Case Study of a Child from Age 2-6 Years

As children grow, they manifest remarkable changes in their cognitive, physical and psychosocial development. Children experience different types of impulses which they do not have control over. Children suffer tantrums. At the age of 2-6 years, various developmental changes occur that are manifested as growth and development occur.

Cognitive Development

Children at the age of between two to six years make several attempts to understand their surroundings and explain themselves. They also seek to organize themselves, manipulate things or people in their favor, construct and even predict outcomes. This group of children can identify patterns and events as they occur and then make an attempt to put these patterns together to explain the world according to them.

It is at this stage that most children learn the use of language and other communication symbols. They imitate what they see in adults, and they become more active in their play. As their acquisition of language grows, they develop a fascination with words; words that can be termed as both good and bad. This group also plays pretend games which involve role play like pretending to be a driver of the car made of an empty box, playing with their siblings and even nurture relationships that are imaginary.

At this stage, these children find it hard to control their memory functions and are usually less attentive. They are not able to focus on multiple aspects of experiences simultaneously and often take appearances that are superficial as reality. Children in this age group across all cultures are prone to these errors in their cognitive development.

Physical Development

Children between the ages of 2-6 years develop at a slower rate than during infancy. During this stage, the childs brain develops gains finer motor skills as well as health changes. The child begins to lose baby fat at around the age of three years. The toddler acquires a lean, athletic look that is associated with childhood. The muscles of the abdomen develop, boys tend to gain more muscles than girls. The child also grows taller and may attain a height of about 38 inches as well as a weight of about 32 pounds. This depends on factors like feeding, health, socioeconomic and genetic factors.

The brain and nervous system also develop. The brain which comprises of two hemispheres, the right and left cerebral hemispheres, develop. The left hemisphere develops more fully at the age of between 2-6 years. The left hemisphere develops early, and this makes children acquire language early, its also associated with writing, logic, and skills in mathematics. The nervous system also develops during this period of 2-6 years. The glial which are the support cells of the nervous system flourish. The glial nourish, insulate and get rid of waste from the neurons. Children at this age also develop their motor skills. Motor skills are the physical abilities. The motor skills of hopping, running, throwing, dancing and jumping develop. The fine motor skills of drawing, writing and tying laces also develop. The skills are perfected as children grow from the age of two to six years. Children usually learn these skills through observing behaviors of others, forming an image of what they observe in their minds, imitating what they observe, putting into practice the behavior and being motivated to repeat the observed behavior. At this stage also, children may develop health problems such as colds, pneumonia and influenza and among other ailments. Minor ailments help children to develop skills of coping especially with physical and distress. Children also learn empathy.

Psychosocial Development

Psychosocial development involves how children develop their mind, maturity levels and emotions as years pass by. The development rate is influenced by factors such as biological processes and the environment in which one operates.

Children from the age of two years begin to learn social skills on how to interact and live with people around them. Children acquire skills of self-care like how to change clothes and to feed themselves. Children start exploring things on their own but seek answers to understand the new concepts they acquire on a day to day basis. As years progress from two to six, children start competing in completing tasks with their peers. When they can accomplish the tasks, a great feeling of pleasure and satisfaction develops. Failure to perform specific tasks brings dissatisfaction.

To wrap it up, children development is a cycle of events where everything revolves around him or her. The childs world is magical due to the many experiences and observations provided by the world. Children learn many social skills on how to cope with other children of her age as well as his or her caregivers. Children also grow mentally and physically to match their increasing age.