Developmental Psychology

• • First four weeks of life
  • A time of transition from intrauterine dependency to independent existence

  Neonatal Period
• • Soft spots
  • Covered by a tough membrane
  • Where the bones have not yet grown together

  Fontanels
• • After birth, all of the baby's systems and function must operate on their own.
  • This transition occurs during the first four to six hours after deliver
• The fetus gets oxygen through the umbilical cord, which also carries away carbon dioxide
• 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)
• A stringy, greenish black waste matter formed in the fetal intestinal tract

  Meconium
• 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
• APGAR scale assesses the following:

  1. Appearance
  2. Pulse
  3. Grimace
  4. Activity
  5. Respiration
• APGAR scale should be performed 1 minute after delivery, and then again 5 minutes after birth
• In APGAR scale, the newborn is rated 0, 1, 2 on each measure, for a maximum score of 10
• In APGAR scale, a score below 7 means the baby need help to establish breathing; a score below 4 means the baby needs immediate lifesaving treatment
• Used to measure neonate's responses to the environment

  Brazelton Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale
• It assesses motor organization, state changes, attention and interactive capacities, and indications of central nervous system instability

  Brazelton Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale
• This assessment scale takes about 30 minutes
• Most new babies sleep about 75% 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 appears rhythmically in cycles of about 1 hour and accounts for up to 50% of a newborn's total sleep time
• Infants born before completing 37th week of gestation

  Preterm
• Infants whose birth weight is less than that of 90% of babies of the same gestational age

  Small-for-date infants
• To be fed through the veins

  Intravenously
• Method of skin-to-skin contact which a newborn is laid face down between the mother's breasts for an hour or so at a time after birth

  Kangaroo Care
• A fetus not yet born as of 2 weeks after the due date

  Postmaturity
• Death of a fetus at or after the 28th week of gestation

  Stillbirth
• Influences that reduce the impact of potentially negative influences and tend to predict positive outcomes

  Protective Factors
• • Development proceeds in a head-to-tail direction (the upper parts of the body develop before lower parts of the trunk)
  • Infants learn to use the upper parts of the body before the lower parts

  Cephalocaudal Principle
• • Development proceeds from within to without (parts of the body near the center develop before the extremities)
  • Children first develop the ability to use their upper arms and legs, then their forearms and forelegs, then hands and feet, and finally their fingers and toes

  Proximodistal Principle
• Teething usually begins around age 3 or 4 months but the first tooth may not actually arrive until sometime between ages 5 and 9 months
• By age 3, all 20 primary or deciduous teeth are in place and children can chew any food they want to
• Breast-feeding should begin immediately after birth and should continue for at least 1 year
• This part of the brain that maintains balance and motor coordination grows fastest during the 1st year of life

  Cerebellum
• The largest part of the brain is divided into right and left hemispheres

  Cerebrum
• Specialization of the hemispheres

  Lateralization
• This hemisphere is mainly concerned with language and logical thinking

  Left
• This hemisphere is concerned with visual and spatial functions (map reading and drawing)

  Right
• The outer surface of the cerebrum that govern vision, hearing, and other sensory information grow rapidly in the first few months after birth and are mature by age 6 months

  Cerebral Cortex
• Process by which neurons coordinate the activities of muscle groups

  Integration
• Process by which cells acquire specialized structures and functions

  Differentiation
• Pruning of excess cells

  Cell Death
• Enables signals to travels faster and more smoothly, permitting the achievement of mature functioning

  Myelination
• Primary reflexes are sucking, rooting, and the Moro.