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Human Development: Pre-natal, Infancy and Childhood

A. Pre-natal period
1. Embryonic Stage: conception to 8 weeks
2. Fetal Stage: 8 weeks to birth
recognizably human
maintains an internal equilibrium that interacts
continuously with the intrauterine environment
(+) damage global impact
girls biological vigor than boys due to second X
chromosome
(+) behaviors necessary for adaptation outside the
womb
Fetal Stage
4-5 months AOG
16 to 20 weeks
17 weeks
18 weeks
5-6 months AOG
20 weeks
25 weeks

7 months AOG
28 weeks

Developmental Landmarks
- vigorous movements
- grasp reflex
- hears, responds to loud noises with
muscle contractions, movements,
and an increased heart rate
- retinal structures can detect bright
light flashed on the abdominal wall
causing - changes in fetal heart rate
and position
- Moro (startle reflex)
- eyelids open
- smell and taste are also developed
- sucking reflex

2.a. Development of the Nervous System


brain weight = 350 g at birth
4x in neocortex due to growth in the number and
branching of dendrites
uterine contractions cause the developing neural
network to receive and transmit impulses
2.a.i. Pruning
programmed elimination of certain brain
structures present at birth
occurs to rid of cells that have served their
function
immature brain can be vulnerable
implications in child and adult neuropsychiatric
disorders
2.b. Risk factors
2.b.i. Maternal Stress
correlates with levels of stress hormones that
act directly on the fetal neuronal network
anxious mothers hyperactive, irritable, and
low BW infants
2.b.ii. Maternal Substance Use
Alcohol

Smoking

Marijuana
Cocaine
Antibiotics,
anticonvulsants,
lithium, warfarin
Selective Serotonin
Reuptake Inhibitors
(SSRIs)

- leads to Fetal alcohol


syndrome: growth retardation,
minor anomalies, short
palpebral fissures, midface
hypoplasia, a smooth or short
philtrum, and a thin upper lip;
and CNS manifestations
- may be associated with ADHD
- leads to prematurity, low BW
infants, Sudden Infant Death
Syndrome (SIDs)
- prematurity, low BW infants,
withdrawal symptoms
- behavioral abnormalities
- teratogenic effects

- neonatal behavioral syndrome

2.b.iii. Radiation Exposure

2.b.iv. At 2 to 15 weeks AOG gross deformities,


stunted growth, abnormal brain function, or cancer
B. Infancy: Birth to 18 months
Infancy
Newborn

1 day old
3 days old

Developmental Landmarks
- Reflexes and Survival Systems
breathing, sucking, swallowing, and
circulatory and temperature
homeostasis
sensory organs are incompletely
developed
REM and non-REM sleep
crying, smiling
penile erection in males
can make noises
- (+) can smell mothers milk
- distinguish mothers voice

Language and Cognitive Development


Mastery of
Mastery of Expression
Comprehension
Birth to 6 months
- startle response to loud
- (+) vocalizations other
or sudden sounds
than crying
- attempts to localize
- (+) differential cries for
sounds
hunger, pain
- appears to listen, may
- vocalizes to show
respond with smile
pleasure
- recognizes warning,
- plays at making sounds
angry, and friendly
- babbles (a repeated
voices
series of sounds)
- responds to own name
7- 11 months (Attending to language)
- shows listening
- responds to own name
selectivity
with vocalizations
- listens to music or
- imitates the melody of
singing
utterances
- recognizes own name
- uses jargon
- looks at pictures being
- (+) gestures,
named for up to 1
exclamation
minute
- plays language games
- listens to speech without
(pat-a-cake, peekaboo)
being distracted by other
sounds
12-18 months (Single-Word)
- shows gross
- uses single words
discriminations between
- talks to toys, self, or
dissimilar sounds
others using long
- understands basic body
patterns of jargon and
parts, names of common
occasional words
objects
- utterances are 25%
- (+) understanding of
intelligible
some new words weekly
- articulates vowels
- identify simple objects
correctly with initial
- understands up to 150
and final consonants
words by age 18 months
often omitted
Emotional and Social Development
Emotional Skills
Birth to 2 months
- Love evoked by touching
- Fear evoked by loud
noise
- Rage evoked by body
restrictions
- Brain pathways for
emotion forming
3-4 months onward
- Self-regulation of

Emotional Behavior
- Social smile and joy
shown
- Responds to emotions of
others

- laughter possible and

Human Development: Pre-natal, Infancy and Childhood


emotions starts
more control over
- Brain pathways of
smiles; anger shown
emotion growing
7-12 months
- Self-regulation of
- Able to elicit more
emotion grows
responsiveness
- increased intensity of
- Denies to cope with
basic three
stress
1. Temperament (Chess and Thomas)
innate psycho-physiological characteristics
range of normal behavioral patterns
from the difficult child at one end of the spectrum
to the easy child at the other end
Rhythmicity
2. Attachment
Bonding is the term used to describe the intense
emotional and psychological relationship a mother
develops for her baby.
Attachment is the relationship the baby develops
with its caregivers.
3. Stranger Anxiety (at about 26 weeks to 32 weeks)
result from a baby's growing ability to distinguish
caregivers from all other persons
in babies exposed to only one caregiver
4. Separation anxiety (between 10 and 18 months)
related to stranger anxiety but not identical to it.
As infants separate by moving away from mother,
they constantly look back and return for
reassurance
5. Parental Fit
how well the parents relates to the infant
takes into account temperamental characteristics
of both parent and child
goodness of fit: harmonious and consonant
interaction between a parent and a child
Poor fit distorted development and maladaptive
functioning
C. Toddler: 18-30 months (2 years old)

gradually drop from


speech
- Increased vocabulary
Speech 50% to 80%
intelligible
- P, b, m articulated
correctly
- Speech may show
rhythmic disturbances

Emotional and Social Development


Emotional Skills
1-2 years
- Shame and pride appear;
envy, embarrassment
appear
- Displaces onto other
children

Emotional Behavior

- empathy starting;
expressions of feeling
- Likes attention and
approval
- enjoys play alone or
next to peers
2-5 years to 3-6 years (see table for pre-school)

1. Sexual Development
Children exhibit curiosity about anatomical sex
recognized as healthy and met with age-appropriate
replies, they acquire a sense of the wonder of life and
are comfortable with their own roles.
1.a. Gender identity
conviction of being male or female
manifests at 18 months and fixed by 24 to 30 mos
1.b. Gender role
the behavior that society deems appropriate for one sex
or another
2. Sphincter Control and Sleep
toilet training serves as a paradigm of the family's
general training practices
control of daytime urination 2 years
control of nighttime urination 4 years
generally sleep about 12 hours a day, including a 2-hour
nap: takes 30 minutes to sleep

Language and Cognitive Development


Mastery of Comprehension
Mastery of Expression
12-24 months (Two-Word Messages)
- Responds to simple
- Uses two-word
directions
utterances
- Responds to action
- Imitates environmental
commands
sounds in play
- Understands pronouns (me,
- Refers to self by name,
him, her, you)
begins to use pronouns
- Begins to understand
- Echoes two or more
complex sentences
last words
- uses three-word
telegraphic utterances
- Utterances 26% to 50%
intelligible
- Uses language to ask
for needs
24-36 months (Grammar Formation)
- Understands small body parts - Uses real sentences
(elbow, chin, eyebrow)
with grammatical
- Understands family name
function word
categories
- Usually announces
- Understands size
intentions before
- Understands most adjectives
acting
- Understands functions
- Conversations with
other children, usually
just monologues
- Jargon and echolalia

3. Parenting Issues
Parental task: firmness about the boundaries of
acceptable behavior and encouragement of the child's
progressive emancipation
Children will struggle for the exclusive affection and
attention of their parents rivalry
balance between punishment and permissiveness and
set realistic limits
D. Pre-school
Language and Cognitive Development
Mastery of
Mastery of Expression
Comprehension
36-54 months (Grammar development)
- Understands
- Correct articulation of n,
prepositions
w, ng, h, t, d, k, g
- Understands many
- Uses language to relate
words
incidents from the past
- Understands cause and
- Uses wide range of
effect
grammatical forms
- Understands analogies
- Plays with language
(Food is to eat, milk is
- Speech 90% intelligible
to________)
- Able to define words
- Can repeat a 12-syllable
sentence correctly
55 mos onward (True Communication)

Human Development: Pre-natal, Infancy and Childhood


1. Chum Period
an important phenomenon
by 10 years old close same-sex relationship
absence of a chum during middle childhood is an early
harbinger of schizophrenia (Sullivan)
2. School Refusal
generally due to separation anxiety
usually not an Isolated problem
typically avoid many other social situations

Other Issues in Childhood


1.

2.
-

1. Sibling Rivalry
birth of a sibling tests capacity of further
cooperation and sharing
depends on child-rearing practice. Favoritism for
any reason commonly aggravates such rivalry
If not handled properly, the displacement of the
firstborn can be a traumatic event
2. Play
1. Parallel play (2 and 3 years) solitary play alongside
another child with no interaction between them.
2. Associative play (by 3 years) - plays with the same
toys in pairs or in small groups, but still with no real
interaction among them.
3. Cooperative play (by age 4) - real interactions and
taking turns become possible.

3.

E. Middle Childhood
Language and Cognitive Development
expresses complex ideas
logical exploration tends to dominate
increase interest in rules and orderliness
increase capacity for self-regulation
ability to concentrate by 9 - 10 years
(+) complex motor tasks and activities

Dreams and Sleep


At 1 year old experienced as if true
At 3 years old shared by other children
At 4 years old unique to each child
The dream content should be seen in connection with
children's life experience, developmental stage,
mechanisms used during dreaming, and sex
disturbing dreams peak at 3,6 and 10 years of age
want to keep their bedroom door open or to have a
nightlight
aggressive dreams rare in early childhood
by age 7, children know that they create their dreams
themselves
often create rituals as protection
Parasomnias (at stage 4 sleep) when dreaming is
minimal do not indicate psychopathology

Birth Spacing
close spacing increases prematurity or underweight
births, and malnutrition
children from large families increases conduct
disorder and slightly decreased verbal intelligence
due to low parental interaction and discipline
-

4.

Birth Order (Sulloway)


Firstborn highly valued particularly if male
IQ in firstborn reflect parents having more time to
interact with the firstborn child
Firstborn children - more achievement oriented, most
authoritarian; conservative and conformists
Second and third children have the advantage of their
parents previous experience and can learn from their
older siblings; usually receive the least attention
the youngest children may receive too much attention
and be spoiled; tend to be rebellious high proportion
of prominent persons
-

3. Drawing
Helps trace the child's growth and express
creativity:
representational and formal in early childhood
make use of perspective in middle childhood
become abstract and affect laden in adolescence
also reflect children's body image concepts and
sexual and aggressive impulses
4. Imaginary Companions
in children with above-average intelligence and
usually in the form of persons
may also be anthropomorphized toys
friendly, relieve loneliness, and anxiety
disappear by age 12, but they can occasionally
persist into adulthood

Sex Role Development


The sex role also involves identification with culturally
acceptable masculine or feminine ways of behaving
Ambiguity is created as society grows more tolerant and
sex roles become less rigid.
-

5.

Stepparents

Types of Step Families


- Resembles traditional families
- Absent biological parent is included at times.
- Discipline, boundaries and limits, and
expectations are discussed openly.
- Family coalitions and side-taking are better
avoided.
Neo-Traditional

- Uses language to tell


stories, share ideas, and
discuss alternatives
- Increasing use of varied
grammar; spontaneous
self-correction of
grammatical errors
- Stabilizing of articulation
f, v, s, z, l, r, th, and
consonant clusters
- Speech 100% intelligible
Emotional and Social Development
Emotional Skills
Emotional Behavior
2-5 years to 3-6 years
- Can understand causes
- Empathy increases with
of many emotions
understanding
- Can begin to find ways
- More response and less
for regulating emotions
reaction
and for expressing them - self-regulation:
- Identifies with adult to
- Use your words to
cope
convey feeling
- Aggression becomes
competition
- By age 5, shows
sensitivity to criticism
and cares about feelings
of others

Romantic

- Understands concepts of
number, speed, time,
space
- Understands left and
right
- Understands abstract
terms
- Is able to categorize
items into classes

- Expect to be a traditional family immediately


- The absent biological parent is expected to
disappear and is often criticized.
- Stepparent/stepchild difficulties are common.
- Stress is unbearable.
- Few open and frank discussions about problems

Matriarchal

Human Development: Pre-natal, Infancy and Childhood

6.
-

- Run by a highly competent mom and her


companion follows
- Companion is a buddy to the children, not to
the parent
- Birth of a step-sibling causes problems.

Adoption
the process by which a child is taken into a family
by one or more adults who are not the biological
parents but are recognized by law as the child's
parents
usually born out of wedlock 40% born out of
teenage mothers
disclosure at 2 - 4 years old reduces feelings of
betrayal by adoptive parents and abandonment by
biological parents
the later the age of adoption, the higher the
incidence and the more severe problems
may be preoccupied with fantasies of two sets of
parents good and bad parents
Strong desire to know their biological parents
the experience is generally positive when done
during adolescence or adulthood.

Family Factors in Child Development


1. Family Stability
separated- and single-parent families low selfesteem, risk of child abuse incidence of
marital problems eventually, and incidence of
mental disorders
boys are more affected than girls and older
children are less vulnerable; inborn personality
characteristics protective (Rutter)
death of a parent adverse emotional effects
2. Day Care Centers
its role in child development is being studied
children placed in day care centers before 5 years
old less assertive and less effectively toilet
trained
The quality of both the day care center and the
homes from which children come must be taken
into consideration.
3. Parenting Styles (Rutter) 4 types
1.
2.
3.
4.
-

authoritarian
indulgent-permissive
Indulgent-neglectful
authoritative-reciprocal (best)
marked by firm rules and shared decision-making in
a warm, loving environment self-reliance,
self-esteem, and sense of social responsibility

4. Development and Expression of Psychopathology


related to both age and developmental level
developmental and language disorders often
diagnosed in preschool years
Mild Mental Retardation or learning problems
diagnosed in early school-age years
Disruptive Behavior Disorder - seen with peer
interaction
Attention Deficit Disorders - seen with demands
for attention in school
Other conditions (eg schizophrenia and bipolar
disorder) are rare in preschool and school-aged
children

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