INFANCY
TOPICS TO BE COVERED:
● Characteristics of infancy
● Major adjustments to infancy
● Conditions influencing adjustment to post natal lives
● New born reflexes.
● Physical development
● Motor development
● Sensory development
● Perceptual development
● Emotional development
● Developmental milestones and tasks
Newborn reflexes
Reflexes are involuntary movements or actions. Some movements are spontaneous and occur as
part of the baby's normal activity. Others are responses to certain actions. Healthcare providers
check reflexes to determine if the brain and nervous system are working well. Some reflexes
occur only in specific periods of development. The following are some of the normal reflexes
seen in newborn babies:
Rooting reflex
This reflex starts when the corner of the baby's mouth is stroked or touched. The baby will turn
his or her head and open his or her mouth to follow and root in the direction of the stroking. This
helps the baby find the breast or bottle to start feeding. This reflex lasts about 4 months.
Suck reflex
Rooting helps the baby get ready to suck. When the roof of the baby's mouth is touched, the baby
will start to suck. This reflex doesn't start until about the 32nd week of pregnancy and is not fully
developed until about 36 weeks. Premature babies may have a weak or immature sucking ability
because of this. Because babies also have a hand-to-mouth reflex that goes with rooting and
sucking, they may suck on their fingers or hands.
Moro reflex
The Moro reflex is often called a startle reflex. That’s because it usually occurs when a baby is
startled by a loud sound or movement. In response to the sound, the baby throws back his or her
head, extends out his or her arms and legs, cries, then pulls the arms and legs back in. A baby's
own cry can startle him or her and trigger this reflex. This reflex lasts until the baby is about 3-
4months old.
Tonic neck reflex
When a baby's head is turned to one side, the arm on that side stretches out and the opposite arm
bends up at the elbow. This is often called the fencing position. This reflex lasts until the baby is
about 2 months old.
Grasp reflex
Stroking the palm of a baby's hand causes the baby to close his or her fingers in a grasp. The
grasp reflex lasts until the baby 3 months old. A similar reflex in the toes lasts until 9 to 12
months.
Stepping reflex
This reflex is also called the walking or dance reflex because a baby appears to take steps or
dance when held upright with his or her feet touching a solid surface. This reflex lasts about 2
months.
Blinking- Blinking reflex: blinking the eyes when they are touched or when a sudden bright light
appears. Cough reflex: coughing when the airway is stimulated. Gag reflex: gagging when the
throat or back of the mouth is stimulated. Sneeze reflex: sneezing when the nasal passages are
irritated.
Babinski- The Babinski reflex happens when you firmly stoke the sole of the baby’s foot. The
baby’s big toe moves upward or toward the top of the foot and the other toe fans out.
Introduction to infancy:
Infancy, or the period of the newborn, is, according to standard dictionaries, the beginning or the
early period of existence as an individual rather than as a parasite in the mother’s body.
Dictionaries also define an infant as a child in the first period of life.
According to legal standards, an infant is an individual who is a minor until reaching the age of
legal maturity, which, in America today, is eighteen years. According to medical terminology, an
infant is a young child, but no specific age limits are placed on when the individual ceases to be
an infant and becomes a chid.
Many psychologists use the word infant in much the same way as members of the medical
profession do and, like them, fail to set an age limit on infancy. This gives the period an
ambiguous status in the life span.
The word infant suggests extreme helplessness, and it will be limited in this book to the first few
weeks of life. During this period, the newborn’s complete helplessness gradually gives way to
increasing independence.
Characteristics of Infancy:
Each period in the life span is characterized by certain developmental phenomena that distinguish
it from the periods that precede and follow it. While some of these phenomena may be associated
with other periods, they appear in a distinctive form during infancy. Following are the five most
important characteristics of this period.
Infancy Is the Shortest of All Developmental Periods
Infancy begins with birth and ends when the infant is approximately two weeks old, by far the
shortest of all developmental periods. It is the time when the fetus must adjust to life outside the
uterine walls of the mother where it has lived for approximately nine months.
According to medical criteria, the adjustment is completed with the fall of the umbilical cord
from the navel; according to physiological criteria; it is completed when the infant has regained
the weight lost after birth; and according to psychological criteria, it is completed when the infant
begins to show signs of developmental progress in behaviour. Although most infants complete
this adjustment in two weeks or slightly less, those whose birth has been difficult or premature
require more time.
Subdivisions of Infancy
Period of the Partunate (from birth to fifteen to thirty minutes after birth). This period begins
when the fetal body has emerged from the mother’s body and lasts until the umbilical cord has
been cut and tied. Until this is done, the infant continues to be a parasite and makes no
adjustments to the postnatal environment – the environment outside the mother’s body.
Period of the Neonate (from the cutting and tying of the umbilical cord to approximately the end
of the second week of postnatal life). The infant is now a separate, independent individual and is
no longer a parasite. During this period, the infant must make adjustments to the new
environment outside the mother’s body.
Even in difficult births, it seldom takes more than forty-eight hours for the fetus to emerge from
the mother’s body. By contrast, it requires approximately two weeks to adjust to the new
environment outside the mother’s body.
Infancy Is a Time of Radical Adjustments
Although the human life span legally begins at the moment of birth, birth is merely an
interruption of the development pattern that started at the moment of conception. It is the
graduation from an internal to an external environment. Like all graduations, it requires
adjustments on the individual’s part. It may be easy for more some infants to make these
adjustments but so difficult for others that they will fail to do so. Miller has commented, “In all
the rest of his life, there will never be such a sudden and complete change of locale”.
Infancy is a Plateau in Development
The rapid growth and development which took place during the prenatal period suddenly come to
a stop with birth. In fact, there is often a slight regression, such as loss of weight and a tendency
to be less strong and healthy than at birth. Normally this slight regression lasts for several days to
a week, after which the infant begins to improve. By the end of the infancy period, the infant’s
state of development is usually back to where it was all the time of birth.
The halt in growth and development, characteristic of this plateau, is due to the necessity for
making radical adjustments to the postnatal environment. Once these adjustments have been
made, infants resume their growth and development.
While a plateau in development during infancy is normal, many parents, especially those of
firstborn children, become concerned about it and fear that something is wrong with their child.
Consequently, the infancy plateau may become a psychological hazard, just as it is a potential
physical hazard.
Infancy is a Preview of Later Development
It is not possible to predict with even reasonable accuracy what the individual’s future
development will be on the basis of the development apparent at birth. However, the newborn’s
development provides a clue as to what to expect later on. As Bell et al. have said:
Newborn behaviour is more like a preface to a book than like a table of its contents yet to be
unfolded. Further, the preface is itself merely a rough draft undergoing rapid revision. There are
some clues to the nature of the book in the preface but these are in code form and taking them as
literally prophetic is likely to lead to disappointment.
Infancy Is a Hazardous Period
Infancy is a hazardous period, both physically and psychologically. Physically, it is hazardous
because of the difficulties of making the necessary radical adjustments to the totally new and
different environment. The high infant mortality rate is evidence of this.
Psychologically, infancy is hazardous because it is the time when the attitudes of significant
people toward the infant are crystallized. Many of these attitudes were established during the
prenatal period and may change radically after the infant is born, but some remain relatively
unchanged or are strengthened, depending on conditions at birth and on the ease or difficulty with
which the infant and the parents adjust.
What are the major adjustments?
Infants must make four major adjustments before they can resume their developmental progress.
If they do not make them quickly, their lives will be threatened. While these adjustments are
being made, there is no developmental progress. Instead, the infant remains on a plateau or may
even regress to a lower stage of development. These adjustments are described below:
● Temperature changes: There is a constant temperature of 100 degrees F in the uterine sac,
while temperatures in the hospital or home may vary from 60 to 70 degrees.
● Breathing: When the umbilical cord is cut, infants must begin to breathe on their own.
● Elimination/excretion process: The infant’s organs of elimination begin to work soon after
birth; formerly, waste products were eliminated through the umbilical cord.
● Feeding: The infant must now get nourishment by sucking and swallowing, instead of
receiving it through the umbilical cord. These reflexes are imperfectly developed at birth, and the
infant often gets less nourishment than is needed and thus loses weight. Every newborn infant
finds adjustment to postnatal life difficult at first. Some have trouble adjusting to temperature
changes and develop colds, which may turn into pneumonia. Others find breathing difficult and
must be given oxygen. Most choke when they attempt to suck and swallow, and many regurgitate
more than they are able to retain, in which case they get less nourishment than they need to grow
or even to retain their birth weight. Few have any real trouble eliminating urine, but many have
difficulties with fecal elimination.
Three common indications of the difficulty of adjusting to postnatal life are given below:
Indications of the Difficulty of Adjustment to Postnatal Life
Loss of Weight
Because of difficulties in adjusting to sucking and swallowing, the newborn infant usually loses
weight during the first week of postnatal life.
Disorganized Behavior
For the first day or two of postnatal life, all infants show relatively disorganized behaviour, such
as irregularities in breathing rate, frequent urinations and defecations, wheezing, and
regurgitation. This is due partly to pressure on the brain during birth, which results in a stunned
state, and partly to the undeveloped state of the autonomic nervous system, which controls body
homeostasis.
Infant Mortality
Even today, the rate of infant mortality during the first two days of postnatal life is high. The
causes of infant mortality are many and varied.
Conditions Influencing Adjustment to Postnatal Life
Many conditions influence the success with which infants make the necessary adjustments to
postnatal life. The most important of these, as research to date indicates, are the kind of prenatal
environment, the type of birth and experiences associated with it, the length of the gestation
period, parental attitudes, and postnatal care. Because of their importance, each of these
conditions will be discussed in detail.
Prenatal Environment
The first condition that influences the kind of adjustment infants make to postnatal life is the kind
of prenatal environment they had. A healthy prenatal environment will contribute to good
adjustments to postnatal life.
On the other hand, there are many kinds of intrauterine disturbance that can and often do cause
an infant to be born, as Schwartz has pointed out, “with severe injuries and then be subject to a
miserable life”. Inadequate prenatal care of the mother, as a result of either poverty or neglect, is
often responsible for the development of unfavourable conditions in the intrauterine environment
which affect the developing child and lead to complications during childbirth, both of which
affect the kind of adjustment the infant makes.
Malnutrition of the mother during pregnancy has been found to be responsible for premature
births, stillbirths, and infant mortality during the early days of life. Infants whose mothers suffer
from diabetes have more difficulties in adjustment and a higher incidence of mortality than
infants whose mothers are nondiabetic.
Unquestionably one of the most important conditions that contribute to difficulties in postnatal
adjustment is a prenatal environment characterized by prolonged and intense maternal stress. As
was mentioned earlier, this leads to complications during pregnancy and childbirth. Maternal
stress also causes the fetus to become hyperactive during the last months of pregnancy, and this
condition tends to persist after birth, manifesting itself in feeding difficulties, failure to gain
weight, sleep problems, general irritability, distractibility, and a host of other conditions that
make adjustment to postnatal life difficult. In commenting on the effects of maternal stress
during pregnancy on the infant’s later adjustment, Sontag has emphasized:
To all intents and purposes, a newborn infant with such a background is a neurotic infant when
he is born – the result of an unsatisfactory fetal environment. In this instance, he does not have to
wait until childhood for a bad home situation or other cause to make him neurotic. It was done
for him before he even saw the light of day.
PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT
Infants’ physical development in the fi rst two years of life is extensive. Newborns’ heads are
quite large when compared with the rest of their bodies. They have little strength in their necks
and cannot hold their heads up, but they have some basic reflexes. In the span of 12 months,
infants become capable of sitting anywhere, standing, stooping, climbing, and usually walking.
During the second year, growth decelerates, but rapid increases in such activities as running
and climbing take place.
Let’s now examine in greater detail the sequence of physical development in
infancy. PATTERNS OF GROWTH
An extraordinary proportion of the total body is occupied by the head during prenatal
development and early infancy (see Figure 4.1 ). The cephalocaudal pattern is the sequence in
which the earliest growth always occurs at the top—the head—with physical growth and
differentiation of features gradually working their way down from top to bottom (for example,
shoulders, middle trunk, and so on) (Pedroso, 2008). This same pattern occurs in the head area,
because the top parts of the head—the eyes and brain—grow faster than the lower parts, such
as the jaw.
Motor development generally proceeds according to the cephalocaudal principle. For example,
infants see objects before they can control their torso, and they can use their hands long before
they can crawl or walk. However, development does not follow a rigid blueprint. One study found
that infants reached for toys with their feet prior to reaching with their hands (Galloway & Thelen,
2004). On average, infants first touched the toy with their feet when they were 12 weeks old and
with their hands when they were 16 weeks old.
Growth also follows the proximodistal pattern, the sequence in which growth starts at the center
of the body and moves toward the extremities. For example, infants control the muscles of their
trunk and arms before they control their hands and fingers, and they use their whole hands
before they can control several fingers.
HEIGHT AND WEIGHT
The average North American newborn is 20 inches long and weighs 7 pounds. Ninety-five
percent of full-term newborns are 18 to 22 inches long and weigh between 5 and 10 pounds.
In the fi rst several days of life, most newborns lose 5 to 7 percent of their body weight before
they adjust to feeding by sucking, swallowing, and digesting. Then they grow rapidly, gaining an
average of 5 to 6 ounces per week during the first month. They have doubled their birth weight
by the age of 4 months and have nearly tripled it by their fi rst birthday. Infants grow about 1 inch
per month during the first year, approximately doubling their birth length by their fi rst birthday.
Growth slows considerably in the second year of life. By 2 years of age, infants weigh
approximately 26 to 32 pounds, having gained a quarter to half a pound per month during the
second year; now they have reached about one-fifth of their adult weight. At 2 years of age, the
average infant is 32 to 35 inches in height, which is nearly half of their adult height.
THE BRAIN
We described the amazing growth of the brain from conception to birth. By the time it is born, the
infant that began as a single cell is estimated to have a brain that contains approximately 100
billion nerve cells, or neurons. Extensive brain development continues after birth, through
infancy and later (Diamond, Casey, & Munakata, 2011; Nelson, 2011). Because the brain is still
developing so rapidly in infancy, the infant’s head should be protected from falls or other injuries
and the baby should never be shaken. Shaken baby syndrome, which includes brain swelling
and hemorrhaging, affects hundreds of babies in the United States each year (Croucher, 2010;
Fanconi & Lips, 2010). A recent analysis found that fathers were the most often perpetrators of
shaken baby syndrome, followed by child care providers, and a boyfriend of the victim’s mother
(National Center on Shaken Baby Syndrome, 2010). Studying the brain’s development in infancy
is not as easy as it might seem. Even the latest brain-imaging technologies cannot make out fine
details in adult brains and cannot be used with babies (Nelson, 2011). Positron-emission
tomography (PET) scans pose a radiation risk to babies, and infants wriggle too much to capture
accurate images using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). However, researchers have been
successful in using the electroencephalogram (EEG), a measure of the brain’s electrical activity,
to learn about the brain’s development in infancy (Bell & Wolfe, 2007). Among the researchers
who are making strides in fi nding out more about the brain’s development in infancy are Charles
Nelson and his colleagues (Nelson, 2011; Nelson, Thomas, & de Haan, 2006).
SLEEP
When we were infants, sleep consumed more of our time than it does now. The typical newborn
sleeps approximately 18 hours a day, but newborns vary a lot in how much they sleep (Sadeh,
2008). The range is from about 10 hours to about 21 hours. Infants also vary in their preferred
times for sleeping and their patterns of sleep. Although the total amount of time spent sleeping
remains somewhat consistent, an infant may change from sleeping 7 or 8 hours several times a
day to sleeping for only a few hours three or four times a day. By about 1 month of age, many
American infants have begun to sleep longer at night. By 6 months of age, they usually have
moved closer to adult-like sleep patterns, spending the most time sleeping at night and the most
time awake during the day (Sadeh, 2008).
NUTRITION
From birth to 1 year of age, human infants nearly triple their weight and increase their length by
50 percent. What do they need to sustain this growth? Nutritional Needs and Eating Behavior
Individual differences among infants in terms of their nutrient reserves, body composition,
growth rates, and activity patterns make defi ning actual nutrient needs diffi cult (Schiff, 2011;
Wardlaw & Smith, 2011). However, because parents need guidelines, nutritionists recommend
that infants consume approximately 50 calories per day for each pound they weigh—more than
twice an adult’s requirement per pound. A number of developmental changes involving eating
characterize the infant’s fi rst year (Black & Hurley, 2007). As infants’ motor skills improve, they
change from using suck-and-swallow movements with breast milk or formula to chew-and-
swallow movements with semisolid and then more complex foods. As their fi ne motor control
improves in the fi rst year, they transition from being fed by others toward self-feeding. “By the
end of the fi rst year of life, children can sit independently, can chew and swallow a range of
textures, are learning to feed themselves, and are making the transition to the family diet and
meal patterns” (Black & Hurley, 2007, p. 1). At this point, infants need to have a diet that
includes a variety of foods—especially fruits and vegetables. Caregivers play very important
roles in infants’ early development of eating patterns (Black & others, 2009). Caregivers who are
not sensitive to developmental changes in infants’ nutritional needs, neglectful caregivers, and
conditions of poverty can contribute to the development of eating problems in infants (Black &
Lozoff, 2008).
SENSORY AND PERCEPTUAL DEVELOPMENT:
Sensory- touch, smell, taste, hear, sight
These 5 senses are closely interconnected. Senses of neonate possess survival value to enhance
physiological and cognitive well being. The neonate can see but cannot focus on an object, until
the third and fourth week of life. After the infant is stabilized, the focus are started. The infant
can distinguish a moving light. Distance between an object like mother's face is practiced by
focus. The focus object is converted to sensation, within a month- that sensation changes into
sensation and the change in behaviour can be seen in a smiling g face.
At birth, the middle ear is filled with Amniotic fluid. The fluid gradually drains out,the pathway
is clear, the functioning start slowly. Whether the ordinary functioning is proper or not, cab be
checked by loud or soft sounds.
The infant fails to respond in variation in pitch.
And the discrimination starts between 3rd and 4rth Month. With the discrimination behavuour
the infant shows surprising behavior cries at loud sound and is comforted by soft sound.
Skin is very sensitive right from birth. Touch, pain, temperature and sensation are quite less
immediately after birth, but they increase within two days. Eyelashes, lips, souls of feet and skin
of the forehead start working very quickly and the child reacts to temperature.
Researches have proved that child develops taste within 7 days and rejects saline, bitter and sour
taste. Milk tastes satisfactory and avoid any dislike taste. If it's acceptable then the sucking reflex
behaviour of the infant starts.
Odour discrimination starts after one year. Olfactory develop after few months and matures after
one year. Perceptual experiments have to the recognition of mother's odour by_ differentiating
the familiar smell, starts after 1 year.
Studies related to Sensory and Perceptual development
1st Sensory development is Vision. TOM Dever( 1976), university Edhinburg observed the
development of neonates eye-hand correlation. It filled the reaction of babies less than two weeks
and found that objects moving towards them, were reacted by the babies by pulling g back their
heads and dodging their body.
Conclusion drawn from the study was - Eye-hand co-ordination is present at Birth. 2 study-
Fantz, 1974- subjects were 2 weeks to 6 months. They were shown images of 3 kind of faces.
A- is sky light faces.
B- Scrambled face - features were present but were disorganized.
C- Black and white sides, no facial features.
The ability of development of the infant could differentiate the fixation of the visual image for
about 50 seconds at the age of 2+months. Sensation is thus, converted into perception.
Hearing- Bench, 1978- Reported that infants can discriminate between loud noises and soft
sounds, variation in breech cannot be discriminated at that age. The reactions reported that a
newborn was startled by loud noise while sooth by soft or gentle voice or tone.
Researcher- Eimas 1978- Studies in terms of speech and observed that infants are able to
discriminate in terms of speech signals but responding to final responses is crucial.
Smell- Researcher- Sarnat (1978)
When mother's clothes were checked the child could differentiate between a used and unused
garment.
Taste- Stiner (1979)- reported that for infants sour bitter and salt solutions were negative
stimulus however sweets or the taste of the milk was acceptable.
EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT during Infancy
There is no restraint of free expressions and emotions. The emotions come and go depending on
the satisfaction of needs and desires. The frustration component is over. This is extremely brief
and transistory though infants express more than elder- fear, joy, love, affection are some of the
observable emotional patterns.
Free from stress and strain, emotions are totally ego-centric. Needs and desires are expressed
through emotions.
Incomplete
Definite relationship between emotional state and personal need limited endurance if the need is
not satisfied can lead to anger.
The infant reflects pleasure and within seconds the infant is dependent and no longer any
emotional conditions exist. Mother provides the first atmosphere of emotional climate with
warmth, softness, bodily satisfaction which is equivalent to love. The caretaker or mother handles
the baby gently. There is a study reported by Harlow (1971) the study as done on neonate
monkeys who was placed with surrogate mother, who were artificially prepared by wired meche
Two modules were prepared, A- mother was covered with
They were provided food besides mother A as if she was providing it but animals consistently
prefer to be with mother whenever scared.
As the nervous system matures,muscles provide potentials for the differentiated reactions and
the emotions are possibility covered by these mature muscles.
SRONE (1979) : observed that infants can feel emotions hy 2-3 months but theya re conscious of
their emotions as they reach their first year. Types of emotions:
Anger
Fear
Inquisitiveness
Elation
Love
Types of emotions:
-Anger: Quite common during Infancy. Infants try to attract attention to satisfy their needs
Unlike crying anger doesn't have variations in infancy. There are no practical targets usually
anger originates from repeated failures in need satisfaction.
-Fear: have less knowledge about the dangers of the environment. The objects may be simple
darkness, heights, strangers, loud noise and unknown experiences. Responses of fear include
crying screaming, stopping the work of engagement.
-Inquisitiveness: It starts once the Sensory and Perceptual Processes begins. The stimulus when
presented is unknown, intense enough but not causing fear. The responses that are observed in
the facial muscles while opening his mouth. While too young (3-4months), the infant takes out
the tongue folding forehead and tries to fetch something.
Elation: Initially, it is related to physical fitness and health of the child by the age of 2-3months
smiling starts. By the time infant reaches 2 years and gets a toy of joy. The child expresses
elation.
Love: the affection js expressed by infant touching the skin of the caregiver and smiling by
extending arms and objects of love are human beings. All humans develop and level of affection
towards the caregiver in the initial stage of development. The responses of love and affection, for
a similar age group of children are caring, shaking hands and physical attachment.
MOTOR DEVELOPMENT
Physical, growth of brain,height, weight, internal organs, sexual organs, proximedistal
development (Cephalon part decrease, bottom part increases)
Motor development: (Month wise)
1M- Chin develops
2M- Raising the chest
3M- Gripping and releasing object
4M- Sitting with some assistance
5M- Child is able to sit on the lab and hold objects
6M- It is sitting on high chair
7M- Playing with object
8M- Standing with some help
9M- Standing while holding on to furniture
10M- Moving in knees
11M- Rasining itself while holding in to furniture
1 year- walking while holding someone
13 month- Climbing stairs
14M- Standing without assistance
15M- Walking alone
We need to give child freedom to develop and experiment with the skills for Motor development.
We should provide assistance with toys. The child should not be left totally independent, he/she
will feel left out.
Patterns of crawling and creeping
Motion of newborns crawling motivates the mother and the child to see more development.
There is less motion in the hind part while he starts to raise the head. The control on the head and
shoulders improves.
Contraction between the motion of the head and shoulder resulting in the raising of the head
leading to lowering of head and shoulder.
Motion of rocking
*Complimentary movements of creeping
Knowledge of effective movement:- Role of mom, grandparents and baby siters.
*Encouraging the use of effective techniques-
*Minimum possible destructive criticism- No criticism to the baby
* Stress on right activities- the baby will not start to speak or walk immediately * Stress on speed
and exactness of skillful working - there are certain activities which should be developed at a
certain age, therefore we need to keep a track of the baby's development according to the age.
*Proper and adequate practise- if the baby is holding the furniture, we need to encourage the
child, otherwise it will lead to a Developmental lag.
* Practise with an aim- If the child succeeds in doing something hug or clap for the child.
COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT
Jean Piaget- Gave theory of Cognitive Development
* Most of the cognitive development is done by the age of 15.
1)0-2 years: Sensory motor Stage
2)3-7 years: Pre-operational Stage
3)7-11 years: Concrete Operational Stage
4) 11-15 years: Formal operational stage
Focus on stage 1- SENSORY MOTOR STAGE: 0-2years
Sensory Motor stage origins of intelligence are found in the CNS and it's ability to perceive and
retain information and recall when needed integrate and re-organized all cognitive components.
The maturational process and functioning of sensation and perception promotes cognitive
abilities which is a sign of intellectual development.
The CONCEPT of adaptation:
Jean Piaget was a Swiss child psychologist who believed that cognitive development is a
coherent process of adaptation. Adaptation consists of assimilation and accommodation.
*Assimilation: (Ability of absorb new information) is the process or capability of an individual to
meet and absorb new information like new knowledge, new skill and new insights by interaction
with the environment.
*Accomodation: It is the process of change, through which one is able to handle the situation
which was different before.
Adaptation occurs when one improves his ability to meet the environmental demands through
assimilation and accommodation.
Piaget has suggested six sub-stages of Sensory-motor
1) Use of reflexes: 0 to 1 month
Sucking reflex, Grasping reflex, eye movements,visual accommodations, using to gue to diffuse
something, swallowing, crying, gross body movements-basic reflexes upon which successive,
cognitive abilities develop intelligence.
2) Primary Circular Reaction
It is 1 to 4 months. Body is involved in certain behaviour that provides it's own stimulus for
continuation and repetition. Systematic sequential combination, visual focusing starts and infant
can focus in stationary objects, the infant also learns to follow movements qnd enjoys it. 3)
Secondary-Cicular Reaction: 4 to 8 Months
Repetitive reaction towards external environment is observed.
4) Co-ordination of secondary scheme. (8 to 12 months). Child shows anticipated and expected
behaviour includes reversing a bottle or opening the lid.
5) Tertiary-circular reaction (13-17 months)
Shows explanatory behaviour, repetition fascinates the infants. Eg: Something fallinga nd
wanting someone to play with it.
6) Invention: (18 to 20 months)Solves simple problems to mental retention. Imagination starts.
DEVELOPMENTAL TASKS DURING INFANCY:
According to R.J Havighurst (1953)" A development task is a task which arises at or about a
certain period in the life of the individual, successful achievement of which leads to his
happiness and to success with later task, " Development task are based in the aspiration and
need of the society. B.L Neugarten ( Development tasks are based in the aspiration and need of
the society. B.L Neugarten (1969) says that " Every society is age -graded and every society
has a system of social experiences regarding age -appropriate behaviour. The individual passes
through a socially regulated cycle from birth to death as inexorably as he passes through the
biological cycle, and there exist a socially prescribed time-table for the rendering of major life
events. Although the norms vary somewhat from one socio-economic, ethnic or religious group
to another, for any social group it can easily be demonstrated that norm and actual occurrences
are closely related."
Characteristics of Development Tasks
1. Every society or culture has certain norms.
2. Method should follow these norms.
3. These norms are in term of certain essential skills.
4. Mastery over these skill lead to happiness, and failure leads to unhappiness.
5. Skill are related to age groups
6. Norms very from one from one socio -economic group to another
Purpose of Development Tasks
According to Elizabeth B. Hurlock, development tasks server the following three purposes. 1.
They are guidelines to enable this individual to know what society experts from him at a given
age.
2. Development tasks motivate the individual to do what the social group expects him to do
certain things during his life.
3. Development tasks server to show the individual what lies ahead and what he will expected
to do when he reaches the next stage of Development in the life span.
Hazards Related Development Task
1. Inappropriate expectation - physical or psychological limitations of the
individual. 2. By passing a developmental [Link] stage must be lived through.
3. Lack of opportunity to learn the development task.
4. Lack of guidance.
5. Lack of motivation.
6. Poor health.
7. A low intellectual level.
Factor promoting Development Tasks
1. Provision of opportunity to learn the developmental
task. 2. Adequate guidance in learning the developmental
tasks. 3. Development motivation.
4. Good health.
5. Appropriate level of intelligence.
6. Creativity.
Development Tasks at Various Stages
A. Birth to 5 year
1. Learning to walk
2. Learning to talk soild food
3. Learning to talk
4. Learning to control the elimination of body wastes
5. Learning sex difference
6. Achieve physiological stability
7. Forming simple concepts of social and physical reality
8. Learning to relate oneself emotionally to parents, sibling and other people.
9. Learning to distinguish right and wrong and developing a conscience.