Definition of growth and development
Growth is the progressive increase in the size of a child or parts of a child. Development is progressive acquisition of various skills (abilities) such as head support, speaking, learning, expressing the feelings and relating with other people. Growth and development go together but at different rates.
Importance of assessing growth and development
The assessment of growth and development is very helpful in finding out the state of health and nutrition of a child. Continuous normal growth and development indicate a good state of health and nutrition of a child. Abnormal growth or growth failure is a symptom of disease. Hence, measurement of growth is an essential component of the physical examination.
Factors affecting growth and development
Each child’s path or pattern of growth and development is determined by genetic and environmental factors. The genetic factors determine the potential and limitations of growth and development. If favourable, the environmental factors, such as adequate nutrition, facilitate the achievement of the genetic potential of growth and development. Unfavourable factors, acting singly or in combination, slow or stop growth and development. Some of the unfavourable factors are malnutrition, infections, congenital malformations, hormonal disturbances, disability, lack of emotional support, lack of play, and lack of language training. To promote optimum growth, these environmental factors can be removed or minimized. Once they are removed, there follows a period of catch up growth. During this period the growth rate is greater than normal. This growth rate continues until the previous growth pattern is reached. Then the growth rate is reduced to the normal rate determined by the individual’s genetic factors. A child genetically determined to be tall grows slightly more rapidly than a child genetically determined to be short. Similarly, a child genetically determined to be clever develops their intellect more rapidly than a child genetically determined to be less intelligent.
Let us now find out how we measure growth.