Infant Development Across the Lifespan PDF

**Development across the lifespan** **Week 2** **Infant development** **Prenatal brain development** - Foetal brain begins to develop in the **third (3)** week of gestation - Neuralprogenatal cells begin to divide and differentiate into neurons and Gela - Neu...

**Development across the lifespan** **Week 2** **Infant development** **Prenatal brain development** - Foetal brain begins to develop in the **third (3)** week of gestation - Neuralprogenatal cells begin to divide and differentiate into neurons and Gela - Neurons and Gela = form basis of nervous system - **9^th^ week** brain = smooth small structure - Changes in the brain reflect changes at a cellular level - Neuros at brain level start chemically signalling molecules = enable communication between nerve cells - Even before birth children can be effected by parents behaviour and environmental factors - Example: foetal alcohol syndrome (as by mother drinking during pregnancy can form abnormalities and reduce brain size) - Other factors (e.g. passive smoking) can also effect lower birth rate and other birth problems - Foundation of the brain is developed prenatally - Brian function continues to develop after birth -- largely driven by sensory input - Number of neural connection explode within he first year (synaptic big bang) **Neurodevelopment** - genes provide initial map for brain development - Begins from basic connections in brain from birth - Significant wiring occurs during the first years of a child's life - Effectively programs child development - Image (dendrites in the brain) progresses overtime - During early formation the brain is very neuroplastic - Can development in a variety of ways **Gene-environment interaction** - Epigenetics emerging field in scientific world - How environments influences and child experience effect the expression of their genes - Nature and nurture = nearly always both - The DNA that makes up our genes accumulates chemical marks determine how much or how little of the gene are expressed - Chemical marks = known as the epigenome - Different child experience will change the chemical marks - Explains why early experiences can have life long impacts - Genes from biological parents will guide development (e.g. height) - If chemical marks are changed -- may change how the genes are carried - Epigenome can be changed by positive or negative experiences (can be temporary or permanent) - Temporary or permanent will impact how easily the genes will be turned on or off - Resent research: may be ways to reverse negative changes/restore healthy functioning - Support responsive relationships to build strong brains from the beginning **Sensory Development** - From birth newborns have genially good sensory system - Respond very positively to touch - Can different sensory input - Respond when their body is moved (sense of body balance) - Even before birth their hearing is good - Built in with reflexes **Vision** - Rapid development over first 6 months, primary interest in human faces - Skilled muscle control and mental function - Although an infants can see they are not ready to process this information - First few years much more sensitive - Known as a critical period - If this ability is not stimulated it will be lost - Overtime a baby will learn how to process information into images - Babies can see colour from birth but less vividly - 2-4 months colour destratification improves **Hearing** - Foetuses begin to hear in the womb - Preference for human voice - Can distinguish between similar sounds by one month (pah, bah) - Can impact how they communicate - Show a preference for mothers voice - By 4 months they should startle when loud sounds (like door slamming) **Language production and comprehension** - Process of early learning production in babies follows four developmental stages: - 1\) Cooling (**2** **months**): will begin to produced vowel sounds only: "ooo and aah" - 2\) Syllables (**3**-**4** **months**): consonant sounds being to be introduced, coordinate vowel and consonant sounds such as "Ga and Doh" - Reduplicative babbling (**6** **months**): Syllables previously developed being to be produced repetitively (long strides) "babababababa and omomomom" - Conversational babbling (**10** **months**): syllables will be mixed into conversational tone with *turn talking* "Gadaba bomomo, ha!" **Language production and comprehension** **Infant learning** - Hard to get information as your cannot do an interview with an infant - Hence data is often found through inferring sensory capacity - Visal cliff set up shows that from about 6 months infants can perceive depth - Younger infants are likely to perceive the danger but still crawl over anyway however older infants are less likely to take this risk - Proves that the fear of heights is learnt **Cognitive development**  **Physical development**  **Activities (occupations)** - Some of the first occupations that babies do are Activities of Daily Living (ADL's) - Sleep, feeding and attachment, 3 important occupations of infancy **Sleep** **Feeding** - Involvement with family/caregivers is vital - Connection and working with speech pathologists is also vital - Feeding, eating and swallowing are all daily occupations that allow nutrition, development and growth **Attachment theory** - Bond with caregiver - Helps them build an understanding of themselves - Helps them how to function in relationships - Human biology says all infants will become attached to at least 1 caregiver - However, quality of attachment will differ depending on factors (ad) - First years of a child's life is the most important for forming secure attachment - 3 types of children exist: - Secure - Anxious resistance - Anxious-avoidant **Attachment theory** - Attachment develops through caregiver-child interactions, this is important for child development and future mental health **Facilitating health (secure) attachment:** - Intersubjectivity and attunement - Rupture and repair **Intersubjectivity and attunement** - Positive (normally face to face) interactions between child and caregiver - Whenever baby and caregiver are looking into each others eyes and sharing enjoyment **Attunement** - Where baby mirrors caregiver - Mirror each other (mainly facial expressions) - Helps baby to understand and regulate their emotions + creates secure attachment **Rupture and repair** - Experience of child being out of sync or mistuned with caregiver can produce a ' **rupture'** in the relationship - Rupture = negative child-caregiver interaction, could be initiated by child or caregiver - '**Repair'** relates to the caregiver and child reconnecting and re-engaging in an attuned way after a relationship rupture. - Repair after rupture helps a child understand that they can maintain connection in their important relationships even in the presence of conflict **Environmental factors** A diagram of a health condition Description automatically generated - Social environment = if someone holds a baby a lot or not/how they interact with them - Emotional environment = If parents are detached (depressed) can affect the child's development (air pollution may also play a major role in health) - Economic environment = financial barrier like play groups - Physical environment = remote location (difficulty getting health services) **Exam revision:** **LOOK AT:** - Basic principles of visual development - Development of promotive reflexes - Attachment theory and different styles of attachment