infant toddler

Infant/Toddler
Michelle Barnhart
Child Development
Jessica Rodriguez
June 5, 2012

“For infants and toddlers learning and living is the same thing. If they feel secure, treasured, loved, their own energy and curiosity will bring them new understanding and new skills”. There are many factors that contribute to an infant or toddler’s development; these characteristics are known as milestones. “Milestones are punctuations in a baby's growth and development. Milestones of physical development proceed from head to toe. Hence, the child first learns to control his head, then his body, arms and then legs. These milestones provide a guide to parents telling them what to expect and when to expect it.”(Physical development in Infants starts right at birth. Infants cannot control their body movements. Most of their movements are called reflexes. Their nervous system is not entirely developed. During the first months, infants can see clearly objects that are about 10 inches away from their faces. This is why holding baby close and looking at them face to face is important with bonding. By six months, their vision is more fully developed. By four months, most babies have some control of their muscles and nervous system. They can sit with support, hold their head up for short periods of time, and can roll from their side to their stomach. By five months, most babies can roll over. The next characteristic of infant development is social and emotional. . Babies cry to express anger, pain and hunger. It is their way of communicating. They begin to build trust as their parents or caregivers meet their needs. These needs can be met by feeding them when they are hungry, changing their diaper, and holding and comforting them when they cry. Infants smile in response to an enjoyable sound or when their tummy is full.

Jean Piaget was among the first psychologists to wrestle with the question of how a child develops from simple-thinking newborn to cognitively sophisticated adolescent and adult. Over a lifetime of grappling with this question, he developed a theory of cognitive development in which he identified four major stages or "periods" of development. Underlying this theory are the ideas that each stage of development is a self-contained unit, that each builds upon the preceding stage, that each proceeds from a loosely defined unit into a tightly integrated model, and that children proceed through these stages in a universal, fixed order. Piaget's stage model centers around the concept of schemas, that is, basic units of knowledge that serve as the building blocks of and framework for intellectual development. Infants in the first couple of years of life, according to Piaget, are capable only of forming simple schemas based on their actual physical encounters with the world: They must experience the world through their senses or motor actions (e.g., touch it, grab it, suck on it, bang it, throw it) in order to know anything about it. Piaget thus termed this the sensorimotor period of development. In the sensory-motor period, schemas are simple. For example, the very young infant develops a sucking schema; that is, the infant organizes information according to what can be sucked (fingers, pacifier, teething ring) and how sucking actions can vary (hard or soft, fast or slow). As the child grows and experiences new things in the world, schemas become more complex. Perhaps the crowning achievement of the sensory-motor period is the development of the idea that things exist independent of the child, even when the object is out of sight. This amazing new ability is called object permanence. This amazing new ability is called object permanence. According to Piaget, this knowledge (reflected in the toddler's continued search for an object even after it has been hidden) reflects an ability on the part of the child to form a mental picture.

As we grow older we change; these changes are most visible during infancy and childhood. From birth, babies grow larger and show noticeable development in both their social and intellectual competence. The study of age-related changes in human behavior is referred to as developmental psychology. Child development refers to the psychological and biological changes that occur in individuals from birth to adolescence. By understanding child development, psychologists know what to expect in infants and children at each developmental stage, and can therefore establish the limitations in infant’s and children’s growth and achievement.

“It has been said that our emotions make us seem most human” (1). Everyone has emotions, even babies that are only a few days old. Although babies do not appear to have fully developed personalities in their first few days of life, observations show that they actually exhibit quite considerable differences in temperament during this period. Some babies are calm and generally quiet, while others appear to be more ‘fussy’ and are quite active. They demonstrate remarkable emotional behaviors – for example they smile, laugh, cry, show fear, discomfort and excitement, and they form loving attachments. Emotions flood our existence and affect us all the time, and no study of human behavior, including child behavior, would be complete without also examining the power and value of our emotions.

Social development refers to the development of interaction between individuals and the surrounding human world, including relationships with others and also the social skills needed to fit into our culture and society. Social development can also be defined as the ability to behave in a manner that allows the individual to be accepted by their peers.

Toddler hood is a huge time of change for a child. The child is moving from being an infant to the next stage – toddler. Being a toddler is usually considered when a child is between “13 – 24 months of age” (13 – 18 months – young toddler, 19 – 24 months – older toddler) (Berk, 291). During the toddler years from ages one to three, young children want to become independent. “I do it” or “Me do it.” With gentle consistent care toddlers can learn to trust others. Being a toddler can be fun and at times one of the most trying stages for both child and the parents. Toddlers are now developing out of infancy and learning important language, cognitive, social, emotional, motor, and moral skills. These skills will help the toddler’s master further skills such as walking backwards and walking up and down the stairs. When children begin to learn how to walk, they are considered toddlers. This is term usually applied to children that are one to three years old. This stage is very important in a child’s life because a child learns and grows in many ways. The children have their own timetable to master each stage or skill, but once they master it a new stage begins. During this stage, most children are learning how to walk, talk, solve problems, and relate to others. The first stage of development is language development. This stage is one of the greatest interests for parents and health professionals. Just being able to know what to expect at each age allows parents and health professionals to track developmental milestones and be alert about language delays or disorders. The ability to understand words start at the first month of life, but a child won’t be able to speak until thinking and reasoning skills have developed and the vocal system including the vocal cords have matured. The important part of language development is the experimental sounds a baby makes since these exercise the vocal cords and encourage the brain to use and recognize sounds. At twelve months of age, a toddler can speak two to three words and points in response to words. Toddlers need space, materials and guidance to help in their development which mainly and essentially done through play. They need an environment that stimulates all the senses and welcomes activities that further their development in all areas. During toddler hood there are a vast amount of changes in the following developmental areas: cognitive; small and large motor skills; social; emotional; moral; physical and language. It is one of the roles of the early childhood teacher to set up the environment to foster development in all these areas. The environment should have a variety of materials that leads the child to explore and discover through play. During toddlerhood the brain’s synapses still continue to connect to form neurons. “Formation of synapses is rapid during the first two years, especially in the auditory, visual, and language areas of the cerebral cortex.” (Berk, 169) The neurons that are formed will only sustain if they’re used. It is the use it or lose it mentality. Hence, children need stimulation to continue their synapse connections. “Neurons that are seldom stimulated soon lose their synapses. In all, about 40% of synapses are pruned during childhood and adolescence.” (Berk, 169).

Teacher directed problem solving activities should be taking place in the classroom. Examples of such activities are as follows: Weighing objects to find out which object weighs more or less. Activities for infants include moving a rattle in front of the babies face, play baby games with your infant such as “peek-a-boo” or “pat-a-cake”. Activities for toddlers is giving your toddler a shape sorter encouraging them to put the blocks in and then take the lid off to remove them, give them blocks having them build a tower and then knock it down, hide a favorite toy behind or under something and then ask the child where it went. Activities for both of them include reading a book naming pictures then have them find them, play music and sing songs and have the older ones sing along with you, also just talking to your child, asking question just to carry a conversation with them.

References http://www.ehow.com/cognitive http://www.4cforkids.org/providers http://www.livestrong.com Rathus, S., (2010-2011), Child and Adolescent Development. CDEV- Student Edition