


  Sleeping

  Drinking

  Eating

  Interest in others

  playing with others
• What are some factors that influence development?

  Genetics

  Environment
• Bow legs in a child < 3 is a normal variant and usually resolves by the age of 4 years