INFANCY AND

TODDLERHOOD
DEVELOPMENT
PHYSICAL AND COGNITIVE
DEVELOPMENT
 Physical  Cognitive

3. a: of or relating to the body 1: of, relating to, being, or involving

concious intellectual activity (such as
thinking, reasoning or remembering)
PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT IN INFANCY AND TODDLERHOOD
 Cephalocaudal
 Height and Weight
 The Brain
 Motor Development

Reflexes
Gross Motor Skills
Fine Motor Skills
 Sensory and Perceptual Development

Vision
Hearing
Touch and Pain
Taste
Smell
Intermodal Perception
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HEIGHT AND WEIGHT
• Newborn babies drop 5-10% of their
body weight
• Breastfeed babies are typically heavier
than bottle-fed babies
• Infant’s length increases about 30%in
the 1st five months.
• Baby’s weight usually triples during the
first year.
• Slows down i n the second year of life
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BRAIN
DEVELOPMENT
• In the first two years of
life are the spreading of
dendrites.
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MYELINATIO
N/MYELINIZA
TION
 Increases the speed at
which information
travels through the
nervous system.
At birth newborn’s brain is about 25% of its adult weight.
2nd birthday the brain is about 75%
After birth baby’s brain:
• Produces trillions more connections between neurons.
• Brain eliminates connections that are seldom or never
used.
• Infants brain is literally waiting for experiences to
determine how connections are made.
STUDY ON RATS BY MARK
ROSENZWEIG (1969)
Infants
+ Impoverished Environments
= Positive changes in their development

Children
+ Depressed Environment
= Depressed brain
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MOTOR
DEVELOPME
NT
 Begin from reflexes to
gross motor skills and
fine motor skills.
REFLEXES
The newborn has some basic reflexes.
-serve as survival mechanism
Reflexes which are present at birth will
generally subside.
 MOST COMMON REFLEXES
THE BABIES HAVE ARE:
 Sucking reflex
 Rooting reflex
 Gripping reflex
 Curling reflex
 Startle/Moro Reflex
 Galant reflex
 Tonic neck reflex
GROSS MOTOR SKILLS
 FINE MOTOR SKILLS
Skills involve a refined use of the small muscles
Involve activities that involve precise eye-hand
coordination
SENSORY AND
PERCEPTUAL
DEVELOPMENT
CAN NEWBORNS SEE?
 Vision is about 10 to 30 times lower than normal vision
 6 months of age, vision becomes better
 1st birthday, vision approximates that of an adult
 Infants look at different things for different lengths of time
 Infants preferred to look at patterns such as faces and concentric
circles rather than at color and brightness.
 “pattern perception has an innate basis” (Santrock, 2002)
CAN NEWBORNS HEAR?
 The sense of hearing in an infant develops much before the birth of
the baby.

When in the womb:

Sensory thresholds are somewhat higher than those of adult.
CAN NEWBORNS
DIFFERENTIATE ODORS?
 It requires several days of experience to recognize odor.
CAN NEWBORNS FEEL PAIN?
DO THEY RESPOND TO
TOUCH?
They do feel pain.
Babies respond to touch
CAN NEWBORNS
DISTINGUISH THE DIFFERENT
TASTES?
 Sensitivity to taste might be present before birth.
DO INFANTS RELATE
INFORMATION THROUGH
SEVERAL SENSES? IN SHORT,
ARE INFANTS CAPABLE OF
INTERMODAL PERCEPTION?
 Intermodal Perception

- Ability to relate, connect and integrate information about two or more sensory modalities
such as vision and hearing.

 This capacity for intermodal perception or ability to connect information coming through
various modes sharpened considerably through experience.
 COGNITIVE
DEVELOPMENT
OF INFANTS AND
TODDLERS