Children – Birth to 2 Years

1. Children – Birth to 2 Years FACS Standards 4.2.1, 4.2.2 Herr, Judy. Working with Young Children. The Goodheart-Wilcox Co., Inc. 2008.

2. Physical Development • Rapid growth – child’s size, shape, senses, and organs change • Gain new abilities • Most of 1st year spent coordinating motor skills • Through repetition, physical strength and motor coordination gained

3. As children grow, activities, diets, sleep schedules, and safety policies must be adjusted • Infant seat – okay during early infancy, but by end of 1st year, child needs room for large muscles to develop and need time and space for crawling and walking

4. Size and Shape • Weight may change daily • Average birth weight 7 ½ pounds • 5 months later, double birth weight • By age 1, triples birth weight • By age 2, four time birth weight

5. Length also changes rapidly • Average birth length 20 inches • By age 1, usually grown 10-12 inches • By age 2, grow 2-6 inches more – 32-36 inches

6. Differences in sexes – males slightly heavier and taller • Most boys reach ½ adult height by age 2

7. Reflexes • Automatic body response to a stimulus • Some last a lifetime; others disappear after a few months • Doctors check reflexes for brain and nerve development

8. Reflexes are not acquired or lost at exactly same time

9. Types of Reflexes • Survival – necessary for life – breathing, sucking, swallowing • Primitive – disappear with age – Babinski, Moro, Palmar, stepping

10. Sucking Reflex • Helps infant obtain food for survival • Permanent reflex • Course of development – birth to 6 months

11. Rooting Reflex • Causes infants to turn heads toward anything that brushes their face • Helps them find food source • Helps child find something to suck • Usually disappears by 3-4 months

12. Moro Reflex • “Startle” reflex • Occurs when infant startled by noise or sudden movement • Flinging arms and legs outward and extending head; then quickly draws arms together, crying loudly • Peaks during 1st month and usually disappears by 6 months

13. Palmar Grasp Reflex • When you touch an infant’s palm, hand will grip tightly • Tightly enough to lift infant into a sitting position – Don’t! • Infant has no control over this response

14. Can be seen with rattle or any other object placed in palm • Weakens after 3-4 months • Disappears totally later in 1st year

15. Babinski Reflex • Present at birth of full term babies • Stroke sole of foot on outside of heel to toe • Toes will fan out; foot twitches • Usually lasts for much of 1st year

16. Stepping/Walking Reflex • Observed in full term babies • When infants feet are placed on flat surface, infant will lift one foot after another in stepping motion • Usually disappears 2-3 months after birth • Will learn to step voluntarily late in 1st year

17. Motor Sequence • Order in which child performs new movements • Each new movement builds on previous ones • Sequence depends on brain and nerve development • Movements develop in areas closest to brain and spinal cord first

18. First months after birth, head and trunk control develops – can lift head; watch an moving object by moving head side to side • 4-6 months of age, roll over; first turn from stomach to back; then able to roll back to stomach

19. Can sit upright 4-6 months - need to strengthen neck and back muscles • Gradually able to pull themselves into sitting position • Then, crawl – can be done after learn to roll onto stomach – pulls with arms and wiggles stomach; some push with legs

20. Crawling versus Creeping • Crawling – abdomen on floor • Creeping – movement in which child supports weight on their arms and legs; then move forward

21. As arms and legs strengthen, able to stand with help from adult • Soon able to stand while using furniture to support themselves • Hitching – must be able to sit alone first; move arms and legs, sliding their buttocks across the floor

22. With better coordination and leg strength, can walk when led by adult • Pull selves up to standing position • Stand without support • True toddler next – walk alone

23. Hand movements • Earliest are reflexes • By 3-4 months, enjoy swiping at things - unable to grasp • By 9 months, eye-hand coordination improved enough they can pick up objects • By 16 months, can scribble with crayons

24. By age 2, can draw simple figure of vertical and horizontal lines • By age 2 show preference for one hand over the other; some children don’t show hand preference until age 4

25. Cognitive Development 1st 2 years • Reflexes to coordinated movements • Two main forces are work: • Heredity- determines when brain and senses will mature enough to learn certain skills • Environment – opportunities to use senses and try new things

26. Being able to see, hear, feel, taste, and smell important to learning • Senses develop in 1st 2 years of life • Sight and hearing develop quickly

27. Birth to 3 months • Vision blurry at birth • Near vision better than far • Like to see things 8-15 inches on front of them • As vision improves show preference for certain objects

28. Will gaze longer at patterned – checks and stripes – than a solid color • Prefer bold over pastel colors • Pay more attention to faces rather than objects • Gaze longer at a smiling face than one with no expression

29. 1 month – focus on hairline • 2 months – eyes • 3 months – facial expressions

30. Hearing • As infant turn head toward noises – startled by loud noises • React to noises by crying • Lulled to sleep by rhythmic sounds – lullaby or heartbeat

31. React to human voice while ignoring other sounds • By 3 weeks can distinguish between mother and father and other stranger

32. During 1st 3 months, infants don’t distinguish difference between themselves and their environment • Don’t recognize that their moving hand is THEIR hand • Could be someone else’s

33. 3-6 months • Focus on their surroundings • By 6 months, distinguish between familiar and unfamiliar faces • Learn to touch, shake, and hit objects they see

34. Memory, foresight, and self-awareness developing • Hitting crib gym – makes noise • Moving – makes noise

35. 3-6 months – show judgment- prefer smell and voice of parent over a stranger • From birth, infants make noise • During this stage, vocalization increases • When you hold and play with infants, they make noises

36. Respond new ways to touch • Respond happily to light touches and tickling • Take an object, look at it, mouth it, and shake it, bang it on floor

37. Body awareness begins to develop • May bite toes; when teeth begin coming in, child will experience pain when biting toes

38. 6-9 months • Object permanence comprehension begins – understanding that object remains whether within sight or not • Developing memory and goal-oriented thinking

39. 9-12 months • Become intentional about goals • Have definite ideas about wants • Anticipate certain events

40. 12-18 months • Like pat-a-cake and peek-a-boo • Trial-and-error problem solving • Experiment with objects to find new uses • Cause and effect fascinates children

41. Language – change of behavior occurring as a result of experience and maturation; relates to environment • Becomes bigger part of communication • 1 or 2 words to communicate, but don’t understand combining a series of words to form sentences

42. Books become important at this time • Love to sit in lap and listen to story • Can identify pictures, pointing to them, giving them names • Understand more than they can say

43. 18-24 months • Able to apply what known about objects to solve problemswithout as much trial-and-error • Think in terms of actions • Improved thinking and motor skills makes caring for toddlers exhausting

44. Want to actively explore, find out as much as possible about new places and objects • Don’t understand dangers, therefore, caregivers must make environment as safe as possible • Pretend starts, a form of deferred imitation

45. Deferred imitation – watching another person’s behavior, then acting that behavior out later • Understand that symbols represent other real objects • Learning more and more words • At first, learn 1 or 2 words each month

46. Between 18-24 months, 10-20 new words added each month • When vocabulary reaches 200 words, they begin to combine 2 words – known as telegraphic speech

47. Social-Emotional Development first 2 years • At birth don’t show a wide variety of emotions – either comfortable or uncomfortable – express this using movements, facial expressions, and sounds • Cooing – comfort or delight • Crying - discomfort

48. A range of emotions in first months – shown by facial expressions • Between 6-9 months will show fear, anxiety, and anger • Socially young children focus on a few adults • After age 1, take interest in other toddlers, but adults still most important

49. Temperament • Quality and intensity of emotional reactions • Passivity, irritability, and activity patterns part of temperament

50. Passivity – how actively child is involved in surroundings • Passive infant withdraws from a new person or event • Active infant responds to a new person or event