KnowPhysical Development From the StartHealthy babies are born with fully developed systems that allow their bodies to function, such as the ability to suck, swallow, and breathe. In order to support the best possible physical development, all infants require responsive care from loving adults, proper nutrition, and appropriate and stimulating environments. Infant and toddler physical development occurs rapidly over the first years of a child’s life. It is essential that caregivers understand the various stages of infant and toddler physical development so that they can respond to children’s needs appropriately. Show
Infants are born to explore to the world around them. While each child will grow to master many of the stages in physical development on their own schedule, infants are often eager to progress from those innate abilities to further movement in their mouth, eyes, and bodies as they seek people and objects of comfort or interest. They continue practicing skills and building one form of physical movement upon another, step by step as they move closer to desired objects. Through ongoing observation and frequent conversations with families you can learn what infants are able to do, what they’re learning to do, and in what areas they need your support. Infants develop physically from the top down, starting with their heads and necks. At birth, an infant has a very difficult time holding up their head because their neck muscles are not strong enough to provide support. As infants and toddlers grow, their determination to master movement, balance, and fine- and gross-motor skills remains strong. Rolling and crawling occur as infants develop skill in using large-muscle groups. Grasping and picking up objects with fingers are part of small-muscle growth. Influences on Early Physical Growth and DevelopmentThere is no exact age at which all infants should be able to grasp objects or hold up their head without support. Physical development occurs at different times for all children depending on many factors, such as a child’s unique characteristics, the family’s values and culture, and access to available resources. However, many infants and toddlers experience developmental milestones within similar timeframes of growth. The chart below outlines the approximate periods when many infants and toddlers will learn and experience these milestones.
Examples of Physical Development Milestones – Infants and Toddlers
This information was compiled from various sources including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Ages and Stages Questionnaires (ASQ). All children develop at different rates, so keep in mind that the milestones above are simply the average ages at which specific skills are observed. Certain conditions must exist for an infant or toddler to grow and develop. A young child’s basic physical needs, include:
We also know that the way we ourselves were raised is important to our understanding of how, and in what contexts children develop. The values and beliefs held by our family and culture contribute to our knowledge of growth and development. Culture Impacts How We See and Interpret Behaviors and DevelopmentBecause culture shapes so many parts of an infant’s and toddler’s development, you must understand the practices, beliefs, and values of the families you support. Without this understanding, it’s difficult to interpret the infant’s or toddler’s behaviors and development. For example, across cultures, the rates at which infants and toddlers begin to self-feed may vary. You may believe it is important to help toddlers learn to become independent and begin to feed themselves using fine motor skills. However, a family may be accustomed to assisting with feeding their infant until a later age. While the family may not have made a conscious decision about feeding as it relates to independence, it is likely that their family’s culture values more interdependence and collective support over other cultures which value independence and self-reliance. Other influences on infant and toddler physical growth and development are:
Review the handout Infant and Toddler Physical Development in the Learn activity section below to learn even more about important milestones in physical development, as well as variations in the rate of physical development for infants and toddlers. The Brain’s Role in Physical DevelopmentYou can easily observe infants making movements with their bodies and refining their motor skills. Thanks to advances in research and technology, we can now also see how the brain changes and grows as young children develop. At birth, the brain is 25 percent of its adult size and by age 5, it reaches 90 percent of adult size. Infants’ and toddlers’ early-life interactions and experiences help them make sense of the world and form connections between different parts of the brain. These supportive experiences and connections help improve coordination and develop stronger muscles. As infants repeat and practice different movements, such as turning their heads or reaching for an object, they build and maintain connections between brain cells. In essence, the brain is busy making sense and learning from experiences. It is important for infants and toddlers to have time for these new experiences and to explore the world around them with a trusted caregiver. Repeated exposure to experiences with trusted caregivers allows children to feel safe and secure, and allows them to focus on experimenting, developing, and mastering new skills. The safe space that you create for their exploration ensures that their brains are able to focus on learning, developing, and making connections. If infants and toddlers do not have nurturing and responsive adults to help keep them safe, their brains are forced to focus on survival. This kind of stress on a child’s brain may make them more hesitant to engage in exploration, and experimentation; causing them to have less opportunities to create and strengthen connections in the brain that further their growth and skill development. Supporting Physical Development for All LearnersPhysical development, including gross- and fine-motor skills, consumes the interest of infants and toddlers as they practice learned skills and look to develop new ones. Healthy physical development is dependent on adequate nutrition, brain development, the central nervous system, muscles, bones, and the interactions and experiences offered to infants and toddlers. By recognizing developmental delays during infancy or toddlerhood, early intervention may be more effective than if the delays are not acknowledged until later in childhood. Below are some characteristics of possible physical concerns and developmental delays by various sources:
Signs of Impaired Physical Development - Infants & Toddlers
Delays in physical development may affect more than gross- and fine-motor skills. For example, if an infant is unable to smile at parents or lift their arms to be picked up, this could impact social and emotional development (e.g., relationship building). Some of the delays listed above can be critical to a child’s development. The connections in a baby’s brain are most adaptable in the first three years of life. These connections, also called neural circuits, are the foundation for learning, behavior, and health. Over time, these connections become harder to change. Early intervention can help children improve their abilities and learn new skills. Your trainer, coach, or administrator can help you learn more about the programs and services available to you, and the families you serve, that help assess and enhance physical development and learning. To find your state or territory’s early intervention contact information, go to: https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/actearly/parents/states.html. And for more information, including what to say when you contact early intervention and how to get support for your family, visit: cdc.gov/Concerned. SeePhysical Development as it Unfolds: MilestonesVideo not availableWatch this video to learn what infants and toddlers can do with their bodies.DoHow can you make sure to provide age-appropriate experiences to support infant and toddler physical development? Take a moment to read and review the sets of guidelines on the following webpage from SHAPE (Society of Health and Physical Educators, formerly known as the National Association for Sport and Physical Education, or NASPE): https://www.shapeamerica.org/standards/guidelines/activestart.aspx. Next, try one or more of the following activities with the infants or toddlers in your care:
Once finished, share your experience and what you learned with a trainer, coach, or administrator. Read the handout, Scenarios – Gross and Fine- Motor Development below and consider what you have learned so far throughout this lesson. In the activity, think about which characteristics or behaviors would be considered fine-motor skills and which would be considered gross-motor skills, then write these down and think about possible ways you could support the young children in each scenario. You can also review the Infant and Toddler Physical Development handout in the Learn section for additional ideas. Once finished, share your thoughts and responses with a trainer, coach, or administrator. Consider using the following resources in your classroom. Use the Milestone Moments document to monitor the physical development of the children in your classroom. Parents may be interested in the Milestone Tracker Mobile App from the CDC, which they can access using this link: https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/actearly/milestones-app.html. The resource, What Grown-Ups Understand About Child Development, is a national benchmark survey sponsored in part by ZERO TO THREE. Read over the survey findings of this study and think about your work with families and the way you gather information from them and share information with them regarding the physical development of the infants and toddlers in your care. References & Resources Allen, K.E., & Marotz, L. (2001). By the ages: Behavior and development of children pre-birth through eight. Clifton Park, NY: Thomson Delmar Learning. Berger, S.E., & Adolph, K.E. (2003). Infants Use Handrails as Tools in a Locomotor Task. Developmental Psychology, 39: 594-605. Blakemore, C. (2003). Movement is essential to learning. Journal of Physical Education, Recreation and Dance, 74(9): 22-25, 41. Bosco, F. M., Friedman, O., & Leslie, A. M. (2006). Recognition of pretend and real actions in play by 1- and 2-year-olds: Early success and why they fail. Cognitive Development, 21: 1-10. Bourgeois, K. S., Akhawar, A. W., Neal, S. A., & Lockman, J. J. (2005). Infant manual exploration of objects, surfaces, and their interrelations. Infancy, 8: 233–252. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2021). Learn the signs, act early: Developmental milestones. https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/actearly/pdf/FULL-LIST-CDC_LTSAE-Checklists2021_Eng_FNL2_508.pdf Claxton, L. J., Keen, R., & McCarty, M. E. (2003). Evidence of motor planning in infant reaching behavior. Psychological Science, 14: 354-356. Clearfield, M. W., Osborne, C. N., & Mullen, M. (2008). Learning by looking: Infants’ social looking behavior across the transition from crawling to walking. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 100: 297-307. Comfort, R. L. (2005). Learning to play: Play deprivation among young children in foster care. Zero to Three, 25: 50-53. Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co., Inc. (2002). Ages and stages questionnaire (ASQ). https://agesandstages.com/ The Importance of Early Intervention for Infants and Toddlers with Disabilities and Their Families pdf icon[1.19 MB, 2 Pages]external icon Accessed February 26, 2015. Ward, M., Lee, S., & Lipper, E. (2000). Failure to thrive is associated with disorganized infant-mother attachment and unresolved maternal attachment. Infant Mental Health Journal, 21(6): 428-442. Waters, E., Weinfield, N., & Hamilton, C. (2000). The stability of attachment from infancy to adolescence end early adulthood: General discussion. Child Development, 71(3): 703-706. Zeanah, C. (Ed.). (2000). Handbook of infant mental health (2nd ed.). New York: The Guilford Press. When the nurse notes that an infant can lift her head before she can sit the nurse is assessing?Terms in this set (32) What type of development is the nurse assessing when an infant can lift his or her head before he or she can sit? Cephalocaudal development proceeds from head to toe.
Which of the following descriptions demonstrates that the infant has developed a sense of object permanence?During the first 6 months of life, infants believe that objects exist only as long as they can see them. When infants search for an object that is out of sight, this signals the attainment of object permanence, whereby an infant knows an object exists even when it is not visible.
What does the nurse recognize as an example of Piaget?What does the nurse recognize as an example of Piaget's concrete operational thinking? d. 7-year-old says, "I am sick because I have germs in my chest." (The 7-year-old's remark reflecting the cause and effect of germs and illness is an example of operational thinking.
Which observation is the most representative of the type of play usually seen in toddlers?Which observation is most representative of the type of play usually seen in toddlers? Answer: a. The infant needs further assessment and evaluation.
|