Developmental Domains

 Developmental Domains

Throughout the early stages of childhood to adolescence, children are growing and changing rapidly. The growth that children are going through is grouped into categories, known as Developmental Domains. The domains are the adaptive domain, the social/emotional domain, cognitive development domain, motor development domain (fine and gross), and the communication development domain.

The adaptive development domain is age-appropriate self-care and other behaviors in such a way as to adapt meaningfully to different circumstances. This domain focuses primarily on what the child can do on his/her own or self-help. For example, being able to say first and last name, being able to dress/undress oneself, toileting, washing hands, and self-feeding/drinking are all typical development for a four-year-old-child. Atypical development in the adaptive domain would be resists dressing, sleeping, and using the toilet, has trouble scribbling, and cannot feed themselves. The child that I observed showed signs of typical development for a four-year-old by being able to feed herself, washing her own hands after snack time, being able to take her coat on and off, and being able to say her first and last name.

The second developmental domain is the social/emotional domain. The social/emotional domain is age and situation appropriate abilities to understand one’s own feelings and others feelings. Normal development in this domain is if the child enjoys doing new things, plays “mom” and “dad,” is creative with make-believe play, would rather play with other children, cooperates with other children, can distinguish between what’s real and what’s make-believe, and talks about their likes and interests. Atypical development in this domain is things such as, showing no interest in interactive games of make-believe, and ignores other children or doesn’t respond to people outside of the family. The child that I observed played the role of “mom” by pretending like she had a baby; she also cooperated with other children and would rather play with them rather than by herself. For example, during free time in the classroom, she would join groups of children playing instead of going to another station by herself.

The next domain is the cognitive development domain. This domain involves the development of our mental functions as well as perceiving, understanding, and knowing. Some typical development in the cognitive area is if the child can name some color and numbers, understand the idea of counting, starts to understand time, and understands the idea of “same” and “different.” If a child doesn’t understand “same” and “different,” loses skill they once had, or can’t retell a favorite story, then the child has signs of atypical development. While observing, the child was able to understand “same and different” and was also able to name colors and numbers. For example, the child and I were playing with Lincoln logs, and she said: “I need a log like this one,” and the child sitting next to her held up a different log, and she said, “No. No, not that one. That’s different than mine.” Also, while I was observing the child pointed out a welcome sign that ad different color letters and started telling me what each color was as well as counting the letters in the word “welcome.”

The fourth developmental domain is the motor development domain. The physical domain is controlling and coordinating gross motor and fine motor movements. Typical development for a four-year-old is if the child hops and stands on one foot up to 2 seconds, catches, a bounced ball most of the time, and pours, cuts with supervision, and mashes own food. Atypical development in the physical domain would be if the child can’t jump in place, or has trouble scribbling. During my practicum, the students did station work, and one of the stations was working on physical development. The station was pumpkin patch themed in which some pumpkins had different physical tasks on them, such as jumping, running, skipping, and crawling. The child presented the physical domain by being able to jump in place, running around the carpet, and crawling. The child also showed signs of typical physical development by throwing and catching a small corn hole bag.

The last developmental domain is the communication development domain. In this domain, the child expresses thoughts and feelings as well as understanding others’ vocal, nonverbal, gestural, and written expression. Typical development for this domain is knowing some basic rules of grammar, such as correctly using “he” and “she,” sings a song or poem from memory, and tells stories. Atypical development is if the child can’t retell a favorite story, and doesn’t use “me” and “you” correctly. While observing my child, she was able to express thoughts and feelings as well as understanding other students. For example, she said, “I’m scared,” which shows her feelings. She was also able to understand other student’s feelings by saying, “Rosie is mad because she is throwing a fit” (fake name). The child knows basic rules of grammar because she referred to a boy student as “he” “He kicked me right in the back.”