-
1 BCE
Milestone 1 - Physical Development
Children at this stage will gain muscle and strength and slim down. They will gain about 5 to 7 lbs per year and grow roughly 2 inches a year. Increased lung capacity makes more strenuous activities possible. Their prefrontal cortex continues to mature and their attention span lengthens. A healthy diet combined with regular physical activity can prevent childhood obesity and form positive habits. -
2
Milestone 2 - Cognitive Development
From ages 7 to 11, the child is in the concrete operational stage and is able to think more logically. The child can use logical principles to solve problems and has a more firm grasp on concepts such as size, depth, distance, and cause and effect. These children also assume the world reflects their own personal experiences, for example if their own grandmother is mean or unloving, they may assume that all grandmothers are the same. -
3
Milestone 3 - Social/Emotional
Children at this stage have more realistic self-concept and a greater understanding of their own strengths and weaknesses. Between the ages of 8 and 12, children show more concern for their self image, and negative experiences such as bullying or abuse at home and cause serious damage to their emotional health that may last through adulthood. Other factors such as family distress or divorce can also open up many challenges that children may not be equipped for. -
4
Milestone 4 - Language Development
By 5th grade, a child knows about 40,000 words, can more easily understand new words, and show flexibility in learning new grammar rules. As their experiences and vocabularies grow, they develop new schema and can classify or define objects in broader ways, such as the word "ball" which could have many meanings.