Survival, Growth

and Development
Chapter 11

Human Ecology and Family Sciences

Class XI
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After completing this chapter the learner will be able to .
• Explain the concepts of survival, growth and development.
• Analyse the relationship between growth and health.
• Discuss the characteristics of different stages of childhood.
• Describe developmental milestones.
• Examine development in different domains of childhood
The Meaning of Survival
• Normally survival means “maintaining life in adverse
conditions” at the basic level.
• Children in the beginning are very delicate and susceptible to
diseases, infection, accidents,
• Sometimes children don’t get proper pre and postnatal care.
Their survival is endangered, if they are not immunized
properly.
• Such children also suffer from food deficiency and should be
provided proper food, medical assistance, extra nutrition etc,
so that inspite of many lacunae they are able to “survive”.
• If the children come from low income families, it is very important to provide
them extra food and give adequate nutrients in right amounts and
proportions. In addition they need to be immunised against the killer diseases
of infancy and childhood such as tuberculosis, whooping cough, diphtheria,
polio and tetanus. Diseases such as malaria, pneumonia are also a threat to
children’s lives.
• According to the 2016 UNICEF report 5.9 million children born alive worldwide
may die before their fifth birthday.
• Most of these children live in developing countries and die from a disease or a
combination of diseases that could be easily prevented or treated . antibiotics
for pneumonia, for example, or a simple mix of salts and sugars for diarrhoea.
• safe water and better sanitation.
• A child who is simply surviving will, of course, not grow optimally. In fact,
under such conditions the child may even stop growing completely. This is
called growth failure.
• According to data from National Family and health
survey4,the under 5 mortality rate stands at 50/1000 live
births.
GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT
• Growth means ‘to grow’. It indicates increase in physical body
dimensions. Growth starts in the womb after conception and
reaches it’s completion after the individual becomes adult.
 DEVELOPMENT
• It is a whole process which
includes growth of the body as
well as growth of various aspects
of child’s personality, eg the
physical, emotional, social and
cognitive development.
• In the early stages of life, these
changes are constructive and
after middle age there are
destructive changes in the body
which lead to old age.
DIFFERENCES BETWEEN GROUTH AND
DEVELOPMENT
Growth Development
Growth is quantitative Development is quantitative as well
as qualitative
Growth comprises of height, wieght, Along with physical changes,
size and shape of body organs like cognitive, social and emotional
brain etc changes are also included
It is due to cell division It happens due to motor and
adjustmental processes
Growth is for limited period Development takes place till death
Growth can be measured It can be observed by matured
behaviour
Growth tells about one aspect of Development deals with al the
personality aspects of personality
 Growth and development depends on
many factors such as :-
1. Heredity – these are the
characteristics which the children
receive from their parents.
2. Environment- provides opportunity
to the children to develop their traits
which they have received form their
parents
3. Maturation- without maturity level,
it is not possible to receive new
progressive changes in oneself
4. Learning- growth and development
depend upon the learning capacity of
the person. The more qualitative and
quantitative learning is, the better is
the growth and development
Milestones of development and individual
differences
• Milestones of • Individual differences
development
God has created so many people
Milestones are the indicators in this world. Every individual
of growth and development has been created as a unique
during the process of creature. No two individuals
development. are the same even the twins
are different from each other.
They tell us about the
This characterstics of being
direction and rate of different is called individual
development differences
 Principles of development
Development of all the children depends
upon these principles:
1. Development has a specific pattern
a) Cephalocaudal direction- from head to toe
b) Proximodistal direction- from centre to
outside of the body
2. Development is a continous process
3. Development is from general to specific
4. Every child passes through each stage of
development
5. Individual difference is found in
development.
ACTIVITY 1

• Would you term the following changes as development?

a. walking to running
b. deciding which movie to watch or deciding which career to
choose as an adolescent
• Give reasons for your answers and discuss with others in the
class.
 Areas of Development
The various developments that
take place in the life of an
individual can be classified as:
• Physical development,
• Motor development,
• Sensory development,
• Cognitive development,
• Language development,
• Social and Emotional
development
Physical development
• Physical development refers
to the physical changes in
the size, structure and
proportion of the parts of
the body that take place
since conception.
 Motor development
• Motor development refers to
control over body movements
Motor development is of two types.
which result in increasing co-
• Gross motor development refers to
ordination between various control over the movements of the
parts of the body. large muscles of the body such as
muscles of the shoulder, thighs, upper
• Physical growth makes the arm, lower arm, abdomen and back. As
a result of this control we are able to sit,
body grow, whereas, it is motor bend, walk and move our whole arm.
development which results in
• Fine motor development refers to the
smooth, controlled and control over the fine muscles of the
effective body movements. body such as that of the wrist, fingers
or toes. As a result of this control we
are able to write, turn the pages of a
book, stitch and knit.
 Cognitive development
• Cognitive development refers to emergence of thinking
capabilities in the child from the time she/he is born. As
one grows from one year to the other there are
qualitative differences in the way in which one thinks.

• These changes in our way of thinking are because of

changes in our mental structures and understanding of
experiences, and this is referred to as cognitive
development.

• To give just one example, the infant behaves as if the

object removed from her/his eyes does not exist any
more. It is only in the second half of the second year of
life that the infant begins to understand that objects
exist even though they are out of sight.
Sensory development
• Sensory development refers to the
development of the sensory
capabilities of vision, hearing, smell,
touch and taste. While the infant is
born with fairly well developed
sensory capabilities, these refine and
develop further with age.
• For example, the newborn can focus
her/his eyes on faces and objects
best when they are eight inches from
the face. Gradually, the child’s visual
abilities develop to enable her eyes
to focus on objects whether they are
farther or nearer.
 Language development, Social development

• Language development refers • Social development refers to the

to the changes that enable the development of those abilities
infant who can only cry at the that enable an individual to
time of birth to understand the behave in accordance with the
speech of others as well as expectations of the society,
speak complex sentences. form and sustain relationships
with people
 Emotional development
• Emotional development refers to the
emergence of emotions and learning
of the socially acceptable ways of
expressing them.
• Although all the above domains are
listed separately (personal, cognitive,
social, other), in fact these are simply
different dimensions of an individual
in real situations, and must be
understood as such. For instance, a
child learning how to ride a cycle (a
physical set) also has a corresponding
emotional side (maybe fear or
excitement) that must be considered
while teaching how to ride a cycle.
Good nutrition
• Good nutrition has an important • Infancy: Birth - 6 months,
role in growth and development. and 6 - 12 months
As children enter school age, their
nutritional needs increase. • Preschool Years: 1- 3 years,
• There are various ways of and 4- 6 years
classifying childhood years into
different stages. One such • School Years: 7 - 9 years, 10
approach is to classify childhood - 12 years
based on nutrient requirements as
suggested by the Indian Council of
Medical Research (ICMR). The
stages thus identified would be as
follows -
 Relationship between growth and health

• It is interesting to • We all know that normal growth is a

note that nutrient good indicator of health. But normal
requirements of growth by itself is not sufficient to
predict good health.
boys and girls
remain the same • A range of resources and conditions
till the age of nine (breast milk, a safe, hygienic
years. Once the environment; proper health care
services; avoidance by the mother of
child completes 10
habits such as smoking or drinking.,
years, the nutrient adequate educational and physical
needs of girls and stimulation) within the home, are
boys start to differ. required to ensure that broader
developmental milestones are
achieved.
 • 1. Flattening would depict that
• There is research evidence to show that the growth has stopped.
all children grow very similarly for the first
five years of life when their physiological • 2. An upward direction shows
needs are met and their environments
support healthy development. Growth
that growth is taking place.
falters or slows down because of
environmental “assaults” such as the
• 3. A downward trend shows a
attack by infections and infestations or child falling behind the healthy
because of lack of good food in adequate growth pattern.
amounts.
• Growth charts continue to be widely used
• If this child is given extra food
across the globe for monitoring the and infections are treated, an
growth of children. increasing trend will again be
• What do the growth curves mean if they visible.
show.
• This highlights the catch-up
• 1. flattening 2. an upward direction
3. a downward direction
growth.
The figure given above
shows you a normal
growth curve. Now
answer the
following questions.
1. A child has a bout of
severe diarrhoea. What
would happen to the growth
curve?
2. A malnourished child is
given good food for two
months. What will be the
change
in the growth curve?