Infancy
covers the period of development from birth to two years. It is the earliest
time of life for children. Newborns, called neonates, come into the world programmed for physical growth,
emotional reactions, locomotion, speech, social interaction, thinking and
reasoning. Babies possess unique personalities that will greatly influence the
course of their lives. During infancy, tremendous changes in motor and sensory abilities
bring children closer to maturity.
We discuss
changes in physical structure and dexterity, changes in perceptual and language
abilities, and changes in psychosocial behaviour of children during infancy. We
also outline the tasks these children are expected to master, and the
educational significance of those changes.
At the end of this study, you should be able to:
·Outline
the major developmental landmarks in physical and motor, cognitive and
psychomotor facets of infant development
·List
and explain the major developmental tasks infants are expected to master
·Discuss
the educational significance of the changes that accompany development at
infancy stage.
Developmental Landmarks
Developmental
landmarks would be discussed under the following subtopics:
1. Physical Growth and Motor Development
Children
are born with many reflexes. These are built-in physical responses. Primitive
reflexes ensure the survival of the baby after birth.
Examples
of primitive reflexes include: crying, grasping, and sucking reflexes. Postural
reflexes, such as: stepping and swimming, help newborns adapt to the new world.
Stepping and swimming reflexes help the baby to become oriented to the
environment.
Generally,
newborns are pre-wired to breathe, to respond to temperature changes, touch and
noise. They are pre-wired to respond and take in nourishment. These reflexive
responses are important determinants of healthy development.
Physical
growth and motor development follow a direction. Physical growth and motor
development start from the upper areas of the body to the lower areas. This is cephalo-candal direction. At birth,
for example, the head of a newborn is much bigger than the rest of the body.
Physical
growth and motor development also proceed from the centre of the body to the
peripheries. This is proximodistal
direction. For example, the chest and the trunk develop and reach adult
status before the limbs.
Children
do not grow steadily. Growth takes place in spurts. Children may grow as much as one centimetre in a day and
then go for days or weeks without any growth.
Physical
growth is more rapid in the first year of life than at any other point in time.
By the end of the first year, children’s weight has tripled their birth weight.
Infants
do not just grow physically; there is also a discernible pattern of changes in
motor changes. We can cite some examples of these changes. At birth, the
infant’s eyes roam about without direction. A few days later, the infant’s eyes
are able to stare at an object for a brief period. By four weeks, the infant’s
eyes are able to follow a dangling ring. By four months, a baby is able to hold
and look at a rattle.
The
examples cited above indicate a patterned connection between the muscles that
move the eyes and impulses in the brain. This signifies that there is teamwork
between the eyes and the hands. There is coordination of motor actions, and
voluntary control of muscles.
Increasing
voluntary control of muscular
movements helps the child to acquire greater mobility.
The
more control children gain of their voluntary motor actions, the greater is
their ability to venture the environment.
The motor achievements of children at the infancy stage of development include:
1.
Postural Control – Postural control is the ability to stand upright.
This ability may be observed progress from lifting head, lying on stomach,
rolling over, lying, sitting propped up, to standing holding on to something.
90 per cent of children achieve postural control by the end of the first year
of life.
2.
Locomotive Control – Locomotive control is the ability to move around.
This ability is observed progress from rolling on stomach, crawling on buttocks,
creeping on arms and knees, climbing stairs, walking when led to walking alone.
90 per cent of children achieve locomotive control by the end of 15 months.
3.
Manual Control – Manual control is the ability to
manipulate objects. It involves the use of fine motor skills. Fine motor skills appear when the child is
able to coordinate sensory information with motor actions. An example of manual
control is shown in prehension.
Prehension is the controlled act of reaching for and grasping an object.
Reaching and grasping is achieved through eye-hand coordination. Prehension appears around four months.
Prehension
signals a move from gross to fine movements and paves the way for gross and
fine motor coordination.
These
figures indicate averages, that is, when the average healthy child achieves the
skill. Many children will fall below or above the average.
Increasing
manual and locomotive dexterity demands that caretakers provide a safe
environment for the child to explore.
Physical
growth and motor development are at the heart of cognitive achievements at
infancy. As locomotive and manual control increases, children venture into the environment
of their world. The things they find and the experiences they have significantly
influence the course of cognitive development.
Cognitive
development at infancy stage of development involves the development of sensorimotor activities. The process
of coming to know during infancy is typified by an organisational process.
The major landmarks in cognitive development during infancy include:
1.
Organisation of Reflexes
At
infancy, the child’s inborn reflexes become organised into schemes. Schemes action patterns for
understanding the environment. Schemes are self-initiated activities. Examples
of schemes include sucking, kicking, grasping, crying, hitting. Building of
schemes become increasingly more complex as the child’s development progresses.
2. Object
Permanence
Perceptual
abilities develop rapidly during the first year of a child’s life. The child
achieves object permanence during the first year of life. The child comes to
know that an object exists even when it is removed from their field of vision. The object continues
to exist in time and space outside the child, even when the child cannot access
it. The evidence for the development of object permanence is when children
begin to actively seek or search for a hidden or missing object which they
want.
3.
Active Experimentation
Active
experimentation follows the child’s achievement of object permanence. Children
begin to explore and discover new properties of objects. Instead of mere
fitting of existing schemes to new situations, children new actively vary their
actions to produce different outcomes.
Their
actions resemble that of scientists gathering information through trial and
error.
4.
Mental Representation
Between
18 months and two years, children begin to use mental representations. Objects
that are not seen can be mentally represented and manipulated using words,
symbols, gestures and mental images.
Use
of symbols is the basis of pretend play or make-believe plays of children.
Thus, mental representation signals the beginning of thought.
5.
Language
Many
children utter their first word by the age of 12 months. From this time
onwards, children begin to use language to identify things, speak with others,
construct past events, and to influence actions in the future.
3.
Psycho-social Development
During
infancy, the transformation from a helpless newborn to a baby capable of
forming close relationships with others takes place.
The landmark achievements in psychosocial development of the infancy stage of development include:
1.
Attachment Bonding
An
attachment bond describes a child’s connection with a caregiver.
This
connection provides the child a sense of safety and security. As children grow
older, attachment with a caregiver ensures that they are cared for. The
emotional relationship that develops between the child and the caregiver
enables the child to venture with confidence into the world feeling loved and
secure. Bonding begins at birth, and is strengthened by reflexive smile and
crying.
2.
Social Smile
Social
smile follows attachment bonding. Eye contact with a human face provokes social
smile as distinct from reflexive smile which occurs mainly when the baby is
asleep. Social smile ensures that the caregiver will continue to look at, pick
up, hold, stroke, and feed and love the baby. It makes caring for the child
enjoyable and rewarding.
3.
Crying
At
birth, crying is reflexive. Crying is the reflex response to choking which allows
the child to take in their first breath. Crying elaborates into a scheme when
it becomes melodious, signifying different states such as wet, hot, hungry,
uncomfortable, seeking attention or in pain.
Crying
generally increases until about six weeks of age to two months. Crying in
children declines as they get older, and peaks again between 12 and 18 months. Crying
peaks when children begin to display negative emotions and may reach the point
of temper tantrums.
Infants
cry for many reasons. Their reasons for crying change with age.
Babies
cry when they are uncomfortable. As they get older, children may cry when they
are afraid – at the sight of a stranger or an animal.
They
may also cry when frustrated – when the mother is out of sight. In all, crying
has a survival value. It ensures that the attention of the caregiver is drawn
to the child’s problem.
4.
Laughing
Laughing
in children appears at about six months of age. Physical stimulation such as
ticking; and visual stimuli like the mother’s own laughing provoke infant’s
laughing. By the end of the second year of life, children are able to
participate in fun-making activities like pulling
on
the mother’s ear, or biting the mother’s nipple.
5.
Social Referencing
Social
referencing appears in the first year of life. Social referencing is the
ability to seek out emotional cues from trusted adults. Children use social referencing
to know how to react to new situations. Social referencing ensures that
children understand facial expressions, and voice tones that signify various
emotional states. Children are able, for example, to differentiate emotions
such as anger, happiness, approval, and disapproval. Social referencing impacts
considerably on a child’s social behaviour. For instance, social referencing is
the basis of the development of empathy
feeling.
6.
Self-awareness
By
18 months, self-awareness has appeared in children. Self-awareness describes
the sense of oneself as distinct and different from other persons.
Self-awareness makes it possible for the child to experience secondary emotions
such as; pride, shame, guilt, embarrassment and jealousy. Self-awareness paves
the way for children to see peers as individuals. It aids them in forming friendship
based on trust and shared interest.
Developmental Tasks
To
attain the goal of development, the child must learn to become worthy,
responsible adult. The process of attaining this goal demands that the child
performs some critical tasks at
certain times of their life. When a child masters developmental tasks for any
stage of development, they feel a sense of satisfaction. The child is
encouraged to go on to new challenges. Difficulty with developmental tasks
slows a child’s progress towards future accomplishments. This inability to
master developmental tasks leads to unhappiness and social disapproval.
Difficulty
impacts negatively on the attainment of personal independence. The number of
developmental tasks, and the nature of these tasks that a child must master at
different age levels, depend on the child and the particular culture the child
finds him/herself in.
However,
some tasks are typical and cut across individuals and cultures.
We
outline below the typical developmental tasks of infancy.
1.
Learning to Walk
The
child at this stage of development is expected to master the skills of walking.
Mastery of these skills ensures that the child learns during subsequent stages
to run, jump and skip.
2.
Learning to Talk
The
child utters their first word between 12 and 18 months. With the first word
uttered, talking begins. Speech is engendered by the forces of maturation and
learning.
Mastery
of speech ensures that the child succeeds in achieving effective communication
and social intercourse during subsequent stages of development.
3.
Learning to Eat Solid Food
At
this stage, the child is expected to master the skills of taking solid food and
be weaned from the breast. The nature of the weaning process, the age at
weaning, and the schedule of feeding during weaning, all have profound impact
on later development of personality.
4.
Learning to Control the Elimination of Body Waste
The
child must learn to urinate and defecate at socially acceptable times and
places. Toilet training is the first moral training the child receives.
The
stamp of this first moral training may persist in the child’s later character.
5.
Learning to Trust Self and Others
The
child is expected during infancy to learn to trust caregivers as providers of
contact comfort, nourishment and security. The child must also learn to trust
self as an efficient system capable of self -control.
Trust
in infancy sets the stage for a lifelong expectation that the world will be a
safe and pleasant place to live.
Educational Implications
The
educational implications of infancy development are as follows:
· Early
attachment behaviour has significant implication for adult personality.
Children form an internal working model of their social world. This model is patterned
after the relationships pattern between the child and the caregiver, especially
during feeding, toileting and cleaning, and contact comfort. Children carry
this model through life, and it influences school experience, career and social
relationships.
· Parents
and caregivers must take note that malnutrition in infancy results in stunted
growth, cognitive delays and motor retardation. Infant malnutrition is a
significant public health and educational issue in Nigeria.
· The
ability to reach for and manipulate objects is important for the infant’s motor
and cognitive development. Caregivers should provide adequate opportunity for
children to move around and manipulate objects in a safe environment.
· The
development of any skill depends on both maturation and experience. Caregivers
should be sensitive to match experiences provided with the level of maturation
children have attained.
· The
goal of parenting and education is creating an enabling environment to aid
children master life skills. Parenting and education should not constitute an
obstacle to children’s activities that lead to personal independence.
· Newborns
are especially prone to childhood diseases. Parents are
encouraged
to take advantage of immunisation to protect children
against
various childhood diseases.
· Emotional
health of an infant depends on a continuous warm and intimate relationship with
the caregiver.
Dramatic
transformations occur during infancy in the basic biological equipment the
child is born with. Basic reflexes elaborate into patterns of behaviour. The
obviously helpless infant soon transforms into a lovely baby who partakes in
the give-and-take of active human relations.
Skills
that help the infant venture into the world are mastered during infancy, as the
various body systems differentiate and become more efficient and perceptual
abilities increase.
We follow the child as they venture into the neighbourhood
environment, the world of peers and the world of preschool.
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