Chapter 6

Growing!  Patterns of Growth Children grow faster during the first 3 years, especially during the first few months, than they ever will again This rapid growth rate tapers off during the second and third years

Body Growth  Gain 50% in height from birth to age 1. 75% by age 2  Grow in spurts  Gain “baby fat” until about 9 months, then get slimmer  Girls slightly shorter and lighter than boys

Changes in Body Proportions

Growth Trends Cephalocaudal  “Head to Tail”  Lower part of body grows later than the head Proximodistal  “Near to far”  Extremities grow later than head, chest, and trunk

Growing Gabe…

 Based on the material in your text… 1. What are the physical changes you observed? 2. What other changes do you think he’s gone through in his first 2 years of life? 3. What can impact physical development?

Major Milestones of Brain Development

Influences on Early Growth  Heredity  Nutrition  Emotional Well-Being

Benefits of Breastfeeding  Correct fat-protein balance  Nutritionally complete  More digestible  Better growth  Disease protection  Better jaw and tooth development  Easier transition to solid food

Regions of the Cerebral Cortex

Motor Development

Steps in Reaching and Grasping  Prereaching  Reaching With two hands, then one  Ulnar Grasp Adjust grip to object Move objects from hand to hand  Pincer Grasp

Developments in Hearing 4 – 6 months Sense of musical phrasing 6 months “Screen out” sounds from non- native languages 7 – 9 months Recognize familiar words, natural phrasing in native language 10 months Can detect words that start with weak syllables

Improvements in Vision Brain development helps infants reach adult levels of vision skills:  2 months: Focus and color vision  6 months: acuity, scanning & tracking  6–7 months: depth perception

Steps in Depth Perception Birth – 1 month Sensitivity to motion cues 2 – 4 months Sensitivity to binocular cues 5 –12 months Sensitivity to pictorial cues. Wariness of heights

Differentiation Theory of Infant Perception  Infants actively search for invariant, unchanging features of the environment. Borders of stimuli, faces  They note stable relationships between features Complex visual patterns, intermodal relationships  Perception gets more and more sensitive— differentiation  Acting on the environment helps this process.

Visual Cliff 