Child psychology studies all the phases from birth to adolescence and Child psychologists study children’s physical, mental, social, and moral development as well as their functions.
Child psychologists also study the changes that inheritance and environment bring in a child’s behavior. Inheritance refers to all the inclinations that a child receives from its parents at birth and the environment means all the surrounding conditions under which a child leads its life.
What Is Child Psychology:
Child psychology is correlated with Developmental psychology. Developmental psychology is the study of physical and psychological changes that occur in humans as they grow. This branch of psychology attempts to explain the development of human’s overtime along with a focus on the psychological characteristics of different age groups.
Who Is Child Psychologist:
Child Psychologists deal with the behavioral, perceptual, cognitive, social, emotional, and personality processes of children. Child Psychologists also help to able a child in problem-solving abilities acquisition of language moral understanding and identity formation.
What Child Psychologists Do:
Child Psychologist finds out what are common and characteristic age changes in appearance, behavior, and interest are taking place in children. What are their causes and how they influence the behavior of children? Both environment and inheritance exert their influences on a child’s personality. The environment is divided into two kinds for the sake of study.
Pre- Natal Environment:
The prenatal environment spans about nine months. Every moment and action of the fetus during this period can be observed so much so the disease that a neonate may be suffering from can be analyzed. Besides this, the mother’s health diet psychological problems, setbacks, medicines, all have a direct effect on the child because it is developing in the mother’s womb and is directly affected by the mother’s physical and mental condition.
Post Natal Environment
After birth, the child has to exert itself a lot to adapt to the outer environment. During this very period, the child becomes a member of society and enters into different relations. It adapts itself to the environment at school forms relationships with friends and the people living in the same locality. During this period, it has to undergo much stress, has to be mindful of self-esteem of itself as well as of others. So if the child faces difficulty in adapting to the environment during the postnatal period, the psychologist helps it out.
Psychological Disorders of Children:
In the classification of mental disorders, infancy and childhood disorders are also included, and they are treated with special attention. Child psychologists identify the early psychological problems of the children and treat them with different psychotherapies.
Early Childhood Intervention:
It is a support and educational system for very young children who have been victims of, or who are at high risk for child abuse, or who have developmental delays or disabilities.
Families of such children receive resources and support that assist them in maximizing their child’s physical, cognitive, and social/emotional development.
In the United States, some early intervention services to eligible children and families are available through the (IDEA) Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.
This services are delivered in the form of physical, occupational and speech therapy.
- Improve parenting skills.
- Improve the child’s developmental, social and educational gains.
- Reduce feelings of isolation, stress, and frustration that families may experience.
- Help children with disabilities grow up to become productive, independent individuals.
- Assistance with technological devices, counseling, and family training.
Theories about Child Development:
The theories put forward by psychologists are applied to study the personality of children, e.g Freud’s theory of personality in which five stages of development have been described and the most important theory that is based on the cognitive approach is Jean Piaget’s theory of development.
Child Clinical Psychologist:
A clinical psychologist may specialize in a particular age group, such as children, and known as child clinical psychologists. they help the children with psychological problems. they work in a variety of settings, including schools, clinics, and private practice.
Some only conduct psychotherapy, other do psychological assessment and psychotherapy and some also do research.
School Counselor:
They help to identify student’s abilities and interests, guide students in developing academic plans and explore career options with students. they may help students cope with adjustment problems. they may work with students individually in small groups or even in a classroom. they often consult with parents, teachers, and school administrators when trying to help students with their problems.
Conclusion:
The basic aim of child psychologists is to find out the psychological problems of kids and trained them to live a normal life. there are many responsibilities and fields of child psychology. We have tried to cover all the aspects. Hope you will find this article helpful.