The Child and Adolescent
Learners and Learning
Principles
MODULE 7
Prepared by: Roselyn G. Pangapalan, LPT
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
At the end of the lesson, the students should be able to:
trace the physical development that you have gone through as
infants and toddlers.
Infancy and Toddlerhood
The period that comes after pre-natal or antenatal stage is
infancy, which, in turn, is followed by toddlerhood span the first
two years of life.
Cephalocaudal and Proximodistal Patterns
Cephalocaudal Trend
Is the postnatal growth from conception to 5 months when the
head grows more than the body.
This trend that applies to the development of the fetus also
applies in the first months after birth.
Infants learn to The same pattern occurs in the head area
because the top parts of the head – the eyes and the use their
upper limbs before their lower limbs.
brain – grow faster than the lower parts such as the jaw.
Proximodistal Trend
Is the pre-natal growth from 5 months to birth when the fetus
grows from the inside of the body outwards.
This also applies in the first months after birth as shown in the
earlier maturation of muscular control of the trunk and arms,
followed by that of the hands and fingers.
When referring to motor development, the proximodistal trend
refers to the development of motor skills from the center of the
body outward.
Height and Weight
It’s normal for newborn babies to drop 5 to 10 percent of their
body weight within a couple of weeks of birth. That is due to
baby’s adjustment to neonatal feeding. Once they adjust to
sucking, swallowing and digesting, they grow rapidly.
Breastfed babies are typically heavier than bottle-fed babies
through the first six months. After six months, breastfed babies
usually weigh less than bottle-fed babies.
In general, an infant’s length increases by about 30 percent in the
first five months.
A baby’s weight usually triples during the first year but shows
down in the second year of life.
Low percentages are not a cause for alarm as long infants
progress along a natural curve of steady development.
Brain Development
Among the most dramatic changes in the brain in the first two
years of life are the spreading connections of dendrites to each
other.
Myelination or myelinization, the process by which the axons
are covered and insulated by layers of fat cells, begins
prenatally and continues after birth. This increases the speed at
which information travels through the nervous system.
At birth, the newborn’s brain about 25 percent of its adult
weight. By the second birthday, the brain is about 75% of its
adult weight.
Shortly after birth, a baby’s brain produces trillions more
connections between neurons than it can possibly use. The
brain eliminates connections that are seldom or never used.
The infant’s brain is literally waiting for experiences to
determine how connections are made.
A study on rats conducted by Mark Rosenzweig in 1969
revealed that the brains of rats that grew up in the enriched
environment developed better than the brains of the animals
reared in standard or isolated conditions. The brains of the
“enriched” animals weighted more, had thicker layers, had
more neuronal connections and had higher levels of
neurochemical activity. Such finding implies that lives of
infants who live in impoverished environments can produce
positive changes in their development.
Depressed brain activity had been found in children who grew
up in a depressed environment.
Motor Development
Along this aspect of motor development, infants and toddlers
begin from reflexes, to gross motor skills and fine motor skills.
Reflexes
The newborn has some basic reflexes which are, of course
automatic, and serve as survival mechanisms before they have
the opportunity to learn. Many reflexes which are present at
birth will generally subside within a few months as the baby
grows and matures.
A) Sucking reflex: the sucking reflex is initiated when
something touched the roof on an infant’s mouth. Infants have a
strong sucking reflex which helps to ensure they can latch unto a
bottle or breast. The sucking reflex is very strong in some infants
and they may need to suck on a pacifier for comfort.
B) Rooting reflex: the rooting reflex is most evident when an
infant’s cheek is stroke. The baby responds by turning his or her
head in the direction of the touch and opening their mouth for
feeding.
C) Gripping reflex: Babies will grasp anything that is placed in
their palm. The strength of this grip is strong, and most babies
can support their entire weight in their grip
D) Curling reflex: When the inner sole of a baby’s foot is
stroked, the infant respond by spreading out their toes.
E) Startle/Moro reflex: Infants will respond to sudden sounds
or movements by throwing their arms and legs out, and
throwing their heads back. Most infants will usually cry when
startled and proceed to pull their limbs back into their bodies.
F) Galant reflex: the gallant reflex is shown when an infant’s
middle or lower back is stroked next to the spinal cord. The
baby will respond by curving his or her body toward the side
which is being stroked.
G) Tonic Neck reflex: the tonic neck reflex is demonstrated in
infants who are placed on their abdomens. Whichever side the
child’s head is facing, the limbs on that side will straighten,
while the opposite limbs will curl.
Gross Motor Skills
It is always a source of excitement for parents to witness
dramatic changes in the infant’s first year of life. This dramatic
motor development is shown in babies unable to even lift their
heads to being able to grab things off the cabinet, to chase the
ball and to walk away from parent.
Fine Motor Skills
Are skills that involve a refined use of small muscles
controlling the hand, fingers, and thumb.
The development of these skills allows one to be able to
complete tasks such as writing, drawing, and buttoning.
The ability to exhibit fine motor skills involve activities that
involve precise eye-hand coordination.
The development of reaching and grasping becomes more
refined during the first two years of life. Initially, infants
show only crude shoulder and elbow movements, but later
they show wrist movements, hand rotation and coordination
of the thumb and forefinger.
Sensory and Perceptual Development
WHAT ARE SOME RESEARCH FINDINGS REGARDING
NEWBORNS’ VISUAL PERCEPTIONS?
Can newborn see?
Vision: 10 to 30 times lower than normal adult vision.
By 6 months of age, vision becomes better and by the first
birthday, the infant’s vision approximates that of an adult.
Infants look at different things for different lengths of time.
Can newborns hear?
The sense of hearing in an infant develops much before the
birth of the baby.
When in womb, the baby hears his/her mother’s heartbeats, the
grumbling of his/her stomach, the mother’s voice and music.
Infants’ sensory thresholds are somewhat higher than those of
adult which means that stimulus must be louder to be heard by
a newborn than by an adult.
Can newborns differentiate odors?
In an experiment conducted by MacFarlane (1975) “young
infants who were breastfed showed a clear preference for
smelling their mother’s breast pad when they were 6 days old.
This preference did not show when the babies were only two
days old. This shows that it requires several days of experience
to recognize their mother’s breast pad odor.
Can newborns feel pain? Do they respond to touch?
They do feel pain.
Newborn males show a higher level of cortisol (an indicator of
stress) after a circumcision than prior to the surgery.
Babies respond to touch.
Can newborns distinguish the different tastes?
In a study conducted with babies only two hour old, babies
made different facial expressions when they tasted sweet, sour
and bitter solutions.
Do infants relate information through several senses? In short,
are infants capable of intermodal perception?
Intermodal perception is the ability to relate, connect and
integrate information about two or more sensory modalities
such as vision and hearing.
In a study conducted by Spelke and Owsley (1979), it was
found out that as early as at 3 ½ months old, infants looked
more at their father when they also heard his voice.
The capacity for intermodal perception or ability to connect
information coming through various modes gets sharpened
considerably through experience.
Thank You!
