CHILD’S GROWTH AND

DEVELOPMENT
EDUC 11044
Week 4 Physical Development
 Agenda

Brief Review of Measures of Patterns of

Birth process
Last Week neonatal health growth

Brain
Sleep Nutrition
development
Song: When Cows Get Up in the Morning
When cows get up in the morning they always say “hello”
When cows get up in the morning they always say “hello”
“Moo moo moo moo”
That is what they say they say
“Moo moo moo moo”
That is what they say

Sing new verses with owls, ducks, pigs, chickens…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xsrd1pFkYGA
 Which descriptor on the left matches the concepts on the right?
Ethological Theory (Bowlby) Circle of Security/secure
attachment
Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory
Scaffolding within Sociocultural Cognitive Theory
(Vygotsky)
Ecological Systems Theory (Bronfenbrenner)
Feelings of shame or self-doubt (Erikson)
Individual human development is situated within interactive spheres
of influence, from a child’s daily relationships at home & school
outward to the dominant ideologies of the larger society.
When toddlers are discouraged or not given the time or opportunity
to do things independently.
An adult or more skilled peer provides support that is customized to a
child’s individual skill level.
Our adult personality is determined by how we resolve conflicts
between sources of pleasure and the demands of reality.
Infant/toddler turns to their caregiver as a safe haven and secure base
when they need comfort and during play. The child communicates
their feelings to the caregiver, who consistently responds warmly.
The Birth Process
Stage 1: Contractions are several minutes apart.
Contractions cause cervix to stretch and open to
10 cm; usually lasts 6-12 hours for first-time
mothers.
Stage 2: Head begins moving through cervix
until infant emerges from the body; usually
lasts about 1 hour.
Stage 3: Placenta and umbilical cord expelled;
usually lasts minutes.
Birth in Canada
◦ Birth typically occurs at hospitals. Just about 4,000 of the approx. 375,000 births each
year are home births.
◦ In Ontario, pregnant women can choose a doctor or a midwife (a health-care professional
who provides primary care to pregnant people and their newborns). About 17% of
women choose a midwife.
◦ About 28% of babies in Canada are born through caserean delivery. We have one of the
highest c-section rates in the world. C-sections are the most common hospital-based
surgery in Canada. They are controversial due to drawbacks including vaginal scarring
that can impact future pregnancies and the need for hospitalization.

◦ When a baby is born 3 weeks or more before their due date, this is known as a preterm
birth.
◦ The % of preterm births has been increasing both in the U.S. and in Canada. In Canada
approx. 8% of babies are born prematurely.
Preterm Birth
Factors
◦ Teen or older mothers
◦ Multiple births
◦ Stress
◦ Substance use/abuse
◦ Infection
◦ Low income
Impact of preterm birth /
low birth weight
◦ Increased chance of developing a learning disability, ADHD,
asthma or other breathing problem
◦ Increased chance of requiring special education
◦ Very low birth weight has been associated with childhood
autism
What do we know about newborns?
APGAR scale

◦ Appearance, Pulse, Grimace,

Activity, Respiration scale
◦ Given 1 minute after birth and
again 5 minutes after birth
◦ A score is given based on the
assessment
◦ Score 7-10 means condition is
good.
◦ Score 5 may mean
developmental difficulties.
◦ Score 3 or below = emergency.
◦ A low APGAR score has been
associated with ADHD.
 PHYSICAL
APPEARANCE
Description of the neonate’s Skin
◦ Skin is thin and hardly covers their
capillaries.
◦ This varies according to
ethnicity/racial origin, health,
temperature
◦ Lanugo – fine hair on ears,
shoulders, back, forehead, cheeks
◦ lasts for about 4 months
◦ Vernix caseosa – covering for
protection
◦ This coating is absorbed into the
skin after birth
◦ Birthmarks – collection of small
blood vessels on forehead, eyelids,
back of neck
◦ Some infants are born with a
Mongolian spot
◦ Can be found in different parts of the
body.
◦ This is usually evident in neonates
from:
◦ Asian: 95-100%
◦ East African: 90-95%
◦ Native American: 85-90%
◦ Hispanic: 50-70%
◦ Caucasian: 1-10%
◦ Usually fades away around school age
◦ It is important to recognize that
Mongolian spots are birthmarks, NOT
bruises
Description of neonate’s Head
◦ Neonates are born with Fontanels
(soft spots).
◦ Area in the skull that is not closed.
Allows infant to pass through
birthing canal and allows brain
growth.
◦ Closes 1 or 2 years after the birth,
when brain growth slows down.
◦ Bones in skull are soft and molded
in an egg shape.

HANDLING BABY's HEAD- FONTANELLES-SOFT SPOTS-www.drpaul.com - YouTube

Description of the neonate’s Face:

◦ Broad, flat nose

◦ Tiny jaw and chin
◦ These features help them suck more
easily when being breastfed
◦ Puffy cheeks – because they have
sucking pad on the insides of the
cheeks.
◦ Tongue is short and cannot be
extended beyond the gums
◦ Toothless…usually
Eyes:
◦ The infants’ eyes appear small
◦ Dull gray – blue in color = lack
of pigmentation
◦ Permanent eye color develops
around 6 months
◦ Eyes may become crossed at
times. They will work together
around 6 months of age.
Principles of
Growth
◦ Cephalocaudal pattern: growth sequence that
gradually works from top to bottom of the body.
◦ In most cases sensory and motor development
proceeds according to this pattern. E.g., brain grows
faster than jaw

◦ Proximodistal pattern: growth sequence in

which growth starts at the center of the body and
moves toward the extremities

◦ E.g., infants control their trunk before they can

control their hands
At first, the head constitutes an extraordinarily large portion of the body;
gradually, the proportions change.
Height and Weight
in Infancy
◦ Average North American newborns are 20 inches
long and weigh 7½ pounds.
◦ During the first few months of life growth is faster
than it will ever be again.
◦ Children have doubled their birth weight by the age
of 4 months and have tripled it by their first
birthday.
◦ 1st year: Infants grow about one inch per month
◦ 2nd year: slower the rate of growth
◦ By 2 years of age, infants weigh approximately 26
to 32 pounds—about 1/5 their adult weight—and
are 32 to 35 inches tall.
Supporting Infant and Toddler Physical
Growth
◦ Watch this short video and jot down the suggestions provided.
◦ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_1Dbg2555A
◦ As the preschool child grows older, the percentage of
increase in height and weight decreases with each
additional year.
◦ Girls are only slightly smaller and lighter than boys.
Height and
◦ Girls and boys slim down as their trunks lengthen. Weight
◦ Body fat declines slowly but steadily.
◦ Girls have more fatty tissue, while boys have more muscle.
Preschool+
Which factors influence individual differences in
childhood growth patterns?
◦ And which factors can ECEs influence?
◦ Watch this 4-minute video about preschooler physical
activity. What can we do
◦ What are your favourite ideas? And least favourite?
Why?
to support
◦ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5udNR1PVFUU healthy
preschooler
physical growth?
Exercise in Childhood
◦ Routine physical activity should be a daily occurrence for young children.
◦ Guidelines recommend two hours per day—one hour of structured activity and
one of unstructured free play.

◦ In middle and late childhood, a higher level of physical activity is linked

to a lower level of metabolic disease.
◦ Aerobic exercise is also increasingly linked to cognitive skills.
Brain Physiology
The brain has two halves, or hemispheres.

Its outer layer of cells, the cerebral cortex,

is responsible for about 80% of the brain’s
volume and is critically important in
thinking, language, and other functions.
Brain Physiology
Each hemisphere of the cortex has four
major areas, called lobes, that usually
work together—but each has a somewhat
different primary function.
• Frontal lobes: voluntary movement,
thinking, personality, emotion, memory,
sustained attention, and intentionality or
purpose.
• Occipital lobes: vision.
• Temporal lobes: hearing, language
processing, and memory.
• Parietal lobes: spatial location, directing
attention, and maintaining motor control.
 The Brain

Old view: Our brains are “wired” by *Neuroconstructivist view:

our genes.
Both biological processes and environmental conditions
influence the brain’s development.
The brain has plasticity and is context dependent.
Development of the brain and cognitive development
are closely linked.
Brain Physiology:
Neurons
Neurons process information.
• Through the release of chemical substances
called neurotransmitters, an axon in one neuron
communicates with the dendrites of another at
tiny gaps called synapses.

• Most axons are covered by a myelin sheath—a

layer of fat cells—which helps impulses travel
faster.
 Brain Physiology: Neurons
Neurons process information.
• Through the release of chemical substances called neurotransmitters, an axon in one
neuron communicates with the dendrites of another at tiny gaps called synapses.
• Most axons are covered by a myelin sheath—a layer of fat cells—which helps impulses
travel faster.

Clusters of neurons known as neural circuits work together to handle particular types of
information.
For more discussion on this, watch “Experiences Build Brain Architecture” at
https://developingchild.harvard.edu/resources/three-core-concepts-in-early-development/
Importance to ECE:
We are brain architects!

Watch “Serve and Return Interaction Shapes Brain Circuitry” at

https://developingchild.harvard.edu/resources/three-core-concepts-in-early-development/
 Children who grow up in a deprived
environment may have depressed brain
activity.

Brain in At least to some degree for some

individuals, such effects are reversible.
Infancy • The brain demonstrates both flexibility and
resilience.

What wires or rewires the brain is

repeated experience.
Brain in Childhood
During early childhood, the brain and head grow more rapidly than any
other part of body.
• Some of the brain’s increase in size is due to myelination (covering
axons with fat cells), and some to an increase in the number and size
of dendrites.
• Links between the changing brain and children’s cognitive
development involve activation of brain areas.
Brain in
Adolescence
The brain is still growing in adolescence, but
with fewer, more selective, more effective
neural connections.
• The corpus callosum, a band of fibers that
connects the brain’s hemispheres, thickens—
improving the ability to process information.

• Advances in the prefrontal cortex—the highest

level of the frontal lobes involved in reasoning,
decision making, and self-control—continue.

Does Piaget’s cognitive theory relate? How?

 Piaget’s Four Stages of Cognitive Development

Sensorimotor Preoperational Concrete Formal Operational

Stage Stage Operational Stage Stage
The infant constructs The child begins to The child can now The adolescent reasons
an understanding of the represent the world reason logically in more abstract,
world by coordinating with words and about concrete idealistic, and logical
sensory experiences images. These words events and classify ways.
with physical actions. and images reflect objects into different
An infant progresses increased symbolic sets.
from reflexive, thinking and go
instinctual action at beyond the
birth to the beginning connection of sensory
of symbolic thought information and
toward the end of the physical action.
stage.
Birth to 2 Years 2 to 7 Years of Age 7 to 11 Years of Age 11 Years of Age
of Age Through Adulthood

© McGraw Hill 34
SLEEP
 Sleep restores, replenishes, and
rebuilds our brains
and bodies.

SLEEP
Some neuroscientists believe
sleep gives neurons a chance to
shut down and repair themselves.
Sleep in Infancy
On average, newborns sleep 16 to 17 hours per day.

Young infants’ sleep is not always in a rhythmic pattern.

By 6 months, infants move closer to adult-like sleep patterns

—with the longest span of sleep at night and the longest
span of waking during the day.

Nighttime waking is the most common infant sleep-related

problem.
• Surveys indicate 20% to 30% of infants have difficulty going to
sleep and staying asleep at night.
Sleep in Infancy
About half of infants’ sleep time is in REM sleep, compared to only one-fifth of
the night for adults.
• Large amounts may provide added self-stimulation.
• REM sleep might promote brain development.
• We don’t know whether infants dream or not.

Some child experts stress that there are benefits to shared sleeping—as
when an infant sleeps in the same bed with its mother.
• Others argue against it.
Sleep in Infancy
Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) is a condition that occurs when
infants stop breathing, usually during the night, and die suddenly.
• SIDS remains the highest cause of infant death in the United States.
• Risk is highest at 2 to 4 months.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends

that infants be placed to sleep on their backs to reduce the risk.
• Researchers have identified additional risk factors, including soft
mattress and overheating.
Sleep in Childhood
Experts recommend young children get 11 to 14 hours of sleep each
night.
• Most sleep throughout the night, with one daytime nap.
• More than 40% of children may experience a sleep problem at some
point.
• Research indicates links between children’s sleep problems and
numerous negative developmental outcomes.
What does this mean for our practice?
Nutrition in Infancy
• According to Statistics Canada (2011) 89% of mothers
reported breast feeding in the first 6 months.
• Breast-feeding is almost always best for infants.
• What might be some social factors that discourage
breastfeeding?

Is breastfeeding healthy for mothers too?

Nutrition in Infancy
Benefits of breast feeding for the mother include lower incidence of breast and
ovarian cancer and possibly a lowered risk of type 2 diabetes.
• Women may also have a lower risk of cardiovascular disease and metabolic
syndrome in midlife.

A mother should not breast feed when:

• She is infected with HIV or some other infectious disease that can be
transmitted through her milk;
• If she has active tuberculosis; or
• If she is taking any drug that may not be safe for the infant.
Nutrition in Infancy
Infants are consuming more junk food and fewer fruits and
vegetables than recommended by experts.
• This can result in more infants being overweight—defined as a
body mass index (BMI) between the 85th and 95th percentile.
 Weight in Childhood
Unhealthy habits and being overweight threaten children’s present and future
health.

According to Public Health Ontario (2012), 1/3 of children aged 2-17 are at an
unhealthy weight (overweight or obese).

Children’s eating behavior is strongly influenced by their caregivers’ behavior.

• A sensitive/responsive style is recommended.
• Forceful and restrictive behaviors can contribute to children being overweight.
What else should we know and do?
 Food Insecurity
Let’s read Section 1 of Household Food Insecurity in Canada at

https://proof.utoronto.ca/food-insecurity/

What does this mean for our practice?

 Next week:

DISCUSS ASSIGNMENT DUE MOTOR, SENSORY & READ SANTROCK ET AL.,

NOV. 1 PERCEPTUAL CHAPTER 5
DEVELOPMENT