General Infant Development Chart

1. General infant development
a. Infant period
i. Neonate/newborn: 28 days of life ii. Infant: 1 month-1 year
b. Physical changes
i. Greatest period of physical development ii. Birthweight
1. Avg 7.5-8 lbs
2. Doubles at 6 months
3. Triples at 1 year
4. Growth variations= genetics, nutrition, activity, disease iii. Height
1. 19-21 in
2. Increases 10-12 inch by 1st year
3. Half adult height by 2 years iv. Head circumference
1. 13-14 inch
2. Fontanels: openings in the baby skull (allows skull to expand)
a. Posterior closure at 3 months
b. Anterior closure at 18 months
v. Brain/nervous system
1. Midbrain/medulla: vital functions (HR, RR, sleep/wake, elimination)
2. Cortex: perception, thinking, language, body movement
3.
8-12 months= can imitate other people's facial expressions
c. 1 year= imitation of any action that wasn't in child's repertoire
d. 18 months= deferred imitation: child's imitation of some action at a later time
4. Challenges
a. Piaget underestimated cognitive capacity of infants
b. May have wrongly equated infant's lack of physical ability w/ lack of cognitive understanding
c. Object permanence studies incorporating computer technology suggests development happens a lot earlier than predicted ii. Object permanence research
1. Spelke's study of object permanence--> babies have some built in assumptions of object connections
2. Baillargeon
a. Knowledge of objects isn't built in but learning is innate
b. Babies as young as 4 months show clear signs of object permanence
3. Recent theories--> object permanence is more of a process of elaboration/development than that of discovery
b. Learning, categorizing and memory
i. Classical conditioning
1. Learning of emotional responses as early as 1st week of life
2. Stimulus response connection ii. Operant conditioning--> both sucking responses and head turning have been increased using reinforcement iii. Modeling
1. Observers
2. Actors iv. Schematic
Tenses and inflections (overregulation) iii. Fast mapping (3-->6)
1. Grouping objects in classes
2. Linking new words to real world referents
3. Hypothesizing meanings of new words w. associated class iv. Phonological awareness
1. Learning that sounds are associated w/ letters
2. Leads to faster learning to read
3. Learned through rhymes, games and inventive spelling
5. Early childhood II
a. Social and personality development
i. Freud
1. Anal stage
a. Toilet training struggles
b. Control over bodily functions
c. May fear loss of body w/ toilet flushing
2. Phallic stage
a. Oedipus or electra complex--> desires opposite sex parent
b. Task= identify w/ same sex parent
c. Developing gender identity and gender stability
i. Labels sex differences by 2-3 ii. May explore body (masturbation normal)
d. Sex types behavior develops ii. Erikson
1. Toddler (autonomy vs. shame and doubt)--> centered around toddler's new mobility and desire for autonomy
2. Preschooler (initiative vs. guilt)
a. Ushered in by new cognitive skills
b. Developing conscience dictates boundaries
c. Understanding right and wrong/sense of guilt iii. Kohlberg--> moral development
1. Toddler
a. Amoral at this stage
b. Follows commands
2.