Infancy Development
Infancy Developmental Stage Worksheet
Using the text for this course, the University Library, the Internet, and/or other resources, answer the following questions. Your response to each question should be at least 250 words in length.
1. What are the major milestones related to physical developments in infancy? Briefly describe these milestones. How are motor, sensory, and perceptual skills developed in infancy? During infant physical development is the progress of synaptogenesis and subsequent pruning. From time an infant is born until it is 4 its brain mass quadruples and so do the number of dendrites and synapses (Boyd & Bee, 2006). A newborn infant already has an almost completely developed medulla and midbrain, but its cortex is very immature. During the first few years the cortex develops in a series of spurts. During these spurts the brain creates an enumeration of connections, in fact too many, and so pruning takes place thereafter in which unnecessary connections are severed. Myelinization of the reticular formation, amygdala, and hippocampus begin during infancy as well. Myelinization is the formation of sheaths on the axons of neuron which increases nerve conductivity and nerve conductivity velocity. Specifically, the myelinization of the reticular formation helps increase an infant’s ability to concentrate on a single task and relegate other automated tasks to extra-attentional processes, such as suckling or grasping. Furthermore, bones increase in number, density, and size during infancy. When a baby is born it has only one mass of cartilage in the wrist; however they develop over the course of childhood and adolescence into the nine bones that are present in adults. Bones also go through the process of ossification or harden during infancy. This hardening of bones eventually allows the infant to stand. Without this hardening the baby’s leg bones are not strong enough to support the baby’s full weight. Also, even though the full
Using the text for this course, the University Library, the Internet, and/or other resources, answer the following questions. Your response to each question should be at least 250 words in length.
1. What are the major milestones related to physical developments in infancy? Briefly describe these milestones. How are motor, sensory, and perceptual skills developed in infancy? During infant physical development is the progress of synaptogenesis and subsequent pruning. From time an infant is born until it is 4 its brain mass quadruples and so do the number of dendrites and synapses (Boyd & Bee, 2006). A newborn infant already has an almost completely developed medulla and midbrain, but its cortex is very immature. During the first few years the cortex develops in a series of spurts. During these spurts the brain creates an enumeration of connections, in fact too many, and so pruning takes place thereafter in which unnecessary connections are severed. Myelinization of the reticular formation, amygdala, and hippocampus begin during infancy as well. Myelinization is the formation of sheaths on the axons of neuron which increases nerve conductivity and nerve conductivity velocity. Specifically, the myelinization of the reticular formation helps increase an infant’s ability to concentrate on a single task and relegate other automated tasks to extra-attentional processes, such as suckling or grasping. Furthermore, bones increase in number, density, and size during infancy. When a baby is born it has only one mass of cartilage in the wrist; however they develop over the course of childhood and adolescence into the nine bones that are present in adults. Bones also go through the process of ossification or harden during infancy. This hardening of bones eventually allows the infant to stand. Without this hardening the baby’s leg bones are not strong enough to support the baby’s full weight. Also, even though the full