Principles of Physical Development

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Principles of Physical Development

• Cephalocaudal - development from head down.
  
• Structural Example

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Cephalocaudal DevelopmentFunctional Example
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Principles of Physical Development

• Proximodistal development from inside out
• Mass-to-specific gross motor skills (large
  muscles) develops first followed by fine motor
  (small muscles) skills

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Growth

• Newborn 20 inches long 7 1/2 pounds
• 1 inch per month
• ½ adult height by age 2
• double weight by 4 months, triple by 12 months
• Head Circumference
• Fontanels
• Ossification

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Growth

• Adolescence
• Puberty growth spurt - age 9 for girls, 11 for
  boys
• Sexual maturation

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Stages of Puberty

• Prepubescent Stage no longer a child but not
  yet an adolescent. Secondary sex characteristics
  begin to appear, but the reproductive organs are
  not yet fully developed.
• Pubescent Stage dividing line between
  childhood and adolescence. Signs of sexual
  maturity appear - the menstrual cycle in girls
  and the first nocturnal emissions in boys.
  Secondary sex characteristics continue to
  develop. Gametes are produced (not in the
  quantity/regularity of Fully mature sex organs).
• Postpubescent Stage Secondary sex
  characteristics become well developed and sex
  organs begin to function in a mature manner.

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Brain Development

• Human brain most functional and best-organized
  3 pounds of matter in universe.
• Part of Central Nervous System
• Controls voluntary and involuntary activities
• 2 Hemispheres with 4 lobes

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Development of Brain
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Brain
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Lobes

• Occipital lobe vision
• Temporal lobe speech/language and hearing
• Parietal lobe sensory motor processes
• Frontal lobe critical thinking

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Nervous System Development
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The Birth and Growth of Neurons

• Most neurons formed halfway through gestation
• Virtually no synaptic connections
• it is experience and interaction with the
  environment that forms the synaptic connections
• 83 of dendritic growth (connections between
  synapses) occurs after birth

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Childhood

• Synaptogenesis
• Myelination
• Lateralization
• Triples in weight by age 3

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Use it or lose it Natural Selection of Brain
Wiring

• Exposure to enriched environments with extra
  sensory and social stimulation enhances the
  connectivity of the synapses
• However, children and adolescents can lose up to
  20 million per day when not stimulated