Infancy and Toddlerhood Physical, Cognitive, and Language Development

1. Infancy and ToddlerhoodPhysical, Cognitive, and Language Development Chapter 4 4

2. Infancy and Toddlerhood Physical, Cognitive, and Language Development The Developing Brain The Neonatal Period Physical and Motor Development Sensory and Perceptual Development Cognitive Development Language Development

3. Physical Development • During first two yeas of life—the periods known as infancy and toddlerhood— developmental change is more rapid and more dramatic than during any other 2-year period in the lifespan • Neurological functioning underlies much of infant development

4. The Developing Brain • The brain governs every aspect of our existence • We are born with most of the neurons we will have for the rest of our lives • Neurons get dedicated to certain functions and make connections with other neurons in order for development to occur • Brain experiences a growth spurt between birth and age 3 • By age 3, the brain is 90% of its adult weight

5. Video Clip • Shaken baby syndrome • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulLr3RZb9gY

6. Video Clip • Sudden Infant Death awareness video • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-oORfiQSjxw

7. Brain Development • The infant brain has plasticity • Functions can be reassigned to other brain areas • But plasticity makes brain vulnerable to environmental assaults • Early experiences have profound consequences on brain and thus later cognitive development

8. The Neonatal Period • The first month of life is referred to as the neonatal period • Babies must recover from the birth process and adjust to the functioning of their bodies’ organ systems • Neonates experience 6 behavioral states: • waking • crying • alert inactivity • drowsiness • regular sleep • irregular sleep

9. Neonatal Stage • Learning and Habituation • Learning is readily observable from birth • Infants habituate to their surroundings • Habituation is also used as a research technique • Neonatal Assessment • Hospitals perform evaluations to assess neurological and behavioral functioning • The Newborn Behavioral Observation system (NBO) • Parents who observe the assessment become more aware of their newborn’s individuality

10. Physical and Motor Development • The Gesell Scales summarize the physical and motor capabilities of average children at different ages • Environmental influences can impact on the timing and rate of development • Physical growth and motor development are linked to brain, cognitive, and social development

11. Growth in Height and Weight

12. Growth Trends

13. Physical and Motor Development • First Four Months • Physical growth is rapid • Weight doubles • Bodies begin to length • By 4 months, skin has lost its newborn look • Vision and hearing have improved • Teeth begin to emerge at 4 months

14. Physical and Motor Development • From 5 months to 8 months • Development of fine motor skills, used to perform tasks that require coordination and dexterity (grasping, for instance) • Gross motor skills develop, as large muscles develop and strengthen • Most 8-month-olds can sit without support and can stand with support

15. Physical and Motor Development • From 9 months to 12 months • By 12 months, they are 3 times heavier than at birth • They begin to walk • Cognitive and perceptual development progresses • They are leaning to play social games, like “hiding” • They can manipulate their environment, getting into things like cabinets

16. Physical and Motor Development • From 13 to 18 months • At 18 months, they weigh up to four times their birth rate • They are not yet able to climb stairs or kick a ball • They begin to feed themselves and can partly undress themselves • They try to repeat what they see others doing, like reading, talking on phone, even sweeping the floor

17. Physical and Motor Development • From 19 to 24 months • They weigh over four times their birth rate • By 24 months, then can pedal a tricycle, jump, climb steps, throw a ball • They can dress or undress with assistance. • They can begin to scribble

18. Physical Development: Overview of the First Two Years • 0-4 Months • Activities: Eyes can focus, reflexes become voluntary • Milestones: Discovery of hands and fingers, beginning of social smiling • 5-8 Months • Activities: First tooth, fine and gross motor skill development, social games • Milestones: Visually guided reach, sitting up, creeping/crawling

19. Physical Development: Overview of the First Two Years • 9-12 Months • Activities: Self-feeding, drinking from cup • Milestones: Standing and walking, development of “pincer grasp” • 13-18 Months • Activities: Stacking blocks, dress self, uses crayons, “imitation” games • Milestones: Walk without support, climbing stairs

20. Physical Development: Overview of the First Two Years • 19-24 months • Activities: pedal tricycle, can jump, can throw a ball • Milestones: High interest in exploring environment

21. Nutrition and Malnutrition • For being a wealthy and obese nation, it is hard to believe that 20 to 24% of U.S. children suffer from nutritional deficiencies, a lot of it the result of eating empty calories • Nearly 1/3 of the world’s children suffer growth stunting as a result of malnutrition • Half of the deaths of children under the age of 5 are due to malnutrition • The effects of malnutrition in early years are long-lasting • Brain size suffers, leading to deficits in attention and information processing

22. Nutrient Deficiencies and Their Effects

23. Nutrition and Malnutrition • Kwashiorkor is a condition caused by protein insufficiency, especially common in famine-plagued Africa • Marasmus is a condition of wasting away of the muscles caused by insufficient quantity of food • Breast feeding is encouraged because it provides children the proper blend of nutrients, is sterile, and provides better immunity • Culture determines when children are weaned: as early as 3 or 4 months or as late as 2 to 3 years

24. Video Clip • Describes research findings on the benefit of breastfeeding just after birth • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvR0a0WQ8TY

25. Video Clip • UNICEF video on the promotion of breastfeeding in Tajikistan • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeq2zB2Puh4

26. Percentage of Babies Being Breastfed in Developing Nations

27. Sensory and Perceptual Development • Vision and Visual Perception • Born with blurry vision • Focusing ability develops by 3 to 4 months • Ability to discriminate between colors improves by 6 months • Infants engage in selective visual attention, and are especially drawn to pictures of their mothers and other human faces • Depth perception develops by about 6 months, according to the visual cliff research paradigm

28. Sensory and Perceptual Development • Hearing and Auditory Perception • Acuity of hearing improves so that by 6 months they have well-developed auditory perception • Infants can localize the sources of sounds within the first days of life • Infants are especially attentive to human speech, preferring their mother’s voice

29. Sensory and Perceptual Development • Touch, taste and smell are fully operational at birth • They discriminate among sweet, salty, sour, and bitter tastes • They can distinguish the smell of their mother by 4 months • Touch is well developed, even in newborns • Newborns also feel pain

30. Sensory and Perceptual Development • Infants gradually integrate sensory perceptions—sensory integration • They can match a film to its matching soundtrack by 4 months • Sensory integration becomes better refined as development proceeds • For instance, they can recognize something risky and avoid the danger

31. Cognitive Development • Cognitive development refers to the growth and refinement of the intellectual processes of thinking, learning, perceiving, remembering, and understanding • Infants may be born with the ability to perceive the world in categories • Piaget believed that infants construct their world through schemes

32. Piaget’s Sensorimotor Period • Ages 0 to 24 months • Children adapt to their environment and adjust their mental schemes by assimilation and accommodation. Together, they represent what Piaget called adaptation to the environment • They learn about the world through their senses and bodies and through the manipulation of objects • By 8 months, they develop object permanence, the ability to have a mental conception of an object when it is not present

33. Cognitive Development • Children begin to imitate behavior or others by 6 or 7 months • Any earlier than that, their seeming imitation may be reflexive • Only at 18 months did Piaget believe children could engage in deferred imitation • By 11 or 12 months, children can begin to engage in symbolicrepresentation—thinking about something that is not present, pretending

34. An Overview of Sensorimotor Development

35. Language Development • Language development includes learning to speak or produce oral language, learning the meaning of words, the rules of language, and learning to read and write • Receptivelanguage – understanding spoken or written words • Productivelanguage – producing language through speech and writing

36. Linguistic Terminology

37. Words and Sentences • Most children speak their first words at the end of their first year • Their vocabulary rapidly grows • They employ overextensions, referring to all animals as dogs, for instance • Before they use several words at a time, they use one word—holophrases—to convey complex ideas

38. Examples of Overextensions of Words

39. Language Development • By 21 months, children begin to acquire vocabulary at a fast rate • They become sensitive to the ways words are used • They begin to put words together into short sentences, known as telegraphic speech • Language development is a complex interaction between biology and environment

40. Summary • During the first two years of life, change is more rapid than at any other period during the life span • One of the most important developmental changes in infancy and toddlerhood is the brain • The brain develops by adding new connections among neurons and pruning away connections that are not needed • At this early age, the brain is very plastic and can adapt to the environment. This poses great opportunity as well as risk

41. Summary • During the first month of life—the neonatal period—the child has to adjust from the birth process • During the first four months of life, physical growth is rapid • Fine motor skills begin to develop at 5 to 8 months of age • At about 12 months, 50% of infants are standing and taking their first steps, and beginning to feed themselves and play social games • By the age of 2 years, they can pedal a tricycle, throw a ball, and begin to dress themselves

42. Summary • Sensory and perceptual development at this stage involve attainment of binocular vision, improvement of their hearing, and the integration of several sensory perceptions at one time. • Cognitive development is closely linked to the development of sensation and perception. • Piaget believed that infants possess mental structures (schemes) that function like categories of thought. • Their schemes are bases on their sensations and perceptions, in what Piaget called the sensorimotor stage.

43. Summary • Language development is an important part of infancy and toddlerhood. Babies learn language, and learn to use language, in stages. • The stages begin with babbling, proceed to the one-word stage, and then to telegraphic speech. • It is believed that humans are born with the neurological capacity for language, but language must develop in the context of communication with others. • As in most important aspects of human development, language development involves biological, environmental, and cultural factors.