Physical Development in Infancy & Toddl erhood

Chapter 6 Physical Development in Infancy & Toddlerhood

Growing! • Patterns of Growth • Children grow faster during the first 3 years, especially during the first few months, than they ever will again • This rapid growth rate tapers off during the second and third years

Body Growth • Gain 50% in height from birth to age 1. 75% by age 2 • Grow in spurts • Gain “baby fat” until about 9 months, then get slimmer • Girls slightly shorter and lighter than boys

Changes in Body Proportions

Growth Trends Cephalocaudal • “Head to Tail” • Lower part of body grows later than the head Proximodistal • “Near to far” • Extremities grow later than head, chest, and trunk

Growing Gabe…

Growing Gabe… • Based on the material in your text… • What are the physical changes you observed? • What other changes do you think he’s gone through in his first 2 years of life? • What can impact physical development?

Influences on Early Growth • Heredity • Nutrition • Emotional Well-Being

Regions of the Cerebral Cortex

Motor Development

Steps in Reaching and Grasping • Prereaching • Reaching • With two hands, then one • Ulnar Grasp • Adjust grip to object • Move objects from hand to hand • Pincer Grasp

Developments in Hearing

Improvements in Vision Brain development helps infants reach adult levels of vision skills: • 2 months: Focus and color vision • 6 months: acuity, scanning & tracking • 6–7 months: depth perception

Steps in Depth Perception

Differentiation Theory of Infant Perception • Infants actively search for invariant, unchanging features of the environment. • Borders of stimuli, faces • They note stable relationships between features • Complex visual patterns, intermodal relationships • Perception gets more and more sensitive— differentiation • Acting on the environment helps this process.

Visual Cliff • http://youtu.be/p6cqNhHrMJA

Physical Development in Infancy & Toddl erhood