In this essay I will be going to consider the lifespan development process and describe the following changes in an infant from content supported in my text. Infants are one of the most amazing transformations I think the world sees. To think we all came from infancy and developed into grown adults who do amazing things everyday. I’ll be talking about the physical change in an infant,as well as the mental changes they experience,and the sensory changes they go through that we all went through and eventually brought us to adulthood. Infants go through many changes in their first two years of life. All are very important and should be monitored, but the physical change in an infant is the most noticeable change. By the …show more content…
In this sub-stage the baby is learning about their surrounding environment by using their reflexes, which includes sucking when given a bottle or breast and how they can interact with their surroundings. After the first month the baby moves onto the second sub-stage which is primary circular reactions,and lasts until the baby is about four months old. During this stage the baby will repeat certain things that bring them pleasure and desired outcomes. Babies will begin to see that a pattern of events is connected and will begin to expect the second event after the first event has happened. When a baby hits four months old they will enter the secondary circular reaction stage which will last until they're 8 months old. Much like the primary circular reaction stage the baby will begin to repeat actions that bring them pleasure or a desired outcome, but instead of the baby just doing it to themselves the baby will repeat actions onto their environment. They also explore their environment by using their hands,mouths,and other body parts to touch and experiment with toys and other …show more content…
The child begins to be symbol-oriented,which means that they create a general image of things in their minds and retain them as examples of that object. At this sub-stage the child’s recognition memory improves greatly and they are able to remember routines and how certain things are done, they also begin to categorize things that are alike. Every day while they interact with and learn about their environment they are creating new connections and pathways between nerve cells both within their brains, and between their brains and bodies. While physical growth and change is easily observed and measured in precise terms such as in inches and pounds, cognitive change and development is a little harder to determine as clearly. Therefore, much about what experts know about mental and cognitive development is based on the careful observation of developmental theorists and their theories, such as Piaget's theory of cognitive development, which we discussed. The rapid physical growth of an infant which we talked about earlier is fueled by the nutrients that the infant receives. Without the proper nutrition,infants cannot reach their physical, and cognitive potential. It is important to breast feed your baby until they turn one, but if that’s not an option bottle feeding is widely accepted as
Sensorimotor stage that ranges from age birth to two where the baby begins learning through his senses and body control.
For my reflection paper I chose to write about chapter 9 that talks about lifespan development. This chapter grabbed my attention and I found it most interesting. In the textbookit discusses how there are certain factors that uncontrollably make us who we are. Those factorsare "unique combination of genes you inherited from your biological mother and father. Another is the historical era during which you grew up. Your individual development has also been shaped by the cultural, social, and family contexts within which you were raised." (Pg.352) The patterns of our lives are because of developmental psychology. "Developmental psychology is a scientific approach which aims to explain growth, change and consistency though the lifespan. Developmental
Sensorimotor stage (birth – 2 years old) – Children begin to make sense of the world around them based on their interaction with their physical environment. Reality begins to be defined.
The first stage is called sensorimotor which defines behaviors associated with infants up to two years of age. During the sensorimotor stage, children are seeking everything in which they can obtain a new taste, sound, feeling, and sight. Generally, children do not have understanding of these new experiences; it is more of exposure. The second stage is called preoperational which includes children from ages two through seven. “Children at this stage understand object permanence, but they still don’t get the concept of conservation. They don’t understand that changing a substance’s appearance doesn’t change its properties or quantity” (Psychology Notes HQ, 2015, Section Preoperational Stage). Piaget conducted an experiment with water, two identical glasses and a cylinder. Piaget poured the same amount of water in the two glasses; the children responded that there was indeed the same amount of water in the two glasses. He then took the two glasses of water and poured them into the cylinder. When asked if the tall beaker contained the same amount of water, the children responded that the beaker had more water than the glass. However, by the age of seven years of age, children can understand more complex and abstract concepts. At this point, the child is operating in the concrete operational stage. Children also can learn different rules; sometimes, they lack the understanding associated with those rules. When a child
He called this the sensorimotor period. There are six sub-stages in the sensorimotor stage. The first sub stage is simple reflex. This is an involuntary reaction that happens without the use of any thought. For example, when a baby sucks on something that is put into their mouth or when a baby jumps when startled by a loud noise. The second sub-stage is primary circular reactions. This reaction occurs at the age of one to four months old. This is when babies start to coordinate separate actions into single actions, when a baby puts their thumb in their mouth to suck on it. The Third sub-stage is secondary circular reaction and occurs between the ages four to eight month old. In this stage children become aware of things beyond their own body and start reacting to the outside world. The fourth sub-stage is called coordination of secondary circular reactions, and this is when the baby is eight months old to a year. The baby begins to develop goal directed behavior. For example, reaching for their bib at feeding time. Substage five is tertiary circular reactions and happens between the ages twelve to eighteen months.The child begins to discover new things by experiment. The sixth substage is the beginning of thought and is between the ages of eighteen months and two years. This is when a child will start to remember things such as events that have happened in their
1.1 Describe, in-depth, stages of development from conception to birth in groups of 4 weeks i.e. 0-4, 4-8, 8-12...36-40 weeks.
The first stage is infancy and it covers the first year of life. The issue in this stage is trust versus mistrust. This is a stage where an infant is completely dependent on their caregiver. Trust is built by the actions of the caregiver taking care of the child by feeding, bathing, changing diapers, showing affection, etc. If a child is not well taken care of then that child will not learn to trust others. New parents struggle with this stage a lot because of the loss of freedom and the diversion of some attention from spouse to newborn child. It is known as the oral-sensory stage because infants use their mouth to explore their new world. Parents must meet the
In the first stage, sensorimotor, the child starts to build an understanding of its world by synchronising sensory encounters with physical actions. They become capable of symbolic thought and start to achieve object permanence.
Phase 3 the infant will crawl to the person or will return in different periods for contac...
This is the embryonic period, which occurs three weeks after conception and lasts until the eighth week. During the fourth week, the shape of the head begins to form, along with the formation of the eyes, mouth, nose, and mouth. Through the fifth and eighth week the lower body develops, as the legs and arms appear. After the embryonic stage, the fetal stage begins, which is during the ninth week through birth, where the fetus has a physical appearance distinctive to human features compared to when it was an embryo. At birth, one of the earliest signs of motor development is its first reflexes as a newborn coming out the mother’s womb. Newborns reflexes are not learned, rather they are born with these reflexes and act instinctively to protect itself in its first few months of life. At this point both the physical and motor development is starting to develop naturally at the same
The different stages are based on different types of development such as motor skills, speech, social skills and hearing and vision. When a child is about 1 ½ months old they are able to hold up their own head steady. Of course they aren 't able to talk so the baby just does a lot of cooing and babbling. Even though children are very young they are very selective about who they communicate with. The baby usually will focus on the parents when it comes to who they see and hear, although they love to look at new faces and can even smile at their parents. Babies are often startled by any sudden
Cognitive development = == == == ==
Cognition is the process involved in thinking and mental activity, such as attention, memory and problem solving. In this essay on cognitive development I will compare and contrast the theories of Piaget and Vygotsky, who were both influential in forming a more scientific approach to analyzing the cognitive development process of the child active construction of knowledge. (Flanagan 1996 P.72). I will then evaluate the usefulness of these theories in understanding a child's development.
Child development and growth observation can be quite fascinating considering the uniqueness of each child. As children grow, they normally develop and acquire new skills whether complex or not. The abilities experienced by each child progresses differently that is it depends on the nurturing given by the parent or guardian and on the characteristics that they inherit. Proper development and growth of the child occurs when basic needs are provided by the reliable adult guardians, including such things as love, food, encouragement, shelter and warmth. The essay evaluates child development and growth through observation conducted by myself on my nephew. The essay will include physical development, general health, emotional development,
Rapid growth of the brain and nervous system continues during the early years of a child’s life, however because of birth defects or health problems some children may be at a risk of cognitive delays. Problems such as Autism, where children may have a difficult time with language skills and sensitivity to touch, behavioral problems, or chemical exposures can all affect a child’s cognitive development. For most children though with a proper diet and plenty of stimulation cognitive abilities will develop rapidly, and by about 7 years ones cognitive skills have become “functionally related to the elements of adult intelligence.”