PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT IN INFANCY & TODDLERHOOD

Chapter 6

Growing!

Patterns of GrowthChildren 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…

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Based on the material

in your text…

1. What are the physical changes you observed?

2. What other changes do you think he’s gone through in his first 2 years of life?

3. 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 objectMove objects from

hand to hand Pincer Grasp

Developments in Hearing

4 – 6 months

Sense of musical phrasing

6 months“Screen out” sounds from non-native languages

7 – 9 months

Recognize familiar words, natural phrasing in native language

10 months

Can detect words that start with weak syllables

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

Birth – 1 month Sensitivity to motion cues

2 – 4 months Sensitivity to binocular cues

5 –12 months

Sensitivity to pictorial cues. Wariness of heights

Differentiation Theory of Infant Perception

Infants actively search for invariant, unchanging features of the environment.Borders of stimuli, faces

They note stable relationships between featuresComplex visual patterns, intermodal relationships

Perception gets more and more sensitive— differentiation

Acting on the environment helps this process.

Visual Cliff

http://youtu.be/p6cqNhHrMJA