Principles of development: Development defined -- Aspects of development -- Types of changes in development -- Causes of development -- Studies of maturation and learning -- Rate of development -- Three ways to indicate child's readiness to learn -- Characteristics of development -- Implications of the characteristics of development -- The major development tasks for children -- Factors influencing development -- Nine factors that influence development -- Developmental periods -- Pre-natal development: Some right concepts about pre-natal development -- Information about the living fetus -- Carriers of heredity -- Chromosomes and genes -- Maturation of sex cells -- Ovum versus spermatozoon -- How life begins -- Early stages of growth -- Significance of fertilization -- Difficulties of fertilization -- Periods in pre-natal development -- Developmental irregularities -- Two evidences show that maternal impressions cannot cause abnormalities -- Studies of developmental irregularities -- Causes of developmental irregularities -- The determination of sex -- Two outstanding problems have existed in relation to the determination of sex -- Predicting sex -- Controlling sex -- X and Y chromosomes -- Multiple births -- Definition of multiple births -- Different forms of multiple births -- Factors influencing pre-natal development -- The newborn infant -- Physical growth -- Motor development -- Development of speech -- Emotional development -- Social development -- Social adjustments -- Play -- Development of understanding -- Moral development -- Some childhood interests -- Family relationship -- Personality.