Chapter 5 physical development in infancy

This chapter indicates that studying newborns is challenging and has prompted researchers to devise various methods to examine their subtle, but complex perceptual motor skills.

But before reading try to do the following:

a) answer and discuss the following questions:

1. How scientists study newborns? Is it important from the psychological point of view?

2. What are the perceptual abilities of infants?

3. Do you think the role of natural selection is important in the development of reflexes?

b) explain the term “nourishment” ['nΛrı∫mənt] (питание, пища) in English.

c) find synonyms and antonyms to:

sensitive, ability, associate.

d) guess the meaning of the following words and word combinations without using the dictionary:

Functions, Moro reflex, control, motor activity, typical, regular, syndrome, biological, marasmus, protein-calorie, toilet, visual perception, visually, demonstrated, natural, discriminate, sensory, tactile stimulation, medical practice, anesthesia, sensitive, saccharin.

e) do the following phonetic exercises:

Ex.1. Transcribe and pronounce the words given below.

Vulnerability, neonate, sustain, pounds, consciousness.

Ex.2. Read the following clusters with assimilation.

Infant death syndrome; that the; that they.

Ex.3. Pronounce the words from the text containing the sound [w] correctly.

With, swallowing, weight, when, without, between, whether, was, sweet.

Ex.4. Pronounce the words from the text containing the sound [r].

Necessary, present, grow, triple, rate, gross, brain, regular, drowsy, apparent, vulnerabilities, introduction, superior, malnutrition, malnourished, better-nourished, areas, demonstrated, natural response, remains, controversial, research, respond, rotten, recognize, breast, increased, expressions.

Ex.5. Pronounce the words from the text containing the nasal sound [ŋ].

Sucking, swallowing, seeing, hearing, smelling, grasping, rooting, during, walking, including, breathing, growing, breast­feeding, bottle-feeding, training, using, operating, providing.

Ex.6. Pronounce the words from the text containing the voiced sound [ð].

The, their, that, there, than, they, this, mother.

Ex.7. Pronounce the words from the text containing the voiceless sound [Ө].

Month, growth, death, three, depth, birth, threshold anesthesia.

Ex.8. Pronounce the words from the text containing the sound [v].

Develops, variety, activity, vulnerabilities, development, develop, severe, achieved, over, five, controversial, observed.

TEXT

Scan through the text making use of the active terminological vocabulary.

Key Terms

amniotic fluid – околоплодные воды

circumcision – обряд обрезания

elimination – устранение

grasping reflex – хватательный рефлекс

malnutrition – недоедание, недостаточное питание

marasmus – маразм; (увядание) истощение организма

nutrition – питание

rooting – укоренение

skills – умения и навыки

sucking – сосание

sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) – синдром внезапной детской смерти (СВДС)

sustain – поддерживать

threshold – порог (чувствительности)

undernutrition – недоедание, недостаточное питание

The neonate is born with reflexes and skills necessary to sustain life functions such as sucking, swallowing, and elimination, and perceptual abilities such as seeing, hearing, and smelling. Other reflexes such as the Moro reflex, grasping, and rooting reflexes are also present.

Muscular control develops during the first year.

The average newborn is 20 inches long and weighs 7.5 pounds. Infants grow about 1 inch per month during the first year, and nearly triple their weight by the end of their first year. Rate of growth is slower during the second year of life.

A milestone in gross motor activity is walking that typical, first occurs at an average of 12-13 months.

Changes in the brain occur during infancy. Infants show a variety of states of consciousness, including deep sleep, regular sleep, disturbed sleep, drowsy, alert activity, alert and focused attention, and inflexibly focused.

Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) is a condition that occurs when an infant stops breathing and suddenly dies without any apparent cause. SIDS is associated with biological vulnerabilities early in development.

A major change during the second half of the first year is the introduction of solid foods. There is a growing consensus that breast­feeding is superior to bottle-feeding. Marasmus can develop under conditions of severe protein-calorie malnutrition. Malnourished infants are shorter in stature and slower in cognitive growth in middle and late childhood than their better-nourished peers.

Toilet training entails a motor skill that is expected to be achieved by three years of age.

Visual perception is one of the most-explored areas of infant perception. Visual acuity in the neonate is about 20/200, but becomes 20/100 by 6 months of age. Perception of the human face develops over the first five months of life. Depth perception has been demonstrated by using a visual cliff and a natural response in infants of 6 months of age. Infants 2 to 4 months old can discriminate visually between the shallow and deep sides of a visual cliff, but it remains controversial as to whether depth perception is innate.

Research on hearing suggests that the ability to hear might exist before birth. Immediately after birth newborns can hear; however, their sensory threshold is higher than that for adults.

Newborns clearly respond to touch because many reflexes are easily elicited by mild tactile stimulation. Studies of circumcision indicate that neonates feel pain and that they can cope with it. This finding challenges the medical practice of operating on newborns without providing anesthesia.

Newborns are sensitive to unpleasant odors such as rotten eggs. Infants 2 to 7 days old can recognize the smell of their mother's milk on a breast pad compared with a breast pad with no milk.

Sensitivity to taste may be present before birth because increased swallowing has been observed when saccharin was added to the amniotic fluid of a near-term fetus. The facial expressions of newborns differ when they are sucking sweet or sour substances.