Bayley Scales Of Infant Development

Nancy Bayley’s research is used to this day regarding the physical development of babies and young children. Her research was entitled the ‘Bayley Scales of Infant Development’ and medical institutions use it to this day when measuring the growth of babies from 2 to 30 months. This research was drawn from 16 new born babies, where she monitored the motor and physical development.
McGraw, who practiced at the same time as Bayley and who was also a child psychologist put her research into children’s muscle ability and mental process. She was one of the first pioneers for water births believing that children who were introduced to swimming as babies would develop better ‘psychomotor‘ skills.
Like the majority of child theorists, Sheridan’s work
The theory considers development from fetus through to infancy and then from child hood to adulthood. This theory lends itself in explaining the development of an infant’s perceptual, cognitive and motor skills and relies on findings from physics, maths and psychology. The theory focuses on the understanding that, for a fetus to grow and develop, many intricut processes are at play, including physiological, biological, metabolic and biochemical.
Piaget’s theories have been used throughout early education and beyond and focus on a child’s cognitive development and how this influences other areas of growth. He highlighted different stages of development and at what age they were likely to occur. His ‘Sensorimotor’ stage was concerned with children from 0-2 years and in it, he explains how children experience the world around them using their physical senses and once they have understood ‘object permanence’ the stage has been reached. The next stage he identified is ‘Preoperational’ where children interpret the world around them through language and mental pictures and can be sympathetic to the points of view of others. To reach the development goal for this stage their language ability should have increased and spans from 2- 7
The last theorist to be discussed is Gardner. His 7 theories were based upon his belief that children develop multiple intelligences, each progressing the child differently. These are
1- Linguistic. The capability in which a child uses language and text
2- Logical-Mathematical. Centres around how children navigate number and abstract patterns and use their cognitive abilities.
3- Visual-Spatial. How a child envisages objects and navigates different spaces.
4- Body-Kinesthetic. How a child controls their fine and gross motor movements.
5- Musical-Rhythmic. This refers to how well a child can understand different aspects of music.
6- Interpersonal. How a child acts socially and their ability to get along with peers.
7- Intrapersonal. This is the ability for a child to know and understand the different emotions they may be