Childhood Vs Adulthood

Infancy and childhood are periods in life where the human being experiences great physical and mental developments, at a very rapid rate. While there is an overall increase in the body size of the child during the early years and later in puberty, there are body parts that grow at different rates from the rest of the others. There are two patterns of growth which describe these various changes in the child and young adult. The first one of these two patterns is the cephalocaudal trend, referring to a head to tail growth. This is similar to the prenatal period, where the development started at the head, and was then followed by the lower part of the body. After the birth of the child, the development of the body continues to be from the …show more content…
However, during the teenage years, hormonal interaction causes changes on the skeleton and there are more visible differences between the young men and women. The shoulders in boys will start to broaden, in comparison to their hips, while girls will experience a broadening of their hips, as compared to their waist and shoulders. Most boys eventually grow larger than girls, their legs being larger in relation to the rest of their body. The reason behind this is the two extra years of preadolescent growth experienced by males, which is the time when their legs grow the …show more content…
Studies have shown that early and extreme sensory deprivation generally results in permanent brain damage and loss of functions. This is significant when verifying the existence of sensitive periods of brain development. Scientific evidence has demonstrated that the brain can be considered especially like a sponge during the first few years of life, which enables children to acquire new skills in an easy and quick way. This is a period where the brain experiences two types of brain development, the experience expectant brain growth, and the experience dependent brain growth. The first type of development refers to the brain of a young child rapidly developing organization, which depends on regular experiences, such as opportunities to interact with people, hear sounds and language, see and touch objects, and move and explore the surroundings. The other type of brain development, the experience dependent brain growth, takes place during the life of the individual. It consists of additional growth and refinement of those brain structures which are already established as a result of specific learning experiences, which varies across cultures and individuals. Reading, writing, learning technology, or playing musical instruments, are part of this developmental growth. However, not only under-stimulation but overstimulation can be a threat to the development of the child. A child who is overwhelmed with