STAGES OF Human

development
PREPARED BY:
RUSSEL J. APORBO
FOUR STAGES OF HUMAN
DEVELOPMENT
In these lessons, you will become familiar with the four key periods
of growth and human development:
 Infancy (birth to 2 years old), 
Early childhood (3 to 5 years old),
 Middle childhood (6 to 12 years old), and 
Adolescence (13 to 18 years old)
These stages do not happen at exactly the same age
for everyone.
For example, one child may walk at one year of age,
while another may still be crawling at one.
 For the purpose of this lesson we will look at the
characteristics of the first four stages of development.
 
 Infancy (birth to 2 years)
This is a stage of tremendous growth.
An infant usually doubles in height and increase their
weight four times.
The bodily proportions change from the head being
about one quarter of the body’s length to a more
balanced adult-like appearance.
They will begin learning gross motor skills such as
sitting, crawling, walking, and toilet training, holding a
spoon and scribbling.
Infants understand their world through their senses
such as touching, tasting, listening, seeing and smelling.
 Their knowledge is based on physical actions and their
understanding is contained to the present or immediate
past.
If the infant is loved and well-handled, they will develop
trust, security and optimism.
Early Childhood (3 to 5 years)

This is a time of continued rapid physical

growth, fine-motor (small muscle) and gross-
motor (large muscle) development.
The dependent infant now grows into a
young child who can take care of his or her
own body and interact effectively with others.
he main development task of this stage is
skill development.
 Physical Development

At three years of age the child’s level of activity is at a

higher level than any other stage of their life.
They can walk and run. This makes them very curious as
they want to run and touch everything.
Between ages 3 – 6 years, the child begins to develop
their fine-motor skills (using small muscles), such as
controlling pencils, crayons and scissors for beginning
writing and drawing skills.
Their gross motor skills (using large muscles) are also
developing as they learn to skip. Balance on one foot,
climb and dance.
 

Cognitive Development

The child’s cognitive (thinking) development is rapid

during early childhood years because they are acquiring
more language skills.
By the age of five, a child’s vocabulary will grow to
approximately 1,500 words.
Five year olds are also able to use five to seven-word
sentences when they are speaking. 
Language is an important tool to enhance cognitive
development. The child can communicate with others and
solve problems. They have words for things they have
experienced.
Socio-emotional Development

The healthy developing child in early childhood, learns:

1. To imagine and to broaden his or her skills through
active play,
2. To cooperate with others and
3. To lead as well as to follow
Play is very important for children at this stage because it
enables them to use their developing language,
thinking and social skills and contribute to their
general personality development.
From ages three to five, growth in socio-emotional
skills includes:

The formation of peer relationships – friendship

groups, dance groups, pre-school and school
classmates
Gender identification – aware of male and female
differences and
The development of a sense of right and wrong –
moral development
Middle childhood (6 to 12 years)

oThis is the stage when children learn the ‘values’ of their culture. T

oThe developmental task of this stage could be called integration when

the child is integrating their own development as well as integrating
themselves into the wider social context (or cultural community).

oIt is an important stage for the development of the cognitive skills,

personality, motivation and inter-personal relationships.

oMotivation is the inner desire for actions towards achieving a goal. It

gives purpose and direction to behavior.
Physical Development

The physical growth and development during

middle childhood is slower than the early
childhood or adolescence stages.
Growth is slow and steady until the beginning of
puberty.
Baby teeth come out and are replaced with
permanent teeth during middle childhood years.
Cognitive Development

Cognitive development in middle childhood is

slow and steady.
Children in this stage are building on the skills
gained in early childhood.
Their reasoning skills are based on rules.
Although they are thinking and reasoning at a
more mature level now, they still need concrete,
hands-on learning activities
Middle childhood is a time when children can gain
enthusiasm for learning and work.
Their achievements can be motivating as they work
towards building competence and self-esteem.
However, the skills required for academic success
become more complex at about Grade three or four and
some children’s school performance levels may begin to
change at this stage.
Socio-emotional Development

oMiddle childhood is time when children are

developing their interpersonal skills and social
relationships.
oTheir best friends are important at this age but
they are still strongly influenced by their family.
oMiddle childhood is a joyful time of increased
independence, friendships and developing
interests such as sports, music and arts.
Adolescence (13 to 18 years)

This stage generally begins when an

individual reaches sexual maturity (puberty)
and ends when they become an adult within
their social and cultural context. (Slavin,
2005)
Physical Development
The adolescent years are another period of
rapid physical growth.
This growth often happens in ‘growth spurts’ of
two years fast growth followed by three or more
years of slow steady growth.
This varies with individuals and with gender. In
general, females begin to develop earlier than do
males.
Sexual maturity (puberty) is the most significant
physical development during adolescence.

The age will vary with different individuals but

generally females mature between 11-13 years
and males at about 15 years.
Cognitive Development

•Adolescence is an important period for cognitive

development as individuals are changing the way they
think and reason about problems and ideas.
•In early adolescence (12-15 years), they think logically
about concrete objects and consider more than one
viewpoint at the one time.
•However, at this early stage of adolescence, they
benefit more from direct experiences than from abstract
ideas and principles.
Socio-emotional Development

Adolescents experience new situations, new people and new

responsibilities.
It is a time when they are trying new roles (at high school and
university or work), new ways of thinking and behaving.
As they are trying to become more independent, they rely more
on their peer group for direction regarding what is normal and
accepted behavior.
They begin to pull away from their family influence for identify
and look to their peer group which may cause the adolescent and
their family some conflict.
THANK YOU for
LISTENING 