Week 3: Development through infancy (0-3 years)

Question 1

What are the 4 principles of growth?

Answer 1

1) cephalocaudal principle
2) proximodistal principle
3) principle of hierarchical integration
4) principle of independence of systems

Question 2

What is the cephalocaudal principle?

Answer 2

Head / top down

Question 3

What is the proximodistal principle?

Answer 3

Center outward

Question 4

What is the principle of hierarchical integration?

Answer 4

Simple to complex skills

Question 5

What is the principle of independence of systems?

Answer 5

Different body systems grow at different rates.

Question 6

What are the 5 different parts of a neuron?

Answer 6

1) neurons
2) dendrites
3) axons
4) neurotransmitteres
5) synapses

Question 7

What is a neuron and what is its job

Answer 7

It is the cells of the nervous system. It is specialized, and conducts electrical impulses, which is how our body communicates.

Question 8

What is the job of dendrites?

Answer 8

They receive the signal from the neuron.

Question 9

What is the job of axons?

Answer 9

It carries the signal

Question 10

What is the job of neurotransmitters?

Answer 10

It transmits the signal between neurons.

Question 11

What are the synapses?

Answer 11

It is the space between neurons, where the neurotransmitter is located.

Question 12

What is happening during infant brain growth?

Answer 12

1) Infants are born with 100-200 billion neurons, and during these first two years, billions of connections are made between neurons.
2) Synaptic pruning happens. Connections are formed by experiences, and if the neuron is not used it is removed.

Question 13

What is myelination in infant brain growth? What is its purpose?

Answer 13

It is the covering of axons in a fat called myelin.
It is for insulation and protection. More importantly, it speeds up the signal, processing

Question 14

Where are the two places that neurons reposition themselves with growth, based off function?

Answer 14

1) Cerebral growth - the outer part of the brain, responsible for conscious thought
2) subcortex - the inner part of the brain, responsible for unconscious movements like breathing. You are born with this.

Question 15

What is SIDS? Is it the leading cause of death in the first year?

Answer 15

Sudden infant death syndrome. It is the sudden, unexpected and unexplained death of an apparently healthy baby.
Yes, it is the leading cause of death in the first year of life.

Question 16

What are some guidelines for safe sleep for an infant?

Answer 16

1) put babies on their backs to sleep
2) use a pacified because it keeps the airway open
3) careful with second hand smoke
4) sleeping surface - don’t have a mattress that’s too soft because they can sink into it, and it’d block their airways
5) don’t bedshare

Question 17

You are born with reflexes that are genetically determined. What are their three benefits?

Answer 17

1) diagnostic - check if infant is following a typical range of development
2) social function - i.e. rooting reflex (i.e. baby will turn head toward hand if you stroke his cheek or mouth)
3) survival function - i.e. dropping a baby into a pool and it automatically starts swimming / floating on its own

Question 18

What are the 5 gross motor skills an infant learns, in order?

Answer 18

1) head control
2) push against resting surface and propel (= turn)
3) sitting unsupported
4) crawling
5) walking

Question 19

What is gross motor

Answer 19

Big muscles doing big movements

Question 20

Are newborns able to see well?

Answer 20

No, but by 6 months their vision is 20/20

Question 21

Put these skills in order:
1) imitates strokes on paper
2) grasps rattle
3) copies circle
4) places pegs in board
5) opens hand prominently
6) builds tower of two cubes
7) holds crayon adaptively
8) grasps with thumb and finger

Answer 21

1) opens hand prominently
2) grasps rattle
3) grasps with thumb and finger
4) holds crayon adaptively
5) builds tower of two cubes
6) places pegs in board
7) imitates strokes on paper
8) copies circle

Question 22

What is the difference between sensation and perception?

Answer 22

• sensation = the physical feeling of the 5 senses - stimulation of the senses
• perception - makes sense of the stimulus, processing the stimulus / understanding it

Question 23

How good is an infant’s auditory perception?

Answer 23

• Very good.
• Can hear before birth.
• Can discriminate between groups of different sounds
• React to changes in musical key and rhythm
• Can recognize many language-related sounds

Question 24

What is the most developed sensation at birth?

Answer 24

Touch

Question 25

A baby needs to experience something with their 5 senses, or else to them it doesn’t exist. Give an example.

Answer 25

When a mother leaves the room and the baby can’t see the mom anymore, it thinks the mom doesn’t exist anymore and starts to cry.