Section 5: Infancy and Toddlerhood
Why understand human development during infancy?
Welcome to the story of development from infancy through toddlerhood, from birth until about two years of age. Did you ever wonder how babies grow from tiny, helpless infants into well-developed and independent adults? It doesn’t happen overnight, but the process begins right from day one. Infancy is a time when tremendous growth, coordination, and mental development occur. Most infants learn to walk and manipulate objects and can form basic words by the end of infancy. By 5 months, a baby will have doubled its birth weight and tripled its birth weight by the first year. By the age of 2, a baby’s weight will have quadrupled!
Researchers have given this part of the life span more attention than any other period, perhaps because changes during this time are so dramatic and so noticeable. We know that much of what happens during these years provides a foundation for one’s life to come; however, it has been argued that the significance of development during these years has been overstated (Bruer, 1999). Nevertheless, this is a period of life that contemporary educators, healthcare providers, and parents have focused on quite heavily. It is also a time period that can be tricky to study—how do we learn about infant speech when they cannot articulate their thoughts or feelings? For example, through research, we know that infants understand speech much earlier than their bodies have matured enough to physically perform it; thus, it is evident that their speech patterns develop before the physical growth of their vocal cords is adequate to facilitate speech.
In this module, we will examine infants’ rapid physical growth and development, the influences on physical growth and cognitive development, and emotional and social development in the early years of life. The early years are a time of rapid physical, cognitive, social, and emotional development, which have a direct effect on a baby’s overall development and the adult they will become.
Physical
- Summarize overall physical growth patterns during infancy
- Describe the growth of the brain during infancy
- Explain gross and fine motor skills in infants
- Explain newborn perceptual abilities
- Describe sleep concerns for infants
- Explain how vaccines work and their impact on public health
Cognitive
- Describe Piaget’s sub-stages of sensorimotor intelligence
- Explain learning and memory abilities in infants and toddlers
- Describe stages of language development during infancy
- Compare theories of language development in toddlers
- Explain the procedure, results, and implications of moral reasoning research in infants
Psychosocial 1
- Describe emotional development and self-awareness during infancy
- Differentiate between stranger wariness and separation anxiety
- Describe social referencing and synchrony
- Describe temperament and the goodness-of-fit model
Psychosocial 2
- Use Erikson’s theory to characterize psychosocial development during infancy.
- Describe Bowlby’s ethological theory of attachment.
- Describe Ainsworth’s theory of attachment styles and contrast four styles assessed using the Strange Situation Technique.
- Explain the factors that influence attachment.
- Explain how children’s internal working models can carry forward the effects of attachment.
- Evaluate Freud and Erikson’s theories of psychosocial development during infancy.
