{"id":3803,"date":"2018-07-21T20:45:00","date_gmt":"2018-07-22T00:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.amyork.ca\/academic\/zz\/?p=3803"},"modified":"2019-05-25T22:22:34","modified_gmt":"2019-05-26T02:22:34","slug":"5-physical-development-in-infancy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.amyork.ca\/academic\/zz\/child-psychology\/5-physical-development-in-infancy\/","title":{"rendered":"Physical Development in Infancy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Growth and Stability<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Physical Growth: The Rapid Advances of Infancy\n<ul>\n<li>4 Principles of Growth\n<ul>\n<li>Cephalocaudal\u00ad growth follows a pattern that begins with the head and upper body parts and then proceeds down to the rest of the body<\/li>\n<li>Proximodistal\u00ad development proceeds from the center of the body outward<\/li>\n<li>Hierarchical Integration\u00ad simple skills typically develop separately and independently but are later integrated into more complex skills<\/li>\n<li>Independence System\u00ad different body systems grow at different rates\n<ul>\n<li>Growth in one system does not mean that there is growth in another area<\/li>\n<li>Ex: woman grows breasts but doesn&#8217;t grow in height<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>The Nervous System and Brain: The Foundations of Development\n<ul>\n<li>Nervous System\u00ad brain\/nerves that extend thru the body Neurons\u00ad basic cell of nervous system a. Dendrites\u00ad receive messages\n<ul>\n<li>Cell body\u00ad aka soma\u00ad<\/li>\n<li>Axon\u00ad transmits messages<\/li>\n<li>Synaptic Cleft\u00ad tiny space that separates neurons so they do not directly touch each other; where the axon terminal of one neuron nearly touches the dendrite or the cell body of another neuron<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Synapse\u00ad the gap at the connection between neurons, through which neurons chemically communicate with one another<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li>Synaptic Pruning\u00ad severing of unnecessary and unused connections; if a baby&#8217;s experiences do not stimulate certain nerve connections these are eliminated<\/li>\n<li>Myelin Sheath\u00ad a fatty substance that helps insulate neurons and speeds the transmission of nerve impulses<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Nodes of Ranvier\u00ad if an axon in unmyelinated\/uninsulated, the action potential at each point in the axon causes a new action potential at the next point; capable of generating electrical activity<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Neuron specialization\u00ad the neurons are also starting to differentiate into different areas of the brain<\/li>\n<li>Cerebral cortex\u00ad the upper layer of the brain responsible for higher\u00adorder processes such as thinking and reasoning; become more developed and interconnected over time<\/li>\n<li>Subcortical levels\u00ad located below the cerebral cortex; regulate such fundamental activities as breathing and heart rate are fully developed at birth<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Shaken Baby syndrome aka Abusive head trauma\/ inflicted traumatic brain injury\u00ad is a form of head trauma<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>How these injuries happen:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Results from injuries caused by someone vigorously shaking a child; major victims are infants younger than 1yr.<\/li>\n<li>Normal interaction with a child, like bouncing a baby on a knee, will NOT cause these injuries<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Environmental Influences on Brain Development<\/h3>\n<p>Plasticity\u00ad the degree to which a developing structure or behavior is modifiable due to experience<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Greatest during the first several years of life<\/li>\n<li>b\/c many areas of the brain aren&#8217;t specialized yet, if one part is damaged other areas can take over<\/li>\n<li>Downside? A particularly restricted or impoverished environment can have a negative effect on brain and cognitive development<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4>Infant Sleep<\/h4>\n<p>Newborns: 16\u00ad17hrs a day<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Low= 10hrs; high= 21hrs<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ol>\n<li>REM sleep\u00ad the period of sleep that is found in older children and adults and is associated with dreaming; also called paradoxical sleep<\/li>\n<li>SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome)\u00ad a condition that occurs when infants stop breathing, usually during the night, and suddenly die without an apparent cause<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ul>\n<li>American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that infants be placed on their back to reduce the risk<\/li>\n<li>Decreased from 70% to 20% of US infants<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Motor Development<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Reflexes: Our Inborn Physical Skills<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Reflexes\u00ad the unlearned, organized, voluntary responses that occur automatically in the presence of certain stimuli<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Presence and strength of a reflex is important sign of nervous system development and function.<\/li>\n<li>Infant reflexes disappear as children grow older\n<ul>\n<li>Stepping Reflex: 2 months; movement of legs when held upright with feet touching the floor; prepares infants for independent locomotion<\/li>\n<li>Swimming reflex: 4\u00ad6 months; infant&#8217;s tendency to paddle and kick in a sort of swimming motion when lying face down in a body of water; avoidance of danger<\/li>\n<li>Moro reflex: 6 months; activated when support for the neck and head is suddenly removed; similar to primates&#8217; protection from falling<\/li>\n<li>Babinski reflex: 8\u00ad12 months; infant fans out its toes in response to a stroke on the outside of the foot; unknown<\/li>\n<li>Startle reflex: remains in a different form; in response to a sudden noise, flings out its arms, arches its back and spreads its fingers; protection<\/li>\n<li>Eye\u00adblink reflex: remains; rapid shutting and opening of eye on exposure to direct light; protection of eye from direct light<\/li>\n<li>Gag reflex: remains; an infant&#8217;s reflex to clear its throat; prevents choking<\/li>\n<li>Motor Development in Infancy: Landmarks of Physical Achievement<\/li>\n<li>Gross and Fine Motor Skills<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Gross motor skills<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Placed on stomach an infant will wiggle arms and legs and may lift their heads<\/li>\n<li>Crawling: 8\u00ad10 months; mile stone<\/li>\n<li>Walking: 9 months; supported by furniture Fine motor skills<\/li>\n<li>3 months; shows ability to coordinate movement of limbs<\/li>\n<li>11 months; picking objects up<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li>Nutrition in Infancy\n<ul>\n<li>Malnutrition\u00ad the condition of having an improper amount and balance of nutrients<\/li>\n<li>Undernutrition\u00ad some deficiency in diet\n<ul>\n<li>Marasmus\u00ad<\/li>\n<li>Kwashiorkor\u00ad<\/li>\n<li>Nonorganic failure to thrive\u00ad disorder in which infants stop growing due to a lack of stimulation and attention as the result of inadequate parenting<\/li>\n<li>Obesity\u00ad a weight greater than 20% above the average for a given height<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Bottle or Breast<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Development of the Senses<\/p>\n<p>Sensation\u00ad the physical stimulation of the sense organs<\/p>\n<p>Perception\u00ad the sorting out, interpretation, analysis, and integration of stimuli involving the sense organs and brain<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Visual perception\u00ad newborns do not see that well; vision clears up around 3 months<\/li>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li>Visual cliff\u00ad involves an apparent, but not actual drop from ones surface to another.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Growth and Stability Physical Growth: The Rapid Advances of Infancy 4 Principles of Growth Cephalocaudal\u00ad growth follows a pattern that begins with the head and upper body parts and&hellip; <a class=\"continue\" href=\"https:\/\/www.amyork.ca\/academic\/zz\/child-psychology\/5-physical-development-in-infancy\/\">Continue Reading<span> Physical Development in Infancy<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[97],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.amyork.ca\/academic\/zz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3803"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.amyork.ca\/academic\/zz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.amyork.ca\/academic\/zz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.amyork.ca\/academic\/zz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.amyork.ca\/academic\/zz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3803"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.amyork.ca\/academic\/zz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3803\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4781,"href":"https:\/\/www.amyork.ca\/academic\/zz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3803\/revisions\/4781"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.amyork.ca\/academic\/zz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3803"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.amyork.ca\/academic\/zz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3803"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.amyork.ca\/academic\/zz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3803"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}