Physical Development in Infancy

1
Physical Development in Infancy

• Lecture 6
• C6035 Human Development

2
Physical Growth and Development In Infancy

• Cephalocaudal Proximodistal Patterns
• Cephalocaudal sequence in which greatest growth
  occurs at top (head), working its way to neck,
  shoulders, middle truck, so on
• Proximodistal sequence in which growth starts at
  center of body moves toward extremities

3
Height and Weight

• Infants double their birthweight by four months
  of age, tripled it by their first birthday,
  grow an inch a month during their first year
• By 2 years of age, infants weigh approximately 26
  to 32 pounds have reached about one-half of
  their adult height

4
(No Transcript)
5
(No Transcript)
6
(No Transcript)
7
The Brain

• Child is born with 100 billion nerve cells
• Neuron - nerve cell that processes information at
  cellular level.
• Dendrites receive information from other neurons,
  muscle or glands
• Axon transmits information
• Myelin sheath speeds information transmission
• Axon ends are the terminal buttons of the neuron

8
(No Transcript)
9
The Brains Development

• Between 10 and 26 weeks, the neuron connections
  are generated at 250,000 per minute
• Following this cells move to appropriate
  locations in brain in process called migration
• Finally, they are ready for collecting
  processing information, known as cell elaboration

10
(No Transcript)
11
Lobes and Hemispheres

• The forebrain contains cerebral cortex which
  makes up 80 of brains volume
• Responsible for language acquisition, perception
  thinking
• Divided into two halves known as the right and
  left sides of the brain
• Both hemispheres of brain interact in most
  complex brain functions

12
(No Transcript)
13
Early Experience and the Brain

• Scientific research on animals humans who have
  suffered brain damage, tells us that brain
  produces trillions of cells in early development
  which cannot possibly be used
• Animals reared in richly-stimulated environments
  have more neuronal connections than those reared
  in restricted environments
• Implication is children who are given a rich
  environment very early on, will develop greater
  neuronal connections for later useThere is some
  skepticism of this belief

14
Infant States

• States of consciousness or levels of awareness
  that characterize individuals. Some states are
• REM (rapid eye movement) sleep
• active sleep without REM
• indeterminate sleep
• drowsy
• inactive alert
• active awake
• crying

15
Nutrition

• Growing research supports nutrition programs for
  infants which will supply needed nutrients for
  proper physical, cognitive emotional
  development
• Breast/Bottle Feeding - While most experts
  believe that breast-feeding is nutritional better
  for infant presents problems for working mom
• Malnutrition - Infants who are malnourished in
  their first year may suffer from marasmus wasting
  away of body tissues caused by severe
  protein-calorie deficiency leads to severe
  underdevelopment of childs cognitive, physical
  emotional growth

16
Toilet Training

• Usually trained by age 3, in America there is
  much discussion debate as to methods employed
• Issue is exacerbated by working mothers who must
  leave their children in day-care centers which
  often require toilet-training as a prerequisite
  for admission

17
Immunization Prevention

• Programs for immunization has been credited with
  decline of infectious diseases.
• Beginning in infancy through 16 years of age,
  children should be immunized against diphtheria,
  polio, measles, mumps, rubella
• Accident Prevention - Between ages of 6 through
  12, accidents continue to rank as highest cause
  for injury death
• Increasing injuries are being reported on
  playgrounds

18
Motor DevelopmentReflexes

• Built-in reactions to stimuli which help the
  infant relate to environment
• Sucking Reflex - enables infants to get
  nourishment before they have associated a nipple
  with food
• Rooting Reflex - is when infant turns head toward
  side touched, again to gain nourishment
• Both rooting sucking reflexes disappear at 3 to
  4 months of age

19
Motor DevelopmentReflexes

• Moro Reflex - neonatal startle response that
  occurs at sudden noise or movement, believed to
  be vestige from primate ancestry for survival
  value
• Grasping Reflex - is when infant responds to
  being touched on palms it, too, disappears at
  end of third month.

20
Motor Development Gross and Fine Motor Skills

• Skills infant learns through muscle control
• Gross skills utilize large muscles for larger
  motor activities such as moving arms or legs
• Fine skills involve more finely turned movements
  such as finger dexterity.

21
(No Transcript)
22
(No Transcript)
23
Developmental Biodynamics

• Contends that infants need to assemble adaptive
  patterns by modifying their current movement
  patterns
• Repetitious cycles of action perception
• Relatively new theory.

24
Sensory and Perceptual Development

• What Are Sensation and Perception?
• Sensation occurs when information interacts with
  sensory receptors
• Perception is interpretation of what is sensed
• All information comes to infant through senses
  therefore relationship of sensation to perception
  is crucial for infant as it develops

25
Theories of Perceptual Development

• Constructivist View - states that perception is a
  cognitive construction based on sensory input
  plus information retrieved from memory
• Perception, is a representation of world that
  builds up as infant constructs an image of
  experiences(Piaget, Vygotsky)
• Ecological View - states perception has
  functional purposes of bringing organism in
  contact with environment and of increasing
  adaptation(Gibson)

26
Visual Perception

• Newborns vision is estimated to be 20/400 to
  20/800, but by six months it has improved to
  20/100
• Infants can distinguish colors by 2 months of age
• Researchers have also discovered that infants
  prefer patterns to colors or brightness and faces
  to shapes
• There is also evidence that infants can perceive
  depth as their heart rates increase when placed
  before an illusory precipice

27
(No Transcript)
28
Other Senses

• Hearing - Infants certainly can hear but stimulus
  needs to be louder than that needed for adults,
  recent research also tells us that fetus can hear
  respond to sounds outside womb
• Touch - Studies completed in 1999 have found that
  newborn infants do indeed feel pain, has raised
  issue with circumcision for boys caused many
  parents to rethink their choice on this matter
• Smell - Newborns can differentiate odors but not
  at birth
• Taste - may be present before birth after birth
  prefer salty sweet to sour

29
Intermodal Perception

• Ability to relate integrate information about
  two or more sensory modalities, such as vision
  hearing
• In studies with infants, some were found to be
  able to coordinate visual-auditory information
  involving people

30
Perceptual Motor Coupling and Coordination

• Theory by Esther Thelen which states that
  individuals perceive in order to move move in
  order to perceive, suggesting that perceptual
  motor growth do not develop in isolation of each
  other