4 major domains of children.
As we all know; Once a building has a strong foundation so will the rest of the structure.
Domains of children are the development of children which involves the biological, emotional, and physiological growth of a child.
Domains are developmental stages every child passes through to achieve developmental milestones, independent of self, and achieve better body coordination.
Note:
These domains must be given ultimate attention at the early stages of their lives because it has a great influence at adulthood.
The domains include:
- Psychomotor domain
- Cognitive domain
- Affective domain
- Language domain
1. The psychomotor domain:
As to do with the physical skills of children.
Which are subdivided into two(2) skills:
- Fine motor skills
- Gross motor skills
Motor development is the increasing ability to use one’s body to interact with the environment.
• The fine motor skills;
Are the small muscles in the body, necessary to participate in fingerplays and eventually handle and look at a book, grasp a marker, scribble, and make marks. These early developments lead to emergent literary and writing also, contribute to children’s eventual school readiness.
while
• The gross motor skills;
are the large muscles in the body which fall under the categories of running, walking, throwing, catching, climbing, jumping, and balancing. For example, control of their limbs and hands enables them to communicate by gesturing and pointing.
The fine and large muscle development allow very young children to explore the environment and manipulate materials.
2. Cognitive domain:
The cognitive skills deal with the mental and intellectual capacity of a child. The building of concept, knowledge, and thinking skills.
Children come into the world eager to learn.
Note
Healthy and emotionally secure infants can focus on exploration and learning.
They learn through give-and-take interaction. As infants grow older, they use attachment relationships as a secure base for the exploration of objects. Examples: building blocks, mobiles, pictures, storybooks, sand, water, paper, puzzles, etc. They also become interested in showing, asking questions, and giving things like sharing meaning with parents or someone they trust.
Children at a young age love to play and through play and self-initiated practice, they build concepts and develop their thinking skills.
3. Affective domain:
This domain is characterized into two 2 skills:
- Emotional skills
- Social skills
• The emotional skills;
have to do with the feelings of children. The child’s emerging ability to become secure, express feelings, develop self-awareness and self regulation. Emotions are the principal guides and motivators of behavior and learning from infancy throughout life. Both positive and negative emotions.
The child’s emotional development is shown through:
1. Attachment:
Formation of relationships with consistent guidance from parents and caregivers.
2. Expression:
Showing feelings through facial expressions, gestures and sounds.
3. Self-awareness:
Recognizing self as a person with an identity, wants, needs, interests, likes, and dislikes.
while
• Social skills;
are the interactive skill of children. Child’s emerging development of an understanding of self and others, and the ability to relate to other people and the environment.
Infants are social right from the start.
Children’s ability to relate with adults and other children and learn from others influence their development in all of the other domains.
Through social guidance and imitation, the child learns safety rules and basic health procedures, such as hand washing before meals. With proper support, the child eventually develops the ability to participate in a social group.
Attachment relationships are at the heart of social development.
Social stimulation materials:
Soft toys, books, pictures, charts, posters, scribbling books, rhyme books, DVD musical instruments, games, talking toys, mirror, card game, etc.
The role of culture must be recognized and respected in the definitions of ‘appropriate' social interaction.
4. Language skills:
Also called communication skills or development.
Language development is the increasing ability to communicate successfully with others, to build relationships, share meaning and express needs in multiple ways. It involves the exchange of information and ideas.
Language is also a symbol system with rules that governs the use of the symbols while speech is the production of vocal sound patterns.
Infants tune in to familiar sounds and voices and express needs within minutes after birth. All humans communicate to build relationships, share meaning, and express needs.
The way we communicate include:
- Speech
- Sound
- Body
- Movements
- Facial expression
- Gestures
- Signs
- Pictures
And,
- Braille.
The child’s home has a hidden curriculum of great importance in language development.
Example:
Children who live in rural communities may know a good deal about trees, wildlife, soil, rocks, farm implements, machinery, birth, and death.
While,
Children who live in urban areas may know about computers, traffic lights, television, DVDs, Apple, parks, etc.
It is important to note these points concerning language development:
- The quality of parenting depends on a subtle interaction between mothers or mother figures and the child, where the mother recognizes the cues and signals in the child’s babbling, clinging, grasping, crying, smiling, and she responds to them.
- Insensitivity of a mother to a child’s signals dulls the interaction and keeps it on a concrete level. This is because the child gets discouraged and only sends out the obvious signals for the mother to respond.
- Shut down answers and closed questions harm the development of language and the general mental development of the child.
Learning new words through discussion and listening will help a child to respond to demands with more precision.
The early years of children are an important part of their lives….
It’s something that when wasted, can’t be given back.
Give ultimate attention to the childhood of children.
Quit the excuses, you can’t always fix what is broken most especially when it comes to the feelings, needs, and life of children’s childhood.
