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Childhood & Adolescence: Voyages in Development
Chapter Five: Infancy: Physical Development
Notes:
• What Are the Sequences of Physical Development?
➢ Cephalocaudal Development o Upper part of the head to the lower parts of the body ➢ Proximodistal Development o Trunk outward – from body’s central axis toward periphery ➢ Differentiation o Tendency of behavior to become more specific and distinct
• What Patterns of Growth Occur in Infancy?
➢ Weight doubles at about 5 months; triples by first birthday ➢ Height increase by 50% in first year ➢ Growth appears continuous but actually occurs in spurts ➢ Infants grow 4 to 6 inches in second year; and gain 4 to 7 pounds o Boys reach half their adult height at 2-years; girls at 18-months
• Failure to Thrive
➢ Growth impairment during infancy and early childhood ➢ Causes may be organic or non-organic o Biologically based or non-biologically based ➢ Linked to physical, cognitive, behavioral, and emotional problems ➢ Deficiencies in caregiver-child interaction may play a role o Reactive attachment disorder ➢ Marasmus o Condition related to FTT; diet low in essential nutrition ➢ Treatment requires both nutritional and adjustment support ➢ Canalization – catch up growth once FTT is resolved
• What Are the Nutritional Needs of Infants?
➢ Overall nutritional status of U.S. children is good compared with most other countries o Federal programs assist low-income families ➢ 44% of U.S. children live below the federal poverty level o Include majority of African American children, Latin American children, and American Indian children. ➢ Infants require breast milk or iron fortified formula o Recommendation that infants be fed breast milk through first year ➢ Solid foods may be introduced about 4 to 6 months
o Iron-enriched cereal, strained fruits, vegetables, and meats
• Breastfeeding vs. Bottle Feeding
➢ Move from breast feeding to formula was influenced by o Women entering the workforce o View of bottle feeding as scientific o Women’s movement ➢ Choice to breast feed is influenced by: o Domestic and occupational arrangements o Attitudes regarding benefits for bonding and infant health o Fear of pain, unease with breast feeding, and public breast feeding o Community and familial support o Level of education ➢ Colostrum early form of breast milk o High level of nutrients into low volume
• Advantages of Breast Milk
➢ Advantages of breast feeding for the mother o Reduces risk of early breast and ovarian cancer o Builds strength of bones o Lessens weight retention after delivery o Helps response to stress ➢ Babies prefer human milk to formula ➢ It is well-suited to baby’s nutritional needs ➢ It provides life-long health benefits to the baby
• Disadvantages of Breast Milk
➢ Disadvantages of breast milk o HIV, alcohol, drugs, and environmental hazards may be transmitted through breast milk o Mother must be adequately nourished o Physical demands on mother ➢ What about mothers who smoke? o No harmful effects on infants have been noted
• What Are Neurons?
➢ Basic unit of nervous system o Receive and transmit messages ➢ Neurons vary according to function and location, but all contain o Cell Body: contains a nucleus o Dendrites: branchlike structures; receive incoming signals from other neurons (referred to as the head of the cell)
o Myelination of sensory areas ❖ Hearing – from 6th month of pregnancy to age 4 ❖ Vision – shortly before full term, but develops rapidly
• How Do Nature and Nurture Interact to Affect Brain Development?
➢ Brain development is affected by maturation (nature) and sensory stimulation and motor activity (nurture) o Rats in enriched environment ❖ More synapses per neuron o Human infants have more neural connections than adults ❖ If activated by experience, connection survives ❖ If not activated, connection does not survive o Adequate fetal nutrition is necessary, especially during growth spurts
• Motor Development
➢ Developments in the activity of muscles, and changes in posture, movement, and coordination ➢ Follows cephalocaudal and proximodistal patterns o Control of head and upper torso before arms o Control trunk and shoulders before hands and fingers
• Control of the Hands
➢ Newborns track objects with eyes but do not reach for them ➢ Grasp reflex o Grasp but do not release intentionally ➢ Voluntary grasping o Ulnar grasp o Pincer grasp ➢ Visual – motor coordination
• Locomotion
➢ Moving from one place to another ➢ Sequence with variation in ages of initiation o Roll over, sit, crawl, creep, walk (supported and unaided) ➢ Muscle strength, density of bones, balance, and coordination improve o Climb steps, run, walk backward, kick a ball, jump
• How Do Nature and Nurture Interact to Affect Motor Development?
➢ Maturation (nature) o Myelination and differentiation is needed for certain voluntary motor activities ➢ Experience (nurture)
o Experimentation to achieve milestones o Slight effect in training to accelerate motor skills ➢ Reaction range o Limits for the expression of inherited traits
• Development of Visual Acuity and Peripheral Vision
➢ Neonates are nearsighted o Greatest gains in visual acuity between birth and 6 months o By about 3 to 5 years of age, approximate adult levels ➢ Neonates have poor peripheral vision o Perceive stimuli within 30-degree angle o By 7 weeks increases to 45 degrees o By 6 months of age, equal to adult (90 degrees)
• Visual Preferences
➢ Neonates look at stripes longer than at blobs o By 8 to 12 weeks, prefer curved lines over straight ➢ Infants prefer faces o Discriminate maternal and stranger faces o Prefer attractive faces o Pay most attention to edges ➢ Attention is captured by movement and sharp contrasts in brightness and shape
• Development of Depth Perception
➢ Depth Perception o Develops around 6 to 8 months (onset of crawling) ➢ Research using the Visual Cliff o Gibson and Walk (1960) o Heart-rate response to determine fear o Relationship between crawling and fear of heights ❖ Avoidance of the cliff and infants’ posture
• Development of Perceptual Constancies
➢ Perceptual constancy – perception of object remains stable although sensations may differ under various conditions ➢ Size constancy – perception of object’s size remains stable although retinal size may differ o Bower (1974) ➢ Shape constancy – perception of object’s shape remains stable although shape on retina may change
• Development of Hearing
