WHICH ARE THE SEVEN DOMAINS OF EARLY CHILDHOOD DEVELOPMENT?

According to UNICEF (2012), Early-childhood development (ECD) refers to a comprehensive approach to policies and programs for children from birth to eight years of age. The purpose of this approach is to defend child’s rights to develop all their cognitive, emotional, social and physical potential. 

Since birth, children start to explore their world through the senses. Thanks to this constant exploration, children swiftly develop the domains of their physical and mental abilities. From the simplest of activities at every age level can promote stimulation and growth in children's cognitive, social, language, and physical (fine and gross motor) skills. (Becky L. Spivey, M.Ed.).  

The proficiency of understanding how the context affects children, is the key to know how to help their learning processes in an integrally way. In order to understand children’s development, there are the seven domains of early-childhood development. According to Miller (2014) the seven domains are:

    👉Language

   👉Cognitive

   👉Gross Motor

    👉Fine Motor
👉Self-Help & Adaptive

   👉Social & Emotional

   👉Spiritual & Moral

LANGUAGE: Refers to the learning of the alphabet, phonemic awareness, oral and written language.

COGNITIVE: In this domain children learn the relation cause-effect, they starts reasoning, as well as early-math skills.

GROSS MOTOR: In this domain children are learning how to use the muscles of their bodies. Some activities that we can find are: 

LOCOMOTOR ACTIVITY: Movement from one spot to another, like walking, climbing or galloping.

NON LOCOMOTOR ACTIVITY: Movement in a stationary place, like pushing or stretching.

MANIPULATIVE SKILLS LIKE: Moving objects in a variety of ways. For example, throwing or kicking.

FINE MOTOR: This domain refers hand-eye coordination, these activities require a child to learn to precisely control the muscles in the hands. For example: coloring, writing or cutting.

SELF-HELP & ADAPTIVE:  In this domain appear everything that a child needs to know to start being more independent, they can learn about how to dress oneself, brushing teeth or tying shoes, etc.

SOCIAL & EMOTIONAL: Through this domain a child can recognize itself as a social human being; feels safe and nurtured. An example of this are manners and using kind words.

     SPIRITUAL & MORAL: In this domain it is possible to teach about God, love and general values like honesty, tolerance or respect. Also, they learn to recognize the difference between right and wrong.   

The main thing to know about these domains is they are all equally important.  Running, jumping, and climbing are just important for a child as learning the ABC’s.  Most of all, let the child be a child!