Human development across the lifespan

Human development across the lifespan

By C Settley

Outcomes

• Describe the development tasks of the infant • Discuss the following aspects of development:• Motor development• Perceptual development• Language development• Social development:• Describe the concept attachment.• Analyse the following aspects of attachment:

phases of attachment

Outcomes

• Types of attachment• Factors influencing attachment• The role of the father• The role of other care-givers and siblings• Discuss stranger anxiety during infancy • Discuss separation anxiety during infancy• Analyse the following aspects of the socialisation

process during infancy• Parental influence.

Developmental tasks of the infant

• Physical development is rapid during the first two years of life

• Within 4-6 months the baby is double its birth weight, and by the age of 2 years the child is about half its adult height

• Thereafter, growths slows down until the next ‘growth spurt’ at puberty

• Motor skills: divided into gross motor skills(large muscle movements) and fine motor skills(small muscle movements)

Developmental tasks of the infant: Gross Motor Movement

• Developmental milestones:

Developmental tasks of the infant: Gross Motor Movement

• Babies are not all the same

• Differences when they achieve their physical milestones are an indication to assess whether the child grows within normal ranges

Road to Health Chart

Developmental tasks of the infant: Fine motor skills

• In the first two years of life, skills as grasping and reaching develop

• Hand-eye coordination also develops in the first two years of life

• Video on developmental stages 6-8 months

Motor development

• Is the development of an infants’ ability to move their arms and legs

• Large motor actions develop first: they lift their heads, roll over, sit, crawl and eventually walk

• Fine motor movements also develops gradually. At first the infant grasps an object with the while hand, and in time holds the object between fingers

• As the sensory functions and the fine and large motor systems become integrated, more complex actions are possible

Motor development:Sequence of motor development

Motor development

• Motor skills and bi-lateral co-ordination improves dramatically during early childhood

• Sequence of development more or less the same with all babies

Neonatal Reflexes

PRIMITIVE REFLEXESVIDEO

Emotional, Personality and Social development

• Infant temperament:

• Foundation of personality

• Refers to individual differences in babies in attention, arousal and reactions to the environment, like routines, changes and new situations

• Mostly a result of genetic factors

• Very little to do with good or poor caregiving


• Physical and cognitive growth are not the only aspects that are important

• The are people to be explored, feelings to be experienced and relationships to be formed

• All of these contribute towards an individuals personality

• Social interaction plays a central role in the individuals overall development


• Emotional Attachment• All babies are born with skills that help them

survive• These skills help them interact and form

relationships with others • The earliest relationships are the foundations for

their social development in the future• Attachment is the special bond that links the

baby with the primary caregiver, which is also felt by the caregiver


• Babies learn to smile by the age of 6 weeks, and this makes the caregivers respond with love and protection

• Before the age of 6 it is reflex reaction

• Feeding plays a big part of the attachment relationship

• Not just the feeding- but the comfort, soothing touch of the mother that leads to attachment


- when babies are unable to rely on their caregivers, they might have difficulty trusting others

-Babies also learn to copy the facial expressions of others


Factors that promote attachment behaviors:

-The mother’s personality

-Her general attitude towards children

-The quality of the marital relationship

-The attitude of her husband towards the child

-Her socio-economic situation

Types of attachment

Secure Attachment

Avoidant Attachment

Ambivalent Attachment

Disorganised Attachment

Video

• ATTACHMENT

Speech and language development

• Begins with the sounds that babies make when they are born

• Speech takes place in a sequence

• First sounds are called ‘cooing’

• Consonant sounds at 5 months of age

• By 8 months babies keep quiet when somebody talks to them

• At 1 year of age they can say words

The role of fathers during child development

• Fathers play an important role in a child's development from birth through adulthood.

• In fact, numerous studies have reached the same conclusion: Children with involved fathers have an advantage -- socially and academically -- over children with distant or no relationships with their fathers

• Research found better language skills and fewer behavioral problems in children with an actively involved father.

The role of fathers during child development

• Interestingly, this result holds true even if the father doesn't live in the same home as the child -- for example, in divorce situations. It appears that how involved the dad is -- not where he lives in relation to the child -- is the crucial factor.

• Children with fathers who take the time to ask about what they learned in school and their day-to-day social activities and relationships do better in school than kids who don't have that kind of input or interest.

• And it's important to note that this father figure doesn't have to be a biological father in order for children to benefit. It can be an adoptive father, stepfather, or an adult male in the household.

The role of other care givers and siblings during child development

• Sensitive and responsive caregiving is a requirement for the healthy neurophysiological, physical and psychological development of a child.

• - Sensitivity and responsiveness have been identified as key features of caregiving behaviour related to later positive health and development outcomes in young children

• Sensitivity is an awareness of the infant and an awareness of the infant’s acts and vocalizations as communicative signals to indicate needs and wants.


• Sensitivity is an awareness of the infant and an awareness of the infant’s acts and vocalizations as communicative signals to indicate needs and wants. Responsiveness is the capacity of caregivers to respond contingently and appropriately to the infant’s signals.

• To ensure the child’s health and growth, caregivers need to be sensitive to the physical state of the young child, to be able to judge whether the child is hungry, tired, needs toileting, or is becoming sick.


• Responsive caregivers are able to make these judgements because they monitor the child’s movements, expressions, colour, temperature, and the like.

• By continuously taking account of the child’s response, they are able to adjust their own actions to achieve an optimum outcome


• Inadequate, disrupted and negligent care has adverse consequences for the child’s survival, health and development.

• The quality of caregiving relationships has an impact on children’s health and development.

• These effects occur because children, whose care is less than adequate or whose care is disrupted in some way, may not receive sufficient nutrition; they may be subjected to stress; they may be physically abused and neglected; they may develop malnutrition; they may not grow well; and early signs of illness may not be detected.


• Factors directly affecting the caregiver and child, as well as underlying social and economic issues, influence the quality of caregiver-child relationships.

• Barriers to the natural emergence of a caring relationship disrupt the care a child needs.

• Caregiver mood and emotional state are critical determinants of caregiver behaviour, for example, with consequences for the child’s health and development


• Faced with chronic stress or anxiety, the caregiver may withdraw from her infant and become inattentive to the child’s physical and psychological states.

• With a lack of attention and poor surveillance, the caregiver is not aware of early signs of illness, that a child has not eaten sufficiently during the last meal, or that no one has praised the child for efforts to do something or provided the child with guidance and limits for behaviour.


• Chronic stress, associated with poverty and other environmental challenges, can also disrupt the capacity of adults to give loving care.

• The effects of caregiving on young children can persist well into adolescence in the form of behaviour disorders, anxiety, and depression


• Nurturing caregiver-child relationships have universal features across cultures, regardless of differences in specific child care practices

• In all human groups, babies depend on warm, responsive, linguistically rich, and protective relationships in which to grow and develop

• They cannot survive in environments that do not meet threshold levels of these characteristics

•


• Caregivers in all cultures demonstrate sensitivity and responsiveness towards infants and young children, although the form of the caregiver’s actions may vary considerably from one cultural milieu to another.

• Sometimes these features of caregiver-child relationships are not so easily observed because interactions with children, or the expression of emotions, are kept private as a matter of social convention.

• This does not mean, however, that caring adults do not watch young infants, cuddle and talk to them, and stimulate babies to develop skills indicative of healthy growth and wellbeing


• Siblings play a powerful role in child development

• While siblings might compete for attention in the household, they can also become supportive friends and role models

• Siblings who interact frequently influence the other's social behaviors and personalities as they develop into adults

• Children who grow up with older siblings observe and mimic their social behaviors because they regularly encounter similar circumstances and environments


• Siblings can shape each other's personalities, and birth order can be key. For instance, an older sibling, who is used to being the first to learn things, might become more confident and develop stronger leadership skills

• Firstborn children, who are often surrogates for their parents as caregivers, teachers, and models, enjoy a greater status/power position in relationship to their younger siblings

• A middle child might become insecure and attention-seeking because she is neither the beloved first born or the adored baby. He/she might be rebellious or competitive.

• The youngest might become spontaneous and outgoing.


• As first playmates, siblings can build close bonds

• They might enjoy spending time together and learning from each other

• However, sibling rivalry is common during childhood

• While siblings might compete early on, those who are coached properly by their parents can eventually develop relationships of love and support.


• By watching and listening to a sibling, children strengthen their communication skills

• Older siblings might read out loud, sing songs, make jokes, or give instructions in front of their younger siblings, and in doing so, they act as role models

• The more often children hear the sounds of language, the faster they will strengthen their own skills

• While parents also model language and communication skills, siblings live in similar worlds and therefore might be more likely to absorb new information from an older brother or sister

References

• http://www.guidetochildcare.org/normal-growth-and-development.htm

• https://www.pinterest.com/meloniebrasher/nerve-stuff/• http://mbbsdost.com/fbapp/index.php?mno=2618• https://neuronarrative.wordpress.com/2009/01/12/attach

ment-theory-and-the-brain-an-interview-with-dr-daniel-sonkin/

• http://www.afatherforever.com/

• http://whqlibdoc.who.int/publications/2004/924159134X.pdf

• http://everydaylife.globalpost.com/role-caregivers-speech-language-development-children-6214.html

References

• http://everydaylife.globalpost.com/importance-siblings-development-7039.html

Human development across the lifespan

Health & Medicine

Transcript of Human development across the lifespan