Human Development: Infancy and Toddlerhood

Human Development: Infancy and Toddlerhood

Physical Development:

• Gross Motor Skills:
  • Lifting head while on stomach (1-2 months)
  • Rolling over (2-4 months)
  • Reaching and grabbing toys (4-6 months)
  • Sitting up with support (4-6 months)
  • Crawling (6-10 months)
  • Standing with support (9-12 months)
• Fine Motor Skills:
  • Bringing hands to midline of body (1-2 months)
  • Transferring toys from one hand to another (4-6 months)
  • Raking and grasping small objects (6-8 months)
  • Using raking and grasping to pick up small objects (8-10 months)

Cognitive Development:

• Sensory-Motor Stage (0-2 years):
  • Infants learn by using senses and motor activities
  • Object permanence: understanding that objects still exist even when out of sight (4-8 months)

Language and Communication:

• Cooing and Babbling:
  • Cooing (2-3 months): making vowel sounds
  • Babbling (4-6 months): making consonant sounds
• Vocal Play:
  • Imitating sounds and facial expressions (4-6 months)
  • Responding to own name (6-8 months)

Social and Emotional Development:

• Attachment:
  • Forming close relationships with caregivers
  • Separation anxiety (6-12 months): distress when separated from caregivers
• Emotional Development:
  • Expressing emotions like happiness, sadness, and anger (4-6 months)
  • Imitating emotional expressions (6-8 months)

Brain Development:

• Neuron Pruning:
  • Process of eliminating unused neural connections (0-3 years)
• Synaptic Plasticity:
  • Strengthening of neural connections based on experiences (0-3 years)

Human Development: Infancy and Toddlerhood

Physical Development

• Infants can lift their head while on their stomach by 1-2 months
• Rolling over is a milestone achieved by 2-4 months
• By 4-6 months, infants can reach and grab toys and sit up with support
• Crawling is a skill developed by 6-10 months
• Infants can stand with support by 9-12 months

Cognitive Development

• Infants learn through sensory-motor experiences from 0-2 years
• Object permanence is understood by 4-8 months, where infants realize objects still exist even when out of sight

Language and Communication

• Infants start cooing by 2-3 months, making vowel sounds
• Babbling begins by 4-6 months, with infants making consonant sounds
• Infants start imitating sounds and facial expressions by 4-6 months
• By 6-8 months, infants can respond to their own name

Social and Emotional Development

• Infants form close relationships with caregivers through attachment
• Separation anxiety is a common phenomenon in infants from 6-12 months, where they experience distress when separated from caregivers
• Infants start expressing emotions like happiness, sadness, and anger by 4-6 months
• By 6-8 months, infants can imitate emotional expressions

Brain Development

• The process of neuron pruning, where unused neural connections are eliminated, occurs from 0-3 years
• Synaptic plasticity, where neural connections are strengthened based on experiences, takes place from 0-3 years