Seminar Question Week
Four principles of growth
One of these principles is the cephalocaudal principle which states that growth begins with the head and the upper body and then proceed to the rest of the body. Under this principle, the head and its organs grow and develop earlier than other parts of the body that are far from the head such as the legs (Rieger & Trommlerová, 2016). The second principle of growth is the Proximodistal principle. This principle states that the growth and development of the body begin from the trunk of the body and then spreads to the extremities of the hands and legs. This means that the function of the arms is achieved before that of the hand, which is further away from the trunk (Ulker, 2016). The third principle is the principle of hierarchical integration. This one states that simple skills are developed separately in the body of a child, and they are later combined to form complex ones (Kruithof et al., 2016). The last principle of growth is the principle of independence of systems. This principle is derived from the suggestion that different body systems grow at different rates.
Lateralization
Lateralization refers to the process by which certain functions of the body get located more in one hemisphere of the human brain than the other (Güntürkün, 2017). Lateralization can be influenced by the culture that one is brought up in. For example, language center in boys is mostly in the left hemisphere, while it is more distributed in young girls. This could be because when infants, girls are spoken to at a higher rate than the boys. The effect of culture on lateralization has also been observed during the processing of vowels in the native Japanese located in the left hemisphere, while they are located in the right hemisphere for Japanese speakers that learn the language at a later date.
Health and Nutrition
Good health and nutrition are important for physical growth of children. Good health ensures that the development of all the organs of the child takes place optimally, and that they will not experience problems in the future (Herman et al., 2014). Nutrition, on the other hand, offers the body of the child the energy and material for physical growth. Children that are raised in an unhealthy environment or in malnutrition tend to suffer stunted growth or cognitive problems.
References
Güntürkün, O., & Ocklenburg, S. (2017). Ontogenesis of lateralization. Neuron, 94(2), 249-263.
Herman, D. R., Taylor Baer, M., Adams, E., Cunningham-sabo, L., Duran, N., Johnson, D. B., & Yakes, E. (2014). Life course perspective: Evidence for the role of nutrition. Maternal and Child Health Journal, 18(2), 450-61.
Kruithof, C. J., Gishti, O., Hofman, A., Gaillard, R., & Jaddoe, V. W. V. (2016). Infant weight growth velocity patterns and general and abdominal adiposity in school-age children. the generation R study. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 70(10), 1144-1150.
Rieger, M., & Trommlerová, S. K. (2016). Age-specific correlates of child growth.Demography, 53(1), 241-267.
Ulker, A. (2016). Body size at birth, physical development and cognitive outcomes in early childhood: Evidence from the longitudinal survey of australian children.Education Economics, 24(2), 142-166.