Physical growth development

Physical development can be divided into two areas.

Growth and development.

Growth and development are intrinsically linked.

The development of physical skills is dependent on their growth for example the size of their muscles in order for development and improvement of skills to successfully occur.

The Physical growth starting in infancy and continues into late adolescence. From birth to 12 years a child grows rapidly.

This is the physical changes such as changes in a child’s weight, height etc.

Physical development generally follows a sequential pattern. The actual age of the child may vary but the pattern sequence generally remains consistent.

Physical development is developing control over the body.

It focuses on the child’s increasing control and refinement of their movement activities and sensory development.

When babies are born they move in a reflexive manner and they have no control over this.

The physical skills children grow and develop such as crawling, walking, etc all form part of their physical growth development and milestones and can be attributed to a prescribed pattern of growth.

The progression from a reflexive manner to more defined physical growth starts and occurs in a prescribed way.

• Cephalocaudal: Means from head to toe. When a baby is born their head is relatively large for their body and the rest of their body eventually catches up.
• Proximodistal: Refers to the growth from the inside out. From the centre or the core in an outwards direction.The infant learns to raise its head and then the shoulders and so on in their motor development.
• Physical development: (from an observation point of view) encompasses both the large and small muscle development known as gross and fine motor.
• Gross motor: is the development of the large muscles. It includes hopping, skipping, jumping, running, etc.
• Fine motor: involves all the development of the small muscles. It includes developing the skills to use scissors, draw and write, do puzzles, thread, etc.