Biological beginnings
From birth to the end of the first year of life, major changes occur in the infant’s gross motor skills. As tone, strength, and coordination improve sequentially from head to heel, the infant attains head control, rolls, sits, crawls, pulls to stand, cruises, and may even walk by 1 year of age.
FINE MOTOR SKILLS
Hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills also change dramatically during infancy. These abilities progress from reflexive grasping to voluntary grasp and release, midline play, transferring an object from one hand to the other, shaping the hand to an object, inferior then superior pincer grasp, using the fingers to point, self-feeding, and even marking with a crayon by 1 year of age. Babies should be given opportunities to play with toys and food to advance their fine motor skills.
COGNITIVE, LINGUISTIC, AND COMMUNICATION SKILLS
Environmental factors influence the infant’s developing brain significantly during the first year of life. When parents provide consistent and predictable daily routines, the infant learns to anticipate and trust his environment. An infant’s brain development is affected by daily experiences with parents and other caregivers during feeding, play, consoling, and sleep routines.12
At birth, newborns already hear as well as adults do, but their responses can be difficult for parents to understand. Newborns should have a screening test for hearing before discharge from the hospital, or should be screened before 1 month of age if not born in a hospital. Thereafter, hearing should be screened regularly and whenever parents express concern about hearing and/or language
development. Newborns can recognize their parents’ voices at birth. By 3 days of age, they can distinguish their mother’s voice.
At birth, newborns already hear as well as adults do, but their responses can be difficult for parents to understand. Newborns should have a screening test for hearing before discharge from the hospital, or should be screened before 1 month of age if not born in a hospital. Thereafter, hearing should be screened regularly and whenever parents express concern about hearing and/or language
development. Newborns can recognize their parents’ voices at birth. By 3 days of age, they can distinguish their mother’s voice.
SOCIAL-EMOTIONAL SKILLS
As parents learn to recognize their infant’s behavior cues for engagement and disengagement or distress, and consistently respond appropriately to their infant’s needs (being fed when hungry or comforted when crying), babies learn to trust and love their parents.
Children with special health care needs may not exhibit the same responses as other children. This difficulty can cause parents to feel inadequate because they cannot discern their child’s needs. Helping a family recognize even the small gains their child is making provides support to the family and acknowledges the progress and growth in their child with special needs.
Children with special health care needs may not exhibit the same responses as other children. This difficulty can cause parents to feel inadequate because they cannot discern their child’s needs. Helping a family recognize even the small gains their child is making provides support to the family and acknowledges the progress and growth in their child with special needs.
Promoting Child Development: EarlyChildhood—1 to 4 Years
At the beginning of this developmental period, a child understands of the world, people, and objects is bound by what he can see, hear, feel, and manipulate physically. For the infant, mobility is a goal to be mastered. For the active young child, it is a mechanism for exploration and increasing independence.
The 1-year-old child is beginning to use the art of imitation in her repetition of familiar sounds and physical gestures. The 4-year-old child has mastered most of the complex rules of the languages that are spoken in the home and can communicate thoughts and ideas effectively.
The toddler is beginning to develop a sense of himself as separate from his parents or primary caregivers. By the end of early childhood, the well-adjusted child, having internalized the security of early bonds, pursues new relationships outside of the family as an individual in his own right. Understanding and respecting this evolving independence is a common parental challenge.
The 1-year-old child is beginning to use the art of imitation in her repetition of familiar sounds and physical gestures. The 4-year-old child has mastered most of the complex rules of the languages that are spoken in the home and can communicate thoughts and ideas effectively.
The toddler is beginning to develop a sense of himself as separate from his parents or primary caregivers. By the end of early childhood, the well-adjusted child, having internalized the security of early bonds, pursues new relationships outside of the family as an individual in his own right. Understanding and respecting this evolving independence is a common parental challenge.