INFANCY

DEVELOPMENT
Group Members:
Nishwah Nadeem 1662-FSS/BSPSY/F-21

Rida Javed 1661-FSS/BSPSY/F-21

Syedah Zahra Batool 1678-FSS/BSPSY/F-21

Fiza Farooq 1648-FSS/BSPSY/F-21

Sabeena 1652-FSS/BSPSY/F-21

Eman Rauf 1883-FSS/BSPSY/F-21

Laiba Altaf 1685-FSS/BSPSY/F-21

Rida Zainab 1774-FSS/BSPSY/F-21

Introduction:
Time period birth to 1 year.
It is most often divided into the following areas:
1. Cognitive
2. Language
3. Physical, such as fine motor skills (holding a spoon, pincer grasp) and gross motor skills (head
control, sitting, and walking)
4. Social
Physical Development
Physical Development:
An infant's physical development begins at the head, then moves to other parts of the body.
For example, sucking comes before sitting, which comes before walking.
By four months babies grow about 3 inches and gain an average of 4.5 pounds from their birth
length and weight. Their head circumference also grows between .25 and .5 inches a month
during the first year of life.
By six months, their weight has usually doubled from birth, averaging a gain of .5 oz to 1 oz. a
day.
 Some babies may begin teething at this age, with the first tooth coming in between four to 18
months.
SENSORY DEVELOPMENT:
Hearing begins before birth, and is mature at birth. The infant prefers the human voice.
Touch, taste, and smell, mature at birth; prefers sweet taste.
Vision, the newborn infant can see within a range of 8 to 12 inches (20 to 30 centimeters).
Color vision develops between 4 to 6 months. By 2 months, can track moving objects up to 180
degrees, and prefers faces.
Inner ear (vestibular) senses, the infant responds to rocking and changes of position.
Sensory and Motor
Development:
As muscles begin to strengthen during the first month, most babies are able to lift their head
for a short time while lying on their stomach.
Other limb movements at this time may be due to newborn reflexes, such as the startle reflex,
where a baby throws out his or her arms and spreads fingers when confronted by a loud noise
or surprise.
These reflexes begin to fade away by six weeks.
At three months, infants now have better control of their head and begin to appear fascinated
with their hands.
They will also now knowingly hold onto the fingers of others as a way to gain attention. Around
four months, control and balance of their head, neck and trunk will allow them to begin to roll
over.
Sensory and Motor
Development:
Still unsteady at four months, babies might sit with their hands out front to balance them in a
tripod position.
However, by six to nine months, leg and trunk coordination have improved, allowing babies to
sit, crawl and sometimes even pull themselves up to stand.
At seven months, your baby's eyes have developed almost to the same extent as your own.
Sensory and Motor
Development:
In the few months before their first birthday, more control over their hands and fingers let
babies better grab small objects with their thumbs and index fingers, rather than their palms.
As they start to learn and interact with all their senses, babies have a tendency to put objects
in their mouth, making baby-proofing your home extremely important.
Until they are able to walk independently, babies will use furniture and other objects to pull
themselves up and “cruise” around the room. Be sure to secure any heavy objects that could
topple over, such as bookcases and dressers, and move any potentially harmful objects well out
of reach.
Stages of Physical Development:
Stage 01:
Newborn to 2 months.

Can lift and turn their head when lying on their back
Hands are fisted, the arms are flexed
Neck is unable to support the head when the infant is pulled to a sitting position
Primitive Reflex:
Babinski reflex, toes fan outward when sole of foot is stroked
Moro reflex (startle reflex), extends arms then bends and pulls them in toward body with a brief cry;
often triggered by loud sounds or sudden movements
Palmar hand grasp, infant closes hand and "grips" your finger
Placing, leg extends when sole of foot is touched
Plantar grasp, infant flexes the toes and forefoot
Rooting and sucking, turns head in search of nipple when cheek is touched and begins to suck when
nipple touches lips
Stepping and walking, takes brisk steps when both feet are placed on a surface, with body supported
Tonic neck response, left arm extends when infant gazes to the left, while right arm and leg flex inward,
and vice versa
 Stage 02:
3 to 4 months

Better eye-muscle control allows the infant to track objects.

Begins to control hand and feet actions, but these movements are not fine-tuned. The infant
may begin to use both hands, working together, to accomplish tasks. The infant is still unable to
coordinate the grasp, but swipes at objects to bring them closer.
Increased vision allows the infant to tell objects apart from backgrounds with very little contrast
(such as a button on a blouse of the same color).
Infant raises up (upper torso, shoulders, and head) with arms when lying face down (on tummy).
Neck muscles are developed enough to allow the infant to sit with support, and keep head up.
Primitive reflexes have either already disappeared, or are starting to disappear.
Stage 03:
5 to 6 months:

Able to sit alone, without support, for only moments at first, and then for up to 30 seconds or
more.
Infant begins to grasp blocks or cubes using the ulnar-palmar grasp technique (pressing the
block into palm of hand while flexing or bending wrist in) but does not yet use thumb.
Infant rolls from back to stomach. When on tummy, the infant can push up with arms to raise
the shoulders and head and look around or reach for objects.
Stage 04:
6 to 9 months

Crawling may begin

Infant can walk while holding an adult's hand
Infant is able to sit steadily, without support, for long periods of time
Infant learns to sit down from a standing position
Infant may pull into and keep a standing position while holding onto furniture
Stage 05:
9 to 12 months.

Infant begins to balance while standing alone

Infant takes steps holding a hand; may take few steps alone
Cognitive Development
Cognition:
Cognition refers to the mental processes involved in acquiring, processing,
storing, and using information. It encompasses a wide range of activities,
including perception, attention, memory, language, problem-solving, decision-
making, and reasoning. Essentially, cognition is how our brains interpret and
make sense of the world around us.
Cognitive Development:

It refers to the growth and maturation of cognitive processes such as thinking,
reasoning, problem-solving, memory, language, and perception. It encompasses
the changes in these abilities from infancy through adulthood, including how
individuals acquire, organize, and apply knowledge and skills to understand the
world around them.
Jean Piaget’s theory:
Jean Piaget, a Swiss psychologist proposed four stages of cognitive development that individuals
progress through from infancy to adulthood. These stages are:
1.Sensorimotor Stage (Birth to 2 years)
2.Preoperational Stage (2 to 7 years)
3.Concrete Operational Stage (7 to 11 years)
4.Formal Operational Stage (11 years and older)
Cognitive development in
infancy with reference to
Piaget's theory:

In Jean Piaget's theory of cognitive development, the sensorimotor stage, which spans from
birth to about 2 years old, focuses on infancy. During this stage, Piaget proposed that infants
learn about the world primarily through their senses and motor actions
Sub-Stages:
The sensorimotor stage has further divided into six separate sub-stages:
1.Reflexes (Birth to 1 month):
Infants begin by exhibiting reflexive behaviors, such as sucking, grasping, and rooting, which are
essential for survival.
2.Primary Circular Reactions (1 to 4 months):
Infants start to repeat actions that initially occurred by chance, such as sucking their thumb or shaking a
rattle. These actions are centered on the infant's own body and provide the foundation for intentional
behavior.
3.Secondary Circular Reactions (4 to 8 months):
Infants become more interested in the environment outside their own bodies. They engage in repetitive
actions that produce interesting outcomes, such as shaking a rattle to make noise or banging objects
together.
4.Coordination of Secondary Schemes (8 to 12 months):
Infants begin to demonstrate goal-directed behavior by coordinating different actions to achieve a
specific goal. For example, they might push aside a barrier to reach a toy or use a stick to retrieve
an object that is out of reach.
5.Tertiary Circular Reactions (12 to 18 months):
Infants become more curious and experiment with different ways of interacting with objects and
the environment. They might try different approaches to achieve a desired outcome, such as
dropping objects from different heights to see how they fall.
6.Mental Representations (18 to 24 months):
Infants develop the ability to form mental representations of objects and events, allowing them to
engage in symbolic play and solve problems mentally. This marks the transition to the later stages
of cognitive development.
Throughout the sensorimotor stage,
Piaget emphasized the importance of active exploration and interaction with the environment in
shaping cognitive development.
He believed that infants gradually build an understanding of the world by assimilating new
experiences into existing cognitive structures (schemas) and accommodating their schemas to
incorporate new information.
Language Development
Language:
A systematic means of communication by sounds, words and conventional symbols.

A remarkable communication system that set humans apart from other creations.
Language Development:
A process where a person gains and grows ability to understand and utilize language
Important skill developed by children
Begins in infancy and typically follows a series of stages not strictly bound to age
First few years of life are important for language development (critical period)

Child learn both expressive and receptive language

Expressive Language: Ability to express ideas in words
Receptive language: Ability to understand words
Importance of language
Development
Like other skills, language is immensely important
Language allows to have the abilities to solve problems, think, learn, understand, and express
feelings
Words allow children to make sense of world
Communication and language is one of the important building block for other areas
If its not developed early, it is difficult to achieve later
 Stages:
There are a number of stages child pass through as they develop speech and language skills in
first year
1-3 Months Stage:
Communication through crying, cooing, and gurgling
Recognize voices and sounds in environment
Limited sound making ability as vocal tracts are not fully
developed
Example: coos & gurgles when happy
cries for hunger or discomfort
3-6 Months Stage:
Experiment with sound, tones
Copy some of sounds like coughing, clicking, laughing
Responds to own name
Make different sounds to express joy and displeasure
Jaws are dropped for greater movement of tongue
Example: eeeee, oooooo, aaaaaaa
7-9 Months Stage:
Put sounds together with rhythm and tone
Syllable cycle starts
Copy gestures like waving, pointing
Words are difficult to understand
Babbling [Start to produce vowel (a,e,i,o,u) and consonant (b,g,m)]
Example: infant repeating ‘ma-ma-ma’ while reaching for mother
10-12 Months Stage:
Utter his first word
Attach meanings to words
Start symbolizing things
Respond to simple spoken requests
Use noise or gestures to ask for something
Start saying no to things
According to theorist:
B.F.SKINNER
Believed children learn through ‘operant conditioning’
Children receive rewards for using language
For instance, getting water when saying ‘drink’
CHOMSKY
Children have innate biological ability to learn language
Socio-Emotional Development
SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Ability to interact with others Ability to attain emotional capabilities

Ability to communicate with others in a Control his/her own feelings
meaningful way
Socio-emotional development:
Impact of emotional wellbeing on social reaction during early age
Children who are emotionally healthy are better able to establish and maintain positive
relationships with adults as well as peer.
Milestones of Socio-Economic
Development:

Socio emotional development includes behavior that represents children emotional growth
and their ability to successfully navigate their world through interact with others.
Milestone focus on children s development abilities to regulate their emotion, behavior and to
form positive relationship with others.
2 months 12 months
• Calms easily • Plays social games
• Smiles at others • Helps dress self by lifting arms or legs
• Reacts positively when spoken to • Repeats sounds and accents to get attention

4 months 15 months
• Smiles to get someone’s attention • Copies simple and pleasurable actions
• Moves or makes sound to react • Claps when happy or excited
• Plays with their own hands or fingers • Points to ask for something and to get help
• Giggles but not laughs fully • Shows familiar adults' affection

6 months 18 months
• Recognizes family voices and faces • Uses familiar adults as a secure base when playing
• Laughs • Copies adults’ actions such as wiping or combing
• Interested in self in mirror • Points to show adults’ something interesting or ask for help

9 months 24 months
• May be shy around strangers • Observes and reacts when others are upset
• Elicit various facial expressions • Looks to adults to understand a new situation
• Know own name and look when one calls • Refers to self as I and me more often than using their own name
Temperaments:
Innate characteristics of infants that include
1. Quality of mood
2. Activity level
3. Intensity of reaction
4. Persistence
5. Adaptability to situation
 Temperament

Slowly Warm
Easy Difficult
up

• Able to quickly adapt to • Reacts negatively to • Adjusts slowly to new

routine and new new situations situations
situations • Has trouble adapting to • Low activity level
• Remains calm routine • Often negative in mood
• Easy to soothe • Cries frequently
• Usually in positive mood • Usually in negative
mood
Attachment:

Close bond with someone

Someone that divines strong sense of security
FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE
THE SOCIOECONOMIC
DEVELOPMENT:
1. Parenting:

Parents affect their children to how to react with others, how to react in different situations.
A child characteristics such as temperament also affect the parenting style.
As infants grow up, they learn how to work around and manage temperamental qualities that
helps in development of personality.

“Parenting also develops from

temperament in other ways.”
Thomson Winner and Goodwill
 Infant

Easy Temperament

Easy to soothe

Attain

Positive Relation with

others
2. Culture:

Culture refers to all of beliefs, customs, ideas, and traditions of a particular society that are
passed through genes.
Socioemotional development are also driven by cultural values.
Adults share their cultural values and beliefs with their children in their daily interaction by
which infants learn how to behave in society or respond to actions.
3. Caregiver’s Behavior:

Caregivers play a vital role in development of children.

They help children to develop socio-economic skills.
Through nurturing and trusting relations, infants learn about the world.
When their brain matures through interaction and learn how to form relationship, communicate
and recognize, experience and regulate their emotions from caregivers.