An Introduction to Child Psychology

Psychology is the study of the mind and human behaviour. Child psychology and child development discusses how infants and children change in their early lives. Childhood is a time of rapid growth and development as children hone complex abilities, including sensory awareness and fine motor skills, language acquisition and socialisation. Has the speedy physical and psychological changes children undergo from birth made you wonder how best to support them? Decades of developmental psychology, paediatrics and neuroscience research have concluded that the first five years are especially critical to childhood development. This child psychology course describes the basic anatomy of the human brain and explains how different factors help the brain and mind to develop and 'ripen' through sensation, perception, memory and consciousness.

To understand the relationship between the mind and the brain, you must have a basic knowledge of the anatomy of the brain and the nervous system. We go over the different structural elements of the nervous system, like the neuron, nerve fibres, neuroglia and grey and white matter. We discuss the central and peripheral nervous systems and the division of labour within them. We then explain how the sensory- and end-organs of the nervous system educate and train a child's perception through their response to different stimuli. The course also presents real-life examples to demonstrate how a child's mind comes to know the universe. We compare the factors that help develop a healthy and efficient brain to those that harm its development.

The course then explains how the brain supports cognitive abilities like memory, learning, perception and consciousness. Finally, we discuss children's perceptual, cognitive and neurological capacities during their first years. If you want to improve your skills as a child caregiver, teacher or even parent and gain fundamental knowledge of childhood development, this course is ideal for you. We provide insight into the psychological changes that a child goes through from infancy to help you understand why children behave the way they do. Working with children can be fun and challenging. If you want to be a good parent or enjoy a rewarding career involving children, take the first step today by enrolling in child psychology course.