Developmental Psychology Overview

Development

• Development is dependent on opportunity
• Development is multidimensional: biological, psychological, and social
• Development is multidirectional: growth and decline occur simultaneously in all areas of development
• Development is influenced by age-graded influences, historical influences, and interacting forces
• Age-graded influences are age norms, like feeding, walking, and attending school
• Historical-graded influences are events occurring during a period, like wars, pandemics, or social movements

Developmental Theories

• Behaviorism focuses on how behaviors are learned through conditioning
• Classical conditioning focuses on associating a neutral stimulus with a natural, unconditioned response
• Operant conditioning focuses on using reinforcement to modify behaviors, such as rewards or punishments
• Social learning theory focuses on the role of observation and social interactions in learning
• Cognitive development theory focuses on how individuals' thinking processes change with age
• Information-processing theory focuses on the cognitive processes involved in perception, attention, memory, and problem-solving
• Sociocultural theory and ecological systems theory focus on the influence of social and cultural contexts on development

Bioecological Model

• Microsystem: individual
• Mesosystem: family, childcare, neighborhood
• Exosystem: friends, workplace, community, health services
• Macrosystem: overarching values, laws, and customs

Periods of Human Development

• Prenatal: Conception to birth
• Infancy and toddlerhood: Birth to 2 years
• Early childhood: 2-6 years
• Middle childhood: 6-11 years
• Adolescence: 11-18 years
• Early adulthood: 18-40 years
• Middle adulthood: 40-65 years
• Late adulthood: 65 to death

Occupational Perspectives on Health (OPH)

• Doing: active or passive engagement in occupation
• Being: time for rest and reflection
• Becoming: reaching one's potential and achieving desired outcomes
• Belonging: feeling a sense of connection and belonging within a community

Transactional Relationships

• Participation in occupations is influenced by:
  • Individual's social contexts
  • Engagement in family, cultural, and community activities
  • Societal and political norms
  • Physical, psychological, and social-emotional trauma

Occupational-Centered Lens

• Top-down approach: Disability first, referral-based
• Partners with family, child, and caretakers
• Aims to improve occupational performance within the child's context
• Bottom-up approach: Person-first, assessment-based
• Focuses on identifying strengths and skills to build upon

Occupational Science

• Studies human activity and occupations
• Examines the benefits of participation in occupation
• Seeks rationale for occupation selection
• Explores the significance and meaning of human activity
• Recognizes that development is not linear or sequential
• Emphasizes the need for quantitative evaluation to generalize findings

Occupational Injustices

• Occupational deprivation: lack of access to occupations due to factors outside one's control
• Occupational apartheid: Limiting participation in occupations based on factors such as age, race, ability, or ethnicity
• Occupational marginalization: exclusion from participation based on social norms
• Occupational imbalance: spending too much time on one occupation at the expense of others
• Occupational alienation: lack of meaning and purpose in work.

Just Right Challenge

• Challenging and motivating tasks that are not too difficult or easy

Occupational-Centered Models vs. Frames of Reference

• Occupational-Centered Models:
  • Considers unique human features and values
  • Focuses on strengths, challenges, and goals
  • Uses consistent terminology, principles, assessments, and interventions
• Frames of Reference:
  • Connect theory to practice and intervention
  • Provides structure for interventions and activities

Dynamic Systems Theory

• Performance and action patterns emerge from interactions and collaborations between internal and external systems

Experience-Expectant Brain Growth

• Experiences encountered during critical periods of development
• Positive experiences contribute to normal brain development
• Negative experiences or lack of opportunities can lead to delays or cognitive deficits

Experience-Dependent Neuroplasticity

• Brain changes based on experiences throughout life
• "Use it or lose it"
• "Use it and improve it": practicing skills
• Specificity: targeting specific areas for improvement
• Repetition, intensity, time, salience, transference, and interference are influences on neuroplasticity.

Reflexes

• Demonstrate the functionality of the nervous system
• Typically disappear over time.

Stages of Sensory-Motor Development

• Neonatal (0-3/4 months): Organizing sensory systems
• 4-6 months: Increasing head strength, more sensory exploration, rudimentary sitting
• 6-12 months: More object control, development of vocabulary through play and association of words with actions

Body Growth

• Height: Doubles in the first year, increases by 75% by age two
• Weight: Doubles by five months, triples by one year, quadruples by two years

Body Proportions

• Cephalocaudal Trend: Head grows faster in utero, head is ¼ of body length at birth, legs are 1/3 of body length
• Proximodistal Trend: Head, chest, trunk, limbs, hands, and feet develop in this sequence

Skeletal Growth

• Determined through X-rays of long bones
• Cartilage plays a role in bone development
• Girls experience faster skeletal growth and maturation than boys

Arousal and Sleep

• Rapid brain growth in the first two years requires significant sleep
• Sleep needs decrease with age
• Cultural considerations influence sleep patterns.

Growth Influences

• Heredity
• Nutrition: 25% more caloric intake needed to support growth
• Breastfeeding: Provides immunity, socialization through holding, and bonding
• Malnutrition: Long-term impacts on organ development

Learned Behaviors

• Classical Conditioning: Learning through associating a neutral stimulus with a natural reflex
• Operant Conditioning: Learning through feedback, reinforcement, and punishment
• Habituation: Gradual decrease in attention to a repeated stimulus
• Imitation: Learning by observing and copying behavior

Perception Development

• Hearing:
  • Preferences emerge by 4-7 months
  • Ability to distinguish musical phrasing and types of music by 6-7 months
  • Recognize songs by 12 months
• Speech Perception:
  • Newborns prefer speech sounds to non-speech sounds
  • Recognize syllable stress in native language by 5 months
  • Recognize speech sound patterns and clusters by 6 months
• Visual Perception:
  • Infants prefer faces and familiarity
  • Respond to emotions by five months
  • Wider range of emotions and expressions recognized by 7 months
  • Beginning with a narrow focus and then transitioning to more refined attention
• Depth Perception:
  • Blink reflex emerges at 2-3 weeks
  • Binocular vision begins around 2-3 months
  • Awareness of 3D and partially hidden objects by 5-7 months
  • Intermodal Perception: Integration of multiple sensory stimuli

Imitation

• Deferred Imitation: Recall of novel actions for 1-6 days (6-9 months)
• Inferred Imitation: Imitating actions with purpose and efficiency, attempting to perform actions as expected (12-18 months)

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)

• Brain Development: Larger brains in one-year-olds with ASD, excessive growth in the prefrontal cortex
• Speech and Language Processing: Deficient left-hemisphere response to speech sounds leading to impacts on communication
• Amygdala: Emotional processing is affected in individuals with ASD
• Connections Between Amygdala and Temporal Lobes: Difficulty interpreting facial expressions

Signs and Symptoms of ASD

• Social Communication and Interaction Skills:
  • Avoidance of eye contact
  • Lack of response to name
  • Limited facial expressions
• Restricted or Repetitive Behaviors or Interests:
  • Echolalia: Repetition of words or phrases
  • Obsessive Interests: Preoccupation with narrow topics
  • Resistance to change
• Developmental Delays: Delays in language, skills, and motor development
• Other Potential Features: Seizures, lack of fear, excessive fear
• Challenges in Building Relationships

M-CHAT

• Evaluates the risk for ASD in toddlers

Cerebral Palsy (CP)

• Condition arising from rapid myelination of the sensory and motor tracts and CNS structures
• Most cases (70-80%) occur prenatally, some during birth, and others postnatally up to two years of age.
• Group of permanent disorders affecting movement and posture due to non-progressive disturbances in the developing brain.

Cerebral Palsy Deficits

• Sensory disturbances (sensation and perception)
• Cognitive impairments
• Communication challenges
• Behavioral issues
• Non-progressive nature: the condition doesn't worsen over time

Potential Causes of CP

• Multiple births
• Prenatal infections (rubella, cytomegalovirus, toxoplasmosis)
• Low birth weight
• Multiple pregnancies
• Maternal health factors:
  • Stress
  • Hypertension
  • Substance use
  • Gestational diabetes
• Trauma

Motor Impact of CP

• Varies based on the location and extent of brain lesions
• Paralysis: Loss of movement
• Spasticity: Muscle stiffness
• Abnormal Motor Control: Difficulty coordinating movements

Diagnosis of CP

• Medical history of the infant and risk factors
• Physical examinations
• Standardized motor assessment
• Neuroimaging (MRI, CT scans )

Prechtl Qualitative Assessment of General Movements

• Predictive tool for detecting CP in infants
• Evaluates spontaneous movement patterns
• Detects abnormal writhing (cramped) movements indicative of CP.

Clinical and Motor Signs of CP

• Often diagnosed between 12-24 months of age
• Spasticity: Muscles are stiff and tight
• Dyskinesia: Involuntary movements
• Ataxia: Poor muscle control, lack of coordination
• Hypotonia: Low muscle tone, floppy limbs

Types of CP

• Athetosis:
  • Damage to corpus stratum in basal ganglia
  • Difficulty maintaining posture
  • Involuntary slow, writhing movements
• Chorea:
  • Random, fast, unpredictable movements
  • Difficult to control movements
• Ataxic:
  • Poor balance, coordination, and postural control
  • Difficulty maintaining equilibrium
  • More volitional control over individual movements

CP Comorbidities

• Chronic pain: Persistent pain due to muscle stiffness and joint problems
• Epilepsy: Seizures
• Intellectual disability: Learning disabilities
• Musculoskeletal problems: Joint deformities, scoliosis
• Behavioral disorders: Anxiety, depression
• Sleep disorders: Difficulty sleeping
• Functional blindness: Vision impairments
• Hearing impairments: Hearing loss
• Sensory Processing Difficulties: Challenges processing sensory input

Physical Growth (6-11 Years)

• Girls:
  • Lighter between 6-8 years of age
  • Experience a growth spurt at 9 years old
  • More body fat than boys
• Boys:
  • Taller between 6-8 years of age
  • Greater muscle mass than girls

Explore the essential concepts of development, including its multidimensional and multidirectional nature, as well as the influences shaping it. This quiz also delves into major developmental theories like behaviorism, classical and operant conditioning, social learning, and cognitive development.