Developmental age periods and theories

Developmental Age Periods

• Infancy spans from birth to 12 months, with the newborn stage defined as the first 30 days.
• Toddlerhood occurs from 12-15 months up to 3 years of age.
• Preschool and School Age is broken into: Early Childhood (3-5 years), Middle Childhood (6-8 years), and Late Childhood (8-12 years).
• Adolescence ranges from 13-19 years.

Developmental Theories

• Biophysical growth is based on the organism.
• A key aspect is the anticipation of growth patterns during the developmental stages.

Infancy (birth-12 months)

• Rapid physical and brain growth occurs, with the head disproportionately large compared to the body.
• Weight Triples with a 50% increase in body length by the end of the first year.
• Growth occurs within the brain through fontanelles which doubles the size in the first year.
• Depth and color perception are present by age 1, with visual acuity about 20/200.
• Infant assessment: APGAR is used to assess 5 components: HR, RR, muscle tone, reflex irritability, and color.
• Each component is scored 0-2, 8-9 is expect after birth while 8-10 is expected five minutes after birth. -Helps identify impairment of respiratory or cardiac function, also identifies infant reflexes.
• Period includes rapid growth with a focus on a larger head.
• The infant develops crude reflexes and rolls over by 0-4 months which requires supine sleeping conditions to reduce SIDS risk.
• Sits, grasps/picks up objects, (eye-hand coordination) occurs at 4-7 months old.
• Crawling to standing happens around 8-12 months.
• Psychosocial development involves trust v mistrust, the attachments are important and attachment, and consistency builds trust and safety.
• If the child is trusting and feels secure, they will venture out at the end of the first year rather than clinging excessively to caregiver.
• The child will elicit care from others through crying and smiling.
• Stranger fear occurs around 8 months, high attachments to parents also occur.
• Psychosexual development occurs, as the oral stage with an emphasis on sucking and chewing.
• Pleasure and primary focus from the babies mouth.
• Cognitively, the infant is in the Sensorimotor stage until preschool, learning through interactions and sensations.
• Fist mouthing, grasping, and hitting are self-initiated as simple repetitive behaviors.
• Social smiling starts around 2 months.
• Babbling begins around 6 months while vocalizations like gurgling, fussing, cooing, and crying.

Toddler (1-3 years)

• Head is still larger, but trunk becomes longer compared to the limbs with growth occurring at 8-12 cm/year.
• Typically have lumbar lordosis, giving them a potbellied look.
• Brain is about 75% of adult size around age 2, with fontanelles closing by about 18 months.
• Development of 20 baby/primary teeth with improved visual acuity and hand-eye coordination.
• Toddlers begin to develop motor skills that allow them to walk, run, and climb.
• Toddlers develop motor skills to allow them to walk, riding bikes, and running.
• Toddler safety is a key, as they are easily distracted, also poor perception of depth, also reach out for objects and various heights.
• Their brain is roughly 75% of the adult size by age 2
• 20 baby teeth have erupted, bladder & bowel control is developing
• Psychosocial development involves Autonomy vs. Shame/ Doubt.
• Sense of independence and confidence builds through self-care and choice.
• Increased mobility and interest causes and increase in potential accidents and injury.
• Increased safety risks include burns, electrocution, falls, poisoning, and drowning.
• Possible airway obstruction can occur if they consume food such as hard candy, popcorn, peanuts, and cut-up hot dogs.
• Expansion of social circle.
• Key element of the toddlers way of thinking is egocentrism: "everyone is thinking and experiencing the same things as me."
• Still in sensorimotor period, exploring by touching, tasting, looking, and listening
• Child is egocentric, assuming others think and feel as they do.

Early Childhood (3-5 years)

• Physical growth slows, while emotional and intellectual progress happens.
• Gross and fine motor skills become well developed.
• Head and trunk become more proportional to limbs, lumbar lordosis disappears, child develops proportions more similar to an adult.
• Permanent teeth may begin to erupt at the end of this stage.
• Visual acuity should be 20/20 by the end of the 5th year.
• Enters preoperational period- intuitive & imaginative thinking.
• Development of relating memories and visualization of future events.

Middle Childhood (6-8 years)

• The child becomes taller and slimmer, with improved coordination.
• A noticeable size difference between boys and girls at the end of middle childhood.
• Permanent teeth start to erupt.

Late Childhood (8-12 years)

• Growth occurs in spurts, starting at the end of this stage with girls first, around 2 years earlier than boys.
• Advanced motor activities become noticeable, making the child very agile and active.
• Fine motor skills such as drawing and writing become possible.

Adolescence (13-19 years)

• Major puberty growth spurts with rapid growth until full adult size is reached.
• Puberty occurs resulting to maturity related to sexual and physical changes.
• Puberty begins in females with secondary sex characteristics like pubic hair and breast growth, including the onset of menstruation.
• Males experience with testicular enlargement, body hair growth, as well as seminal emissions (wet dreams).
• Girls typically start earlier, around 11-13 years, while boys start around 13-15 years.
• Adolescent growth includes formal operational stage that starts around 12 years using deductive reasoning and problem-solving, abstractly and hypothetically.
• There may be some regression to concrete thinking when stressed or emotional.
• Increased self-absorption and reflection of own experiences and mature moral judgements.
• Rapid body Image concerns where diversity is normal, and should be encouraged through healthy eating and exercise.
• Should they have any illness experiences, identifying who the client is (if its the teen or the parent) is important.
• Consideration around nutritional guidelines with the risks presented though eating disorders and obesity, also understand the health risks associated and safe and sex that requires education and promotion.

Piaget's Cognitive Development Theory

• Explains how one thinks, reasons, perceives, and makes sense of the environment.
• Infancy (birth-12 months) is hallmarked by the Sensorimotor period and concrete thinking.
• Sensorimotor experiences occur through learning, movement through the environment, and sensing the sensations.
• Object permanence develops including outside of their vision.
• Hand-eye coordination improves with vision during infancy.

Infancy: Growth and Development

• Nutrition focuses on teaching the parents by encouraging family, emphasizing forming warm attachments and involvement in care when in the hospital.
• Encourage family to utilize sensory stimulation to promote cognitive development.
• Due to the Immature digestive system infants should be exclusively breast feeding for 6 months.
• Initial weight loss in breastfed infants occurs during the first few days postpartum.
• Offer solid foods at 6 months to prevent allergic reactions.
• With formula, it should be based in fortified iron from vitamin-D.
• Cow's milk can be introduced around 9-12 months.
• Honey can also be introduced after about 12 months.
• Safety requires that the parents can identify behaviors which signal sleep (baby).
• Babies should sleep on their back, and in a crib without co-sleeping, before the baby learns to roll around.
• "Childproofing" should be done at the residence when they start to get mobile, otherwise immunities continue to develop with their first immunization at 2 months.

Infancy- "Failure to Thrive"

• Potential delays in physical development, can be characterized with weight loss or deceleration.
• This can be caused between organic medical or nonorganic environmental causes:
• Organic sources can include inadequate latch or absorption problems.
• Neglect, stressful home, or dysfunctional eating processes are nonorganic causes that occur, potentially due to isolation relating to emotional stress.
• Developmentally, potential impacts of neglect across a lifespan:
• In childhood, there can be a speech skill with emotional dysregulation.
• Low self-esteem can come as the person becomes an adolescent with challenges for cognitive abilities who may make risky behavior attempts.

Early Childhood (3-5yrs)

• Motor skills, like other skills the child progresses, advance.
• There is a slimmer build-out through body proportions that appear more normal.
• All primary teeth are maintained.
• This is expressed psychologically through developing initiative vs guilt when planning, tasking, and asking questions through a process with significant peers.
• Through the psycho-sexual phases, genitalia is an area that expresses pleasure and can recognize gender differences.
• They can also start to express gender identity.
• Develop cognitive skills through preoperations such as egocentrism.
• There is improved imitation play/simple games that allow them to practice with more developed communication skills.

Middle + Late Childhood (6-12yrs)

• More advanced motor skills and enhanced writing occurs in development when progressing into Middle and Late Childhood.
• Psychosocially, from elementary and transitioning into intermediate school it is common that children become more aware of building new social and cognitive skills to explore with growing into Industry vs inferiority.

Adolescence Morality

• Kohlberg's Theory is not necessarily age-specific.
• Level 1 Pre-conventional
• Decisions based on "What's in it for me?", self-centered mindset
• Follow authority figures and obedience (Absolute obedience and obeying authority figures).
• Level 2 Conventional
• Actions based on people others expect from them
• Keeping relationships, building relationships through good action
• Level 3 Post-Conventional
• People champion what is best to do, focusing on health beyond others, what the population needs when there is a conflict between rights vs. regulations.

Planetary Health

• Aims to protect animals and their environments, and the collective movement of wellbeing of humans through the ecosystem.

Young Adulthood

• Modern views focus on assuming responsibility and financial independence.
• Physical developments that are at their highest which can be impacted through mental health and increased alcohol use.

Middle Adulthood

• Impacts on sexual relationship.
  • There can also be some physical development
  • There are psychosocial changes, which impact the new generation, who take care and raise adult children which can be impacted through emotional and financial stress.