{"id":67,"date":"2024-10-15T15:15:20","date_gmt":"2024-10-15T15:15:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ccconline.org\/ppscece1011introtoearlychildhoodeducation\/chapter\/67\/"},"modified":"2025-06-12T16:43:05","modified_gmt":"2025-06-12T16:43:05","slug":"67","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ccconline.org\/ppscece1011introtoearlychildhoodeducation\/chapter\/67\/","title":{"raw":"Developmental Milestones and Domains","rendered":"Developmental Milestones and Domains"},"content":{"raw":"
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Topical Outline<\/strong><\/p>\r\n<\/td>\r\n

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Colorado Standard Competencies<\/strong><\/p>\r\n<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n

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Developmental domains and milestones (Ages 0-8)<\/p>\r\n\r\n

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  • Physical<\/li>\r\n \t
  • Cognitive<\/li>\r\n \t
  • Emotional<\/li>\r\n \t
  • Language<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/td>\r\n
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Identify developmental milestones for children ages birth through age 8 years in each developmental domain<\/p>\r\n

Defining developmentally appropriate practices for programs serving young children<\/p>\r\n<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<\/tbody>\r\n<\/table>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
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Vocabula<\/strong>ry<\/strong><\/p>\r\n

Standard Competency:<\/p>\r\n

Explain basic early childhood and early childhood special education terminology<\/p>\r\n<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n

Cognitive-Language Development<\/strong> \u2013 Speaks to how we process information, curiosity, long\/short-term memory, problem solving, critical thinking, and creativity\r\n\r\nMilestones<\/strong> \u2013 Signs of development that emerge over time forming building block for growth\r\n

Physical Development<\/strong> - Includes gross motor, fine motor, and perceptual motor development<\/p>\r\n

Social-Emotional Development<\/strong> \u2013 The relationships that children have with themselves and others<\/p>\r\n

Spiritual Development<\/strong> \u2013 Our way of connecting ourselves with others<\/p>\r\n<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<\/tbody>\r\n<\/table>\r\n

Introduction<\/h2>\r\nThis chapter examines the child as a whole or what we commonly refer to in Early Childhood Education \u2013 \u201cthe whole child.\u201d The whole child refers to and addresses all areas or domains of the child \u2013 physical, cognitive, language, social-emotional, and spiritual. These domains of development are both collective and individual. Children have similar characteristics at different developmental ages, but they also are individuals with their own \u201cmeness\u201d that is important for us to consider when supporting all children in our early learning programs.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
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Reflection<\/strong><\/p>\r\n

When you think about children, what images emerge for you? How do you see them? What are some words that you may use to identify them?<\/p>\r\n

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The Whole Child<\/h2>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_218\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"217\"]\"Child Fig 3.1 Photo by Cottonbro Studios on Pexels<\/a>.[\/caption]\r\n\r\nWhen thinking about children, what comes to your mind? Is it the way they engage with you? Is it their sense of adventure? Is it watching them try to climb a ladder? Is it trying to figure out what they may be thinking about when they have a certain look on their faces that they are not yet able to articulate? Is it their obvious curiosity and imagination? This is how we begin to think of the child as a whole, complex being. An integrated, interrelated series of parts that become the \u201cwhole.\u201d\r\n\r\nIn the field of Early Childhood Education, we identify these areas of development as domains. These domains (areas) are as follows:\r\n

Physical Development<\/h2>\r\nPhysical or physical motor development includes their large or gross motor development, their fine motor development, and their perceptual-motor development. The large or gross motor development of children consists of their large motor groups \u2013 running, jumping, skipping, swinging with their arms \u2013 in other words, the muscle groups that are closer to the body. The fine motor development of children consists of the small motor groups, like writing with their hands, squishing sand in-between their toes \u2013 muscle groups that are further away from the body. The last area of physical development is the perceptual-motor \u2013 their ability to catch a ball, to use a paintbrush and paint to create something from their memory \u2013 in other words, it refers to a child\u2019s developing ability to interact with their environment by combining the use of the senses and motor skills.\r\n\r\nThe first few years of life is dedicated to the heightened development of these skills. In the first year of life, they go from barely being able to hold their head up to walking upright. As many of you taking this course have varied experiences with children, this may be a refresher, but for some of you, this may be new information. It is crucial to the development of children, that they have many opportunities to use their bodies as their body is developing new pathways for success. In an early learning environment serving children from 0 \u2013 5, there should be ample space and materials for children to explore and practice their emerging physical skills. This includes allowing them to take risks with their bodies allowing them to explore the possibilities. These risks afford children opportunities to feel that they are capable as well as gives them a sense of agency.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_219\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"470\"]\"Woman Fig 3.2 Photo by Oleksandr P. on Pexels<\/a>.[\/caption]\r\n

Cognitive-Language Development<\/h2>\r\nCognitive or brain development speaks to how we process information, our curiosity\/imagination, long and short-term memory, problem-solving, critical thinking, language both receptive and expressive, beginning reading, computing skills, creativity, etc. In other words, this is how our brain develops to help us to think about and understand the world around us.\r\n\r\nWe often place much emphasis on this area of development to the determent of the other areas of development. They all work in concert. When thinking about developing the \u201cwhole child\u201d we need to be mindful of providing experiences that promote all of their development, not just their cognitive development.\r\n\r\nAs with the other areas\/domains of development, the first 5 years of life are important in establishing the foundation for learning. This includes providing lots of rich experiences for exploration, curiosity, imagination, use of materials and equipment (that also fosters physical development), opportunities for talking (even with pre-verbal babies), etc.\r\n

Social-Emotional Development<\/h2>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_220\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"187\"]\"Toddler Fig 3.3 Photo by Anna Shvets on Pexels<\/a>.[\/caption]\r\n\r\nSocial-emotional development is the relationship that children have with themselves and others, the way they feel about themselves or their self-concept, the way they value themselves or their self-esteem, and the ability to express their feelings to themselves and others.\r\n\r\nOne of the important dispositions of being an early childhood professional is supporting children\u2019s well-being. It is both a moral and ethical responsibility. By nature, children are trusting and look to the adults in their world to provide them with the necessary skills to be successful in their life\u2019s journey. We can either elevate or diminish a child.\r\n

Spiritual Development<\/h2>\r\nSpiritual development, or considering the \u201cspirit\u201d of the child, is something that is a more recent addition to thinking about \u201cwhole child\u201d development. In a recent article entitled Supporting Spiritual Development in the Early Childhood Classroom <\/em>by Amelia Richardson Dress, she cites emerging research that indicates the importance of considering this element of a child. \u201cSpirit is the thing that makes us. Spirituality is the way we connect our \u2018inner us\u2019 to everything else, including other people\u2019s inner 'usness'. Our spiritual development is a part of our social-emotional development; however, we find it important to call this out specifically to guide our practice of supporting and elevating children\u2019s uniqueness. Curriculum that is based on children\u2019s interests, engages their curiosity, is playful, and provides trust, elevates how children see themselves as dynamic, competent human beings. Simply by providing rich, open-ended materials and encouraging their natural desire to ask questions, we support a child\u2019s sense of wonder.\r\n

Developmental Ages and Stages<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
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Reflection<\/strong><\/p>\r\n

What do you know about the various ages and stages of child development? What interests you in working with children? Do you have a particular age group that brings you more joy? What do you know about that age group?<\/p>\r\n<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<\/tbody>\r\n<\/table>\r\nIdentification of the common characteristics of children at various developmental ages has been around for quite some time. Gesell conducted research to identify some of these common characteristics of each developmental age. This resulted in a series of published books that provide a comprehensive look at those developmental ages. Parents as well as early childhood professionals have found these helpful to understand how to relate to and interact with children as we socialize and educate them in our homes and our schools\r\n\r\nOther theories have used these to define how to interact with children, what to expect from children, and how a child\u2019s brain develops. For early childhood professionals, theories help us to set up our curriculum, our environments, our expectations, and build meaningful and engaging relationships with children to support the \u201cwhole child.\u201d\r\n\r\nThe following accordion drop-down charts provide an overview of these developmental ages and stages (aka milestones). It is important to note that using these age-level charts require discretion. While they help to define \u201ctypical\u201d development, children also are unique in their developmental progress. We use them as guidelines to help inform our practice with young children.\r\n

We must always remember:<\/p>\r\n\r\n