KEY TERMS AND CONCEPTS

• Growth

• Development

• Norms

• Low birth weight

• Fine motor development

• Gross motor development

• Maturational theory

• Genogram

Introduction

Everyone understands in a general way what is meant by growth. You only have to walk into a nursery or school and see the wall charts that enable parents or teachers to assess the heights of children. Listening in on any conversation between parents and grandparents about a grandchild will also generally reveal a reference to the child's growth at some point.

The British Medical Dictionary defines growth as ‘The progressive development of a living being or part of an organism from its earliest stage to maturation including the attendant increase in size’. In the same dictionary, the definition of ‘development’ is: ‘The series of changes by which the individual embryo becomes a mature organism’. ‘Growth’ tends to have the restricted meaning of anatomical and physical change. That is, it refers to an increase in size. Its progression is mainly structural and can be measured or quantified. Development refers to an increase in complexity involving both structure and function and, as such, covers the emergence of psychological attributes, ideas and understanding, as well as the acquisition of motor and sensory skills.