An Overview of Child Development

We can think of child development as including multiple domains. Children grow in all domains over the course of development. While some children grow fairly evenly across domains, other children grow more quickly in some domains than others. The main domains of development are:

• cognitive (thinking, learning, understanding, and solving problems)

• motor (moving and using the body)

• language (communicating, talking, listening, conversing)

• social (relating to other people)

• emotional (understanding and interpreting feelings)

Pediatrician T. Berry Brazelton explained that typical child development is not steady. Instead, it has bursts, pauses, and regressions. Developmental "touchpoints" are predictable, expected regressions, or periods of disorganization, that occur when a child is learning something new. These moments of temporary disorganization and regression are called "touchpoints."

When a child is going through a touchpoint, they may appear to lose a skill they had previously mastered. They often struggle more with sleep, self-regulation, and regular feeding. Parents may feel self-doubt and frustration.

When parents can recognize and anticipate touchpoints, they can celebrate them as a sign that a child is making progress. They can help their child to re-regulate by being consistent and responsive. Usually, after a child moves through a touchpoint, they make significant developmental progress.

Click below to learn more about touchpoints.

These links are provided as resources only. Boston Children's Hospital and the Benderson Family Heart Center don't necessarily endorse all of the information on these sites.

Most babies make astonishing developmental progress through their first year of life. They work hard to make sense of the world around them, and to find their place within it. They learn how to interact with other people, and how to use their bodies and voices to make changes in their environment.

During infancy, most babies learn cognitive skills such as understanding basic cause and effect relationships, predicting how objects and people usually behave, and understanding that people and objects do not disappear when they leave their sight.

Babies usually learn gross motor skills such as holding up their head, rolling over, sitting, crawling, and standing. Some babies even take their first steps. Babies usually develop fine motor skills such as grabbing objects, transferring them from hand to hand, bringing objects to their mouth, and picking up small items between their thumb and forefinger.

Infants generally learn language skills such as coo-ing and babbling, and many learn to say their first words. They learn to use gestures such as pointing, yelling, crying, and gazing to communicate. They usually respond to their own name, and can understand some words and directions.

Socially, most babies establish a strong relationship with one or more primary caregivers. Ideally, they build a secure attachment that helps the baby feel safe in the world. Babies learn to seek attention, comfort, and fun from other people, and they usually both actively seek out and respond to interaction. Older infants usually strongly prefer one or more primary caregivers, and are often wary or fearful with strangers.

Emotional development is closely tied with social development, especially during infancy. Infants learn about their own emotions through reciprocal and responsive interactions with other people. They learn to communicate basic emotions, including joy, fear, surprise, sadness, and disgust, and they start to learn ways to control their feelings when they feel overwhelmed. For example, they may learn to suck on their fingers if they feel worried or sleepy. Babies also learn how to recognize and respond to basic emotions in others. They often become concerned or distressed if a caregivers seems sad or distant, and they respond with love and joy if a caregiver initiates a fun game.

Young children are enthusiastically engaged in their worlds, and are actively exploring and learning all the time. They find their place as a social member of a community, and gain confidence in physical feats and communication skills. Early childhood is often marked by rapid growth and a certain level of turmoil, as young children learn to regulate themselves in a constantly-expanding world.

Young children learn a great deal about their world as toddlers and preschoolers. They gain a good understanding of cause and effect, and they build confidence in how they can affect people and their environment. Most young children start to understand symbols and representation. They usually expand their play to include pretend play, and also are able to learn simple rules and to take turns.

Most young children learn to walk, run, jump, and climb. They get better and better at using stairs, ladders, slides, and swings. Some young children learn to swim, ride a scooter, or pedal a bike. Young children also develop better control of their fingers, and usually are able to color, draw simple fingers, and feed themselves using a spoon or fork.

The language skills of young children develop rapidly, and most children carry on conversations using complete sentences before they turn four. Preschoolers are usually able to tell and understand a story, and they generally have the skills they need to express almost all of their thoughts and ideas. Young children often still make pronunciation errors, but usually get better and better at pronunciation as they near Kindergarten.

During early childhood, children's social worlds usually expand to include true friends. Young children remain very attached to their parents and other caregivers, but they usually also become interested in peers, and learn to play with other children. Preschoolers are usually able to collaborate with peers on imaginative games, or take turns during simple rule-based games.

Young children are constantly confronting new experiences, and they feel a lot of big emotions. They can easily become overwhelmed by their feelings and may have trouble calming down. Throughout early childhood, kids usually learn to name emotions, and they gradually get better at regulating themselves as they confront daily excitements and stressors.

During middle childhood, kids typically enter their school years. They start to gain real mastery over a wide range of skills, and become increasingly independent.

Kids in middle childhood usually develop an ability to think logically. They understand how the physical world works, and they are able to solve problems. They often enjoy rule-based games, and can build deep knowledge about topics of interest.

School-age children usually learn to do most of the same physical activities that adults can do. They can learn to play sports, swim, jump rope, and ride a bike. They get steadily stronger and more coordinated as they get older. School-age kids also usually get better and better at using their hands, and usually learn to write and draw quickly and accurately, and to dress and feed themselves independently.

By middle childhood, most kids can use language almost as well as an adult. They can usually tell long stories, participate in conversations with multiple people, and understand almost all of what people say to them. Most school-age kids learn to read and write well, so that they can use language across multiple modalities.

School-age kids are usually very interested in their peers, and often have strong friendships with multiple children. They frequently enjoy being part of teams or clubs, and like inventing and playing games with complicated rules.

Emotionally, school-age children continue to have big feelings, but they are often better at predicting and managing their emotions than younger children. They are more aware of social expectations, and may avoid emotional displays that feel embarrassing.

Much like early childhood, the teenage years are a time of dramatic growth and change. Children's bodies and brains change rapidly, and they are faced with new expectations for independence and competence.

Teenagers typical develop more sophisticated ways of thinking. They usually learn to understand abstract ideas, and to recognize patterns and relationships beyond the physical world. They often become very interested in ideas of justice and fairness. Their thinking is not yet mature, however, and they often see things in overly back-and-white terms. They are not as good as adults at making plans, and understanding the consequences of actions.

Most girls stop growing early in their teenage years, while most boys continue growing and building muscle until their late teens. With teaching and instruction, teenagers can learn any physical task, and they can often develop mastery of skills like playing a sport or instrument or creating art.

Teenagers can usually use language in adult-like ways to express their ideas, participate in conversations, and learn from others. They are often creative with language, coming up with new words and expressions, and they can usually use sarcasm and irony.

Most teens are heavily invested in the social world of their peers, and they may seem to pull away from their family. They often prefer to spend time with peers, and have deep friendships and romantic relationships. They tend to care deeply about their their peers' opinions, and often struggle to define their own identity in relation to their peers and family.

As with young children, teens often experience and feel emotions that they do not yet know how to manage. They can get easily overwhelmed by strong feelings, and their feelings may seem to change rapidly. During the teenage years, young people gradually learn to better understand and regulate their new emotional landscape.

Early adulthood is often an exciting time, when young people explore their independence and start to make their own path in the world. They are mature in some ways, but in other ways they are still developing.

Most young adults are capable of complex thinking and problem-solving. They can consider multiple aspects of a situation, and can apply what they know to come up with creative solutions. They are usually developing their own opinions about big ideas, and can use logic to evaluate claims.

Young adults are physically mature, and they have generally stopped growing. They can continue to develop physical skills through learning and practice.

Young adults usually have mature language, and can express both concrete and abstract ideas by speaking or writing. They can understand just about anything that is written or spoken in their native language(s). They continue to build word knowledge, especially if they spend a lot of time reading.

During early adulthood, young people usually remain close with friends and family, but also forge new kids of relationships. Many young adults enter into romantic partnerships, and many live with roommates for the first time. Young adults often learn the social norms surrounding work and higher education, and they must navigate the social demands of colleagues, bosses, professors, and mentors.

Emotionally, young adults are usually more consistent and stable than they were as teens. They are generally better at predicting and controlling their feelings, and are less likely to have rapid and drastic changes in mood. By their mid-twenties, young people are approaching maturity in their brain development, and they become much better at planning, measuring risk, and making informed decisions.

Understanding the typical course of human development can be useful, since it helps adults to appreciate children's accomplishments and challenges. It can also help to determine whether a particular child might need additional assistance in meeting expected development goals.

However, many children do not follow a typical path of development. Unusual developmental journeys are just as remarkable as typical ones, and each new skill is just as much as a cause for rejoicing. We share this description of typical development as a useful tool, but every parent should know that we at CNP embrace all our patients and all of their unique developmental journeys. Our goal is to help each child to grow into the fullest version of their own wonderful self.

This content was reviewed by a psychologist at Boston Children's Hospital.

Families local to Boston can contact the Cardiac Neurodevelopmental Program for developmental services.