DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY (RGO KIT)

• The first year is characterized by the development of motor skills, including reaching, grasping, crawling, standing, walking, and running.
• By age two, children can understand simple sentences and use short phrases to communicate their needs and wants.
• Language acquisition begins with babbling sounds at around six months old, followed by single words at about one year old.
• neonatal period

  first four weeks of life, a time of transition from intrauterine dependency to independent existence.
• in their first few days, neonates loses as much as 10% of body weight because of loss of fluids

  -they gain weight at the 5th day and generally back to birth weight by the 10th to 14th day
• neonates

  newborn

  -boys tend to be slightly longer than girls
• Neonatal period


  First four weeks of life, a time of transition from intrauterine dependency to independent existence
• In their first few days, neonates lose as much as 10 percent of their body weight, primarily because of a loss of fluids
• Newborns begin to gain weight again at about the fifth day and are generally back to birth weight by the tenth to the fourteenth day
• Newborn


  • Large head (one-fourth the body length)
  • Receding chin (which makes it easier to nurse)
• At first, a neonate's head may be long and misshapen because of the molding that eased its passage through the mother's pelvis
• The places on the head where the bones have not yet grown together- the fontanels, or soft spots-are covered by a tough membrane
• Body systems before birth

  1. Blood circulation

  2. Respiration

  3. Nourishment

  4. Elimination of waste

  5. Temperature regulation
• Body systems after birth

  1. All systems and functions must operate on their own

  2. Most of the work of this transition occurs during the first four to six hours after delivery
• The fetus and mother have separate circulatory systems and separate heartbeats; the fetus's blood is cleansed through the umbilical cord, which carries used blood to the placenta and returns a fresh supply
• A neonate's blood circulates wholly within the baby's body. The heartbeat at first is fast and irregular, and blood pressure does not stabilize until about ten days after birth
• The fetus gets oxygen through the umbilical cord, which also carries away carbon dioxide
• A newborn needs much more oxygen than before and now must get it alone. Most babies start to breathe as soon as they are exposed to air
• If breathing has not begun within about five minutes, the baby may suffer permanent brain injury caused by anoxia, lack of oxygen, or hypoxia, a reduced oxygen supply
• Because infants' lungs have only one-tenth as many air sacs as adults' do, infants (especially those born prematurely) are susceptible to respiratory problems
• Anoxia or hypoxia may occur during delivery (though rarely so) as a result of repeated compression of the placenta and umbilical cord with each contraction. This form of birth trauma can leave permanent brain damage, causing mental retardation, behavior problems, or even death
• In the uterus, the fetus relies on the umbilical cord to bring food from the mother and to carry fetal body wastes away
• At birth, babies instinctively suck to take in milk, and their own gastrointestinal secretions digest it
• During the first few days infants secrete meconium, a stringy, greenish-black waste matter formed in the fetal intestinal tract
• When the bowels and bladder are full, the sphincter muscles open automatically; a baby will not be able to control these muscles for many months
• Infantile reflexes are present during this stage, such as rooting, sucking, stepping, Moro, tonic neck, palmar grasp, and plantar grasp reflexes
• Layers of fat that develop during the last two months of fetal life


  • Enable healthy full-term infants to keep their body temperature constant after birth despite changes in air temperature
  • Newborn babies also maintain body temperature by increasing their activity when air temperature drops
• Apgar Scale


  Standard measurement of a newborn's condition; it assesses appearances, pulse, grimace, activity, and respiration
• Apgar Scale


  1. Assessed 1 minute after delivery

  2. Assessed again 5 minutes after birth
• Apgar Score


  • Newborn is rated 0, 1, or 2 on each measure, for a maximum score of 10
  • A score below 7 means the baby needs help to establish breathing
  • A score below 4 means the baby needs immediate lifesaving treatment
• Brazelton Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale (NBAS)


  • Neurological and behavioral test to measure neonate's responses to the environment
  • Assesses motor organization, reflexes, state changes, attention and interactive capacities, and indications of central nervous system instability
• The NBAS takes about 30 minutes, and scores are based on a baby's best performance
• State of Arousal


  An infant's physiological and behavioral status at a given moment in the periodic daily cycle of wakefulness, sleep, and activity
• Babies have an internal clock that regulates their daily cycles of eating, sleeping, and elimination and perhaps even their moods
• Most new babies sleep about 75 percent of their time-up to 18 hours a day-but wake up every 3 to 4 hours, day and night, for feeding
• Newborns' sleep


  • Alternates between quiet (regular) and active (irregular) sleep
  • Active sleep is probably the equivalent of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, which in adults is associated with dreaming
  • Active sleep appears rhythmically in cycles of about 1 hour and accounts for up to 50 percent of a newborn's total sleep time
• The amount of REM sleep declines to less than 30 percent of daily sleep time by age 3 and continues to decrease steadily throughout life
• Low birth weight


  • Preterm infants born before completing 37 weeks of gestation
  • Small-for-date infants-infants whose birth weight is less than that of 90 percent of babies of the same gestational age, as a result of slow fetal growth
  • Weight of less than 5% pounds (2.500 grams) at birth because of prematurity or being small for date
• Who is likely to have a low-birth-weight baby?