DEVPSY 2

• Cephalocaudal Principle


  • Growth starts from the top part of the body (i.e., brain to foot)
• Proximodistal Principle


  • Growth proceed from the center of the body outward (e.g., Palm (grasping) to fingers)
• Children grow faster during the first 3 years
• Teething usually begins around 3-4 months
• Growth slows in the second year of life
• Growth isn't often smooth and continuous but rather is episodic, occurring in spurts
• Benefits of Breastfeeding


  • Babies are less likely to contract infectious illnesses
  • Lower risks of SIDS and of Post-neonatal death
  • Lesser risks of inflammatory bowel disease
  • Better visual acuity, neurological development, and long-term cardiovascular health
  • Less likely to develop obesity, asthma, eczema, diabetes, lymphoma, etc.
  • Less likely to show language and motor delays
  • Score higher on cognitive tests
  • Fewer cavities and are less likely to need braces
  • Mothers can quickly recover with childbirth
  • They are more likely to return to the pre-pregnancy weight
  • Reduced risk of anemia and lowered risk of repeat pregnancy while breastfeeding
  • Report feeling more confident and less anxious
  • Less likely to develop osteoporosis or ovarian and premenopausal breast cancer
  • Reduction in type 2 diabetes
• The only acceptable alternative to breast milk is Iron-Fortified Formula based on either cow's milk or soy protein
• Babies should consume nothing but milk during the first 6 months of life
• Brain


  • By age of 6, the brain is almost adult size but some parts are still continuously developing
  • Brain Growth Spurts – brain's growth occurs in fits and starts
  • By birth, spinal cord and brain stem has nearly run its course (responsible for breathing, heart rate, temp, and sleep-wake cycle)
  • Cerebellum (maintains balance and motor coordination) grows the fastest during the first year of life
  • Lateralization – specialization of the hemispheres
  • Left Hemisphere – concerned with language and logical thinking
  • Right Hemisphere – concerned with visual and spatial functions
  • Corpus Callosum – tough band of tissue that joins the two hemisphere which allows them to share info and coordinate commands
  • Occipital – smallest; concerned with visual processing
  • Parietal – involved with integrating sensory info from the body; movement and manipulation of objects
  • Temporal – interpret smells and sounds and involved in memory
  • Frontal Lobe – involved in high-order processes such as reasoning and problem solving
  • Cerebral Cortex – outer surface of the cerebrum; grows rapidly in the first few months and are mature by age 6 months
  • Brain Growth Spurt begins at about the third trimester of gestation and continues until at least the 4th year of life
• Neurons


  Send and receive info in the brain
• Glia or Glial Cells


  Nourish and protect the neurons
• Axon


  Sends signals to other neurons
• Dendrites


  Receive incoming messages
• Synapses


  Tiny gaps which are bridged with the help of chemicals
• Integration


  Neurons that control various groups of muscle coordinate their activities
• Differentiation


  Each neuron takes on a specific, specialized structure and function
• Cell Death


  Pruning of cells which is a way to calibrate the developing brain to the local environment and help it work more efficiently, beings during the prenatal period and continues after birth
• Myelination


  Enables signals to travel faster and more smoothly by coating the neural pathways with myelin
• Children who grew up in deprived environment may have depressed brain activity
• Neuroconstructivist View

  • Biological process and environmental conditions influences development, the brain is plastic, and the child's cognitive development is closed linked to development of the brain
  • Emphasized the importance of considering interactions between experience and gene expression in the brain's development
• Reflex Behavior

  Automatic, innate response to stimulation which are controlled by the lower brain centers that govern involuntary processes
• Primitive reflexes

  • Sucking
  • Rooting
  • Moro reflex
• Postural Reflexes

  Reactions to changes in position or balance
• Locomotor Reflex


  Resemble voluntary movements that do not appear until months after the reflexes have disappeared
• Early Reflexes Disappear during the first 6-12 months
• Early Human Reflexes

  • Moro
  • Darwinian (Grasping)
  • Tonic Neck
  • Fencer
  • Babkin
  • Babinski
  • Rooting
  • Walking
  • Swimming
• Brain is Plastic, they are living, changeable organs which responds to environmental influences (Plasticity)
• Early Sensory Capacity

  • Touch is the first sense to develop, the most mature sensory system for the first several months
  • Newborns can and do feel pain
  • Sense of smell and taste begin to develop in the womb
  • Newborns strongly dislike bitter flavors
  • Auditory Discrimination develops rapidly after birth
  • At 4 moths, infant's brain responds preferentially to speech
  • Vision is the least developed sense at birth
  • Binocular Vision (the use of both eyes to focus) does not develop until 4-5 months
  • Infants like attractive faces
• Sleep

  Restores, replenishes, and rebuilds our brains and bodies
• Evolutionary Perspective on Sleep


  • All animals sleep and this sleep is necessary for survival (to protect themselves at night)
• Restorative Perspective on Sleep

  • Sleep replenishes and rebuilds the brain and the body such as clearing out neural tissues
• Plasticity Perspective on Sleep


  • Sleep is critical for brain plasticity, i.e., increases synaptic connections between neurons which is linked to improved consolidation of memories
• Newborns sleep approx. 18 hrs/day
• Non-REM Sleep


  No eye movement and sleep is more quiet
• Rapid Eye Movement (REM Sleep)

  • The eyes flutter beneath the closed lids
  • Usually appears 1 hr after non-rem (adults)
  • Half of infant's sleep is REM
  • May provide infants with added self-stimulation
  • Promote brain development in infancy
  • When adults wake up from REM Sleep, they report dreaming
• There is a positive link between infant sleep and cognitive functioning
• Denver Developmental Screening Test


  • Used to chart progress between ages 1 month and 6 years and to identify children who are not developing normally
  • Measures Gross Motor Skills (using large muscles), Fine Motor Skills (using small muscles), Language Development, Personality, and Social Development
• Motor Development


  1. First Month: Infants can turn their Head from side to side, Grasping Reflex

  2. Second-Third Month: Babies can life their heads, Can grasp moderate sized things until they will be able to grasp one thing using right hand and transfer it to their left hand, Babies can now hold their head still to find out whether the object is moving, They can already match the voice to faces, Distinguish female and male, Discriminate between faces of their own ethnic group and those of other groups, Size constancy, Infants develop the ability to perceive that occluded objects are whole

  3. Fourth Month: Babies can keep their heads erect while being held or supported in a sitting position, Can now roll-over, accidentally, Begin to reach objects

  4. Sixth Month: Babies cannot sit without support, Can start creeping or crawling, Could successfully reach for objects in the dark faster than they could in the light, They can now localize or detect sounds from their origins

  5. Seventh Month: Pincer Grasps could already manifest, Can start standing, Can now sit independently

  6. Eighth Month: Babies can assume sitting position without help, Infants can now learn to pull themselves up and hold on to a chair

  7. Tenth Month: They can now stand alone

  8. Eleventh Month: Babies can let go and stand alone well

  9. Thirteenth Month: Toddlers can now pull a toy attached to a string and use their hands and legs to climb stairs

  10. Eighteenth to Twenty-Fourth Month: Toddlers can now walk quickly, run, and balance on their feet in a squatting position
• Crawling

  Helps babies learn to judge distances and perceive depth