Infant Growth and Development

Activity 1:

For this activity, imagine that you are a counselor. You have a client who is worried about her child,
because she read a development chart for "normal" development, and her child seems to be lagging
behind in some areas, such as proximodistal development, but fine in others, such as orthogenetic
development. Knowing what you know about normative developmental charts as well as infant
development, what would you tell your client? For example, would you recommend that she has her
child assessed? Would you tell her not to worry? What follow-up questions might you ask?

Activity 2:

Think about the principles you learned in the lesson. You read about the cephalocaudal principle, the
proximodistal principle, and the orthogenetic principle. When you think of a developing infant, which of
these principles is most easily observed, and why? For example, if you think that the orthogenetic
principle is the most obvious to observe, you can list behaviors that are indicative of the development of
simple to complex movements and abilities.

Activity 3:

Develop a clinical intervention with pregnant teenage mothers that will focus on teaching them about
normal physical development in infants and young children. Given your knowledge from the lesson,
what information would be most important to share with them (e.g., that development occurs from top
to bottom? That development proceeds from the simple to the complex?)? What do you think would be
most relevant to them? If you only had a short period of time with these teenage mothers and wanted
to emphasize the most important information that they need to know regarding their babies, on what
would you focus?

Questions

How could the development of identity in early adulthood influence the formation of a mid-adult crisis?

Infants are able to recognize their mother's voice soon after birth. This is likely because they a. are born
with the instinct to know their mother. b. have heard their mother's voice...

What are effects of the development process on gender differences?