Child Growth and Development

Course Description

CHD1220 – Child Growth and Development is a 3-credit course covering human development from conception through the childhood years, with emphasis on the physical, cognitive, social, and emotional domains and on what the research implies for the adults who care for and teach children.

The course is a foundation requirement in Florida's early childhood pathway and appears in Early Childhood Education A.S. degrees, College Credit Certificates, elementary education transfer plans, and child care licensing preparation. It also serves students entering nursing, social work, psychology, and pediatric allied health.

Content covers theoretical frameworks — Piaget's cognitive stages, Vygotsky's sociocultural theory and the zone of proximal development, Erikson's psychosocial stages, attachment theory (Bowlby and Ainsworth), behaviorist and social learning accounts, and Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems model; prenatal development and birth — stages, teratogens, and birth complications; infancy and toddlerhood — reflexes, motor milestones, sensory and perceptual development, brain development, temperament, and attachment; early childhood — preoperational thought, language explosion, play, self-concept, and emotional regulation; middle childhood — concrete operations, peer relationships, moral reasoning, and school adjustment; language development; the developing brain — plasticity, sensitive periods, and the effect of early experience; the influence of family, culture, and community; atypical development — developmental delay, disability, and early identification; and observation and assessment — systematic, objective recording of children's behavior.

Offered at approximately 22 Florida institutions.

Learning Outcomes

Required Outcomes

• Describe the major theories of child development and compare their explanatory emphases.
• Explain the interaction of heredity and environment in development.
• Describe research methods used to study children and the ethical requirements involved.
• Describe prenatal development by stage and identify major teratogens and their effects.
• Describe physical and motor development from infancy through middle childhood.
• Explain brain development, plasticity, and the role of early experience.
• Describe cognitive development using Piagetian stages and identify their characteristics and limits.
• Explain Vygotsky's sociocultural theory including scaffolding and the zone of proximal development.
• Describe language acquisition from prelinguistic communication through complex sentences.
• Describe attachment, its patterns, and its developmental significance.
• Explain temperament and goodness of fit between child and caregiver.
• Describe emotional development and the growth of self-regulation.
• Describe social development including peer relations, play, and prosocial behavior.
• Describe moral development and identify its major theoretical accounts.
• Explain the influence of family structure, parenting styles, culture, and community on development.
• Identify typical developmental milestones by age and recognize significant deviation.
• Describe common developmental disabilities and the value of early intervention.
• Conduct objective observations of children and record them without interpretation or bias.
• Apply developmental knowledge to age-appropriate expectations, environments, and guidance.
• Describe the effect of adversity, stress, and protective factors on developmental outcomes.

Optional Outcomes

• Complete a supervised observation experience in a licensed child care or school setting.
• Describe developmental screening instruments and referral pathways in Florida.
• Analyze a case study and identify developmental factors at work.
• Describe adolescent development.
• Describe cultural and linguistic diversity in developmental expectations.
• Relate course content to developmentally appropriate practice standards.

Major Topics

Required Topics

• Introduction — domains, periods, and the nature-nurture question.
• Theories — Piaget, Vygotsky, Erikson, behaviorism, social learning, and ecological systems.
• Research methods — observation, longitudinal and cross-sectional designs, and ethics.
• Genetics and prenatal development — conception, stages, and heredity.
• Teratogens and prenatal risk — substances, maternal health, and timing.
• Birth and the newborn — the birth process, assessment, and neonatal capacities.
• Infant physical development — growth, reflexes, motor milestones, and nutrition.
• Brain development — architecture, plasticity, sensitive periods, and experience.
• Infant cognition — sensorimotor stage, object permanence, and memory.
• Language development — stages, theories, and supporting environments.
• Attachment and temperament — patterns, caregiver responsiveness, and goodness of fit.
• Early childhood physical and cognitive development — motor skills and preoperational thought.
• Play — types, stages, and its developmental function.
• Early childhood social and emotional development — self-concept, emotion, and regulation.
• Middle childhood — concrete operations, achievement, and peer relationships.
• Moral development — theoretical accounts and prosocial behavior.
• Family, culture, and community — parenting styles, structure, and context.
• Atypical development — delay, disability, screening, and early intervention.
• Adversity and resilience — stress, protective factors, and outcomes.
• Observation and documentation — methods, objectivity, and confidentiality.

Optional Topics

• Field observation hours in a licensed setting.
• Florida screening and referral systems.
• Adolescent development.
• Case study analysis.
• Developmentally appropriate practice standards.
• Media, screens, and young children.

Resources & Tools

• The Developing Person Through Childhood (Berger), Worth — a common adoption.
• Child Development (Berk), Pearson — the other standard; thorough and research-heavy.
• Lumen Learning / OpenStax Lifespan Development — free open textbooks covering most of the course.
• CDC "Learn the Signs. Act Early." — free milestone checklists by age, a free milestone tracker app, and parent-facing materials; the most practical single resource here and directly usable in the field.
• Harvard Center on the Developing Child — free, outstanding briefs and short videos on brain architecture, serve-and-return interaction, and toxic stress.
• Zero to Three — free resources on infant and toddler development.
• NAEYC — developmentally appropriate practice position statements; the professional standard in the field.
• Florida Department of Education, Office of Early Learning — Florida Early Learning and Developmental Standards, free.
• Florida Department of Children and Families child care training — the licensing-side training portal; see the note below on how it relates to this course.

Career Pathways

• Preschool Teacher (SOC 25-2011) — the most direct destination.
• Childcare Worker (SOC 39-9011) and Child Care Center Director (SOC 11-9031) — the director role requires the Florida Director Credential.
• Teacher Assistant / Paraprofessional (SOC 25-9045) in a public school.
• Early Intervention Assistant — working with children with identified delays.
• Elementary School Teacher (SOC 25-2021) — via transfer to a bachelor's program and Florida certification.
• Family Support and Home Visiting — Head Start and community programs.
• Child Life Specialist — pediatric hospital settings; requires a bachelor's plus certification.
• Social Work and Case Management — with further education.
• Nursing and pediatric allied health — where the developmental content directly supports practice.

Special Information

⚠ College credit and Florida child care licensing training are different things

The most consequential practical point in this course, and a common source of confusion. Florida requires child care personnel to complete Department of Children and Families (DCF) mandated training — a defined set of introductory child care training courses plus a competency exam — to work in a licensed facility. That is a licensing requirement administered by DCF.

CHD1220 is college credit, granted by the college and transferable under SCNS. The two systems are related but not interchangeable: completing CHD1220 does not by itself satisfy DCF training requirements, and completing DCF training does not by itself earn college credit — although Florida does provide articulation in some directions, and colleges may award credit for certain credentials (notably the Child Development Associate, CDA). Students who need both should ask their program advisor explicitly which of their coursework counts toward which system, and confirm current requirements with DCF, since training rules are updated periodically.

Observation hours are common — plan for background screening

Many Florida sections require field observation hours in a licensed child care center, preschool, or elementary classroom. Where that is required, students must normally clear a Level 2 background screening (fingerprinting through the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and FBI), which takes time and carries a fee. Students should start this at the beginning of the term rather than when the assignment is due, and should be aware that a disqualifying offense can bar placement — and, by extension, employment in the field. Anyone with a concern should raise it with an advisor early and confidentially; Florida has an exemption process, but it is not quick.

Confidentiality applies from the first observation

Students observing real children are handling protected information. The professional standard, and usually a graded requirement, is to use pseudonyms or initials, never identify a child or family or facility in a submitted paper, obtain permission through the site rather than directly from parents, and never photograph or record without explicit written authorization. This is both an ethical requirement and, in school settings, a legal one under FERPA. Habits formed here carry into practice.

Milestones are ranges, not deadlines — and knowing when to refer matters

The single most useful applied skill from this course is distinguishing normal variation from a sign that warrants attention. Typical development spans wide ranges; children walk anywhere from roughly 9 to 18 months and remain within normal limits. But some signs — loss of previously acquired skills, no babbling by 12 months, no words by 16 months, no two-word phrases by 24 months — warrant prompt referral, and early intervention works better the earlier it starts. In Florida, children under 3 are served by Early Steps and children 3 and older through the school district's exceptional student education services; families may self-refer to either. Knowing that referral pathway is a professional competency, not a formality.

The theories are not competitors to be ranked

Students often try to decide which theorist is "right." A more productive stance is that each frames a different question: Piaget on how thinking is structured, Vygotsky on how learning is socially mediated, Erikson on emotional tasks across the lifespan, attachment theory on the significance of early relationships, Bronfenbrenner on the layered contexts around a child. Practitioners use all of them situationally. Exams frequently ask students to apply the right framework to a scenario rather than to recite stages, so studying by scenario is more effective than studying by list.

Numbering and related courses

Florida also carries developmental content under DEP2004 (Human Growth and Development, lifespan) and EDF1005/EDF2085 in education pathways; CHD numbers sit specifically in the child development and early childhood professional sequence, and EEC numbers carry early childhood education methods. A student transferring into a psychology or nursing program may need DEP2004 rather than CHD1220 — the content overlaps but the prefixes serve different programs, and SCNS equivalency applies to the same number at the same level, never across numbers. Confirm which the receiving program requires before choosing.