Physical Development Flashcards
(40 cards)
Physical growth, regardless of the environment.
• Although the timing of our growth may be different,
the sequence is almost always the same.
Maturation
growth occurs from top down. Because the brain grows
Cephalocaudal Principle
growth and
motor development proceed from the center of the body outward.
Proximodistal Principle
a measure of physical
maturation based on the child’s level of skeletal development.
Skeletal Age
• Newborns are born with all the muscle
fibers they will ever have.
• Muscular development proceeds in
cephalocaudal and proximodistal
directions.
• maturation of muscle tissue occurs
very gradually over childhood and then
accelerates during early adolescence.
Muscular Development
• uneven process in which
different bodily systems
display unique growth
patterns.
• brain and head actually grow
much faster.
• Individual variations
• Cultural variations
Variations in Physical
Development
the period between the 7th prenatal month and 2 years of age when more than half of the child’s eventual brain weight is gained.
Brain growth spurt
The connective space (juncture) between one nerve cell
(neuron) and another.
Synapse
nerve cells that receive and transmit neural impulses.
Neurons
cells that nourish neurons and encase them in
insulating sheaths of myelin
Glia nerve
the process during which young, immature (unspecialized) cells take on individual characteristics and reach their mature (specialized) form and function.
Cell Differentiation
formation of connections
(synapses) among neurons.
Synaptogenesis
capacity for change; a developmental state that has the potential to be shaped by experience.
Plasticity
the process by which
neurons are enclosed in waxy myelin sheaths that will facilitate the
transmission of neural impulses.
Myelinization
the highest brain center;
includes both hemispheres of the b
Cerebrum
the bundle of neural
fibers that connects the two hemispheres of the brain and transmits information
from one hemisphere to the other.
Corpus callosum
the outer layer of the brain’s cerebrum that is involved in voluntary body movements, perception, and higher
intellectual functions such as learning, thinking, and speaking.
Cerebral cortex
the specialization of brain functions in the left and the right cerebral hemispheres
Cerebral Lateralization
controls hearing, verbal memory, decision making,
language processing, and expression of positive emotions.
• Right Hemisphere - processing visual-spatial information,
Left Hemisphere
processing visual-spatial information, nonlinguistic sounds such as music, tactile (touch) sensations, and
expressing negative emotions
Right Hemisphere
is used to chart progress between ages 1 month and 6 years and to identify children who are not developing normally. It measures gross motor skills (using large
muscles) and fine motor skills (using small muscles). It also assesses language development and personality and social development. The newest edition, Denver II
Scale includes revised norms.
Denver Developmental Screening Test
● Describes motor development as the
unfolding of a genetically programmed
sequence of events in which the nerves and
muscles mature in a downward and
outward direction.
Maturational Viewpoint
● This viewpoint believes that opportunities
to practice motor skills are also important.
● infants who are physically capable of
sitting, crawling, or walking will not be very
proficient at these activities unless they
have opportunities to practice them
Experiential/Practice Hypothesis
● a theory that views motor skills
as active reorganizations of
previously mastered capabilities
that are undertaken to find more
effective ways of exploring the
environment or satisfying other
objectives.
Dynamical systems theory
