1. THE FIRST TWO YEARS: BIOSOCIAL DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER 3
THE FIRST TWO YEARS:
BIOSOCIAL DEVELOPMENT

2. BODY CHANGES Body Size Birth weight doubled by 4th month
Birth weight tripled by 1st birthday

3. BODY SIZE Weight increase in the early months is fat
Provides insulation for warmth and nourishment
Nourishment keeps the brain growing
If teething or illness interfere with eating
When nutrition is temporarily inadequate, the body stops growing but not the brain
this is known as a phenomenon called Head Sparing
Brain is the last part of the body to be damaged by malnutrition

4. SLEEP Sleep Patterns Affected By
New Babies Sleep about 17 Hours or More a Day
Sleep Patterns Affected By
Birth Order
First born typically receive more attention
Newborn Diet
Parents might respond to predawn cries with food, and/or play (babies learn to wake up night after night)
Child-Rearing Practices
Where should infants sleep?”
Co-sleeping or bed-sharing

5. “Who Sleeps Where?”

6. THE HUMAN SPARK: BRAIN MATTERS
The Secret Life of the Brain

7. BRAIN DEVELOPMENT Newborn’s Skull is Disproportionately Large
Large Enough to Hold the Brain
At Birth, the Brain is 25% of the Adult Brain
By Age 2, the Brain is Almost 75% of the Adult Brain

8. BRAIN CONNECTIONS
Head Circumference
Provides a rough idea of how brain is growing
Medical checkups include skull measurement
Head typically increases about 35% with the 1st year

9. THE NEURON

10. BRAIN DEVELOPMENT At Birth - 100 Billion Neurons
Newborn Has Far Fewer Dendrites and Synapses than will eventually have
Proliferation / Transient Exuberance
The dramatic increase in neural connections that occurs in an infant’s brain over the first 2 years
Pruning
Transient exuberance is followed by pruning
Unused neurons and misconnected dendrites atrophy and die
Synapses, dendrites, and even neurons continue to form and die throughout life, though more rapidly in infancy than at any other time

11. Experience shapes the infant brain – how??
NECESSARY AND POSSIBLE EXPERIENCES - Two Experience-Related Aspects of Brain Development
Experience shapes the infant brain – how??
Experience-Expectant Brain Functions
Basic, common experiences must happen for normal brain maturation to occur, and they almost always do happen
The brain is designed to expect them and use them for growth
Brain functions that require certain basic common experiences
Examples?
Experience-Dependent Brain Functions
Brain functions that depend on particular, variable experiences
Dependent experiences might happen. Because of them, one brain differs from another
Implications for caregivers?

12. BASIC BRAIN STRUCTURES
Necessary and Possible Experiences
Cortex
The last part of the brain to develop
The area for anticipation, planning, and impulse control
Virtually inactive in early infancy
telling an infant to stop crying is pointless
shaking a baby to stop crying, “shaken baby syndrome,” is useless
Gradually becomes more efficient over the years of childhood and adolescence

13. Impoverished Environment Differences in Brains
A VIEW FROM SCIENCE
The effect of Social Deprivation on Brain Growth
Rat Studies
Enriched Environment
Impoverished Environment
Differences in Brains
Differences in Problem-Solving Ability
Older Rats?

14. A VIEW FROM SCIENCE The Effect of Social Deprivation on Brain Growth
Romanian Orphans
1980s Dictator outlawed all birth control and abortion unless parents had 5 or more children
Many children placed in overcrowded state-run orphanages
Children experienced severe neglect and restriction of human interaction
Emotional Damage
Failure to Thrive
Delay in Physical and Cognitive Growth
Those who fared best were adopted before 6 months of age

15. MOVING AND PERCEIVING Reflexes Breathing Reflex Sucking Rooting
Babinski Reflex
Palmar Grasping Reflex
LEARNING??

16. SENSATION AND PERCEPTION
The response of a sensory system when it detects a stimulus
Perception
The mental processing of sensory information when the brain interprets a sensation

17. SENSATION AND PERCEPTION
Vision
Hearing
Touch
Taste
Smell

18. SENSES

19. SURVIVING IN GOOD HEALTH
10 billion children were born between 1950 – 2007
About 3 billion died before age 5
Deaths could be twice this if not for
Public Health Measures
Advances in Childcare and Preventive Care
Reduced Infant and Other Mortality Rates

21. SURVIVING IN GOOD HEALTH
Public Health Measures
Immunization
Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS)
A seemingly healthy baby suddenly dies in his/her sleep
Education about SIDS has reduced the incidence
Prevention
Sleep on back
No smoking
Pacifier use
Fan in baby’s room
Avoid deep sleep
Breastfeeding

22. What are the benefits of breast feeding?

23. ADEQUATE NUTRITION-THE BENEFITS OF BREASTFEEDING
The Miracle Food!
Prevents almost every infant illness and allergy
Contains more iron, vitamins C and A than cow’s or goat’s milk
Correct ratio of fat to protein, changes with need
Easy to digest
Good for brain development
Stronger jaws, fewer cavities
Advanced breathing reflexes (Less SIDS)
Later puberty, less prone to teenage pregnancy
Less likely to become obese
Benefits for the Mother
Easier bonding
Reduced risk of breast cancer
No formula to prepare, always sterile

24. ADEQUATE NUTRITION-THE BENEFITS OF BREASTFEEDING
Doctors world wide
Exclusive breastfeeding for the first 4 to 6 months
Thereafter for a year or more
American Academy of Pediatrics
Exclusive breastfeeding for the first 6 months
Thereafter for as long as desired by mother and child

25. INFANT COGNITION
Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development -Sensorimotor Stage
Active Learners, Adapt to Experience
Adaptation is the Essence of Intelligence
Adaptation
Schema – A mental representation
Assimilation – New experiences is incorporated into old concepts and perceptions
Bottles, toys, blankets are put into the baby’s mouth and sucked
Accommodation – Changing one’s perceptions and assumptions to adjust to new experiences
Suck bottle when hungry and pacifiers when in need of comfort
Circular Reaction
Feedback Loop
Milestones
Object Permanence – 8 months
Deferred Imitation – months

26. INFORMATION-PROCESSING THEORY|
Output

27. INFORMATION-PROCESSING MODEL
Modeled after computer functioning, including input, memory, programs, calculation, and output
How might infants show they have memory of something (output)?

28. LONG-TERM MEMORY Mobile Experiment with 3-Month Old Infants
Taught to Make a Mobile Move by Kicking Their legs
Results One Week Later?
Two Weeks Later?
Reminder Session Needed

29. LONG-TERM MEMORY
Memory Is Not Just One Thing
Brain-imaging techniques reveal many distinct brain regions devoted to particular aspects of memory
Implicit Memory
Memory for routines and memories that remain hidden until particular stimulus bring them to mind
Examples?
Explicit Memory
Memory that can be recalled on demand
Provide an example of a test that would measure explicit memory?

30. LANGUAGE LEARNING The Universal Sequence
Around the world children follow the same sequence of early language development

31. LANGUAGE LEARNING

32. LANGUAGE LEARNING First Words? First Two-Word Sentence?
Telegraphic Speech

33. EARLY COMMUNICATION Listening and Responding
Newborns prefer speech over other sounds
Newborns prefer to listen to higher-pitched, simplified adult speech
Child-Directed Speech / Motherese / Baby Talk
The high-pitched, simplified, and repetitive way adults speak to infants

34. HYPOTHESES ABOUT LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT
Theories of Language Learning
There are 3 theories of how infants learn language:
They are taught (view of B. F. Skinner)
They teach themselves (view of Noam Chomsky)
Social impulses foster learning

35. HYPOTHESIS 1: INFANTS NEED TO BE TAUGHT
Behaviorism/Learning Theory – Infants Learn Language
Classical Conditioning
Learning Associations
Operant Conditioning
Positive Reinforcement
Social Learning/Observational Learning/Modeling
Baby imitates caregiver
Caregiver responds
How will caregiver respond?
Caregiver response acts as ___?

36. HYPOTHESIS 2: INFANTS TEACH THEMSELVES
Language Learning Is Innate
Noam Chomsky
Language Acquisition Device (LAD)
Hypothesized mental structure that enables humans to learn language, including the basic aspects of grammar, vocabulary, and intonation

37. HYPOTHESIS 3: SOCIAL IMPULSES FOSTER LANGUAGE LEARNING
Social-Pragmatic Theory – Social Need for Communication
Infants communicate in every way they can because humans are social beings, dependent on one another for survival, well-being, and joy

38. Do babies need to hear or experience language in order to learn language?

39. FACILITATING LANGUAGE ACQUISITION
Babies need to hear language, so you can assist in their language development by talking and singing to them
How else can we facilitate language acquisition in a baby?

40. FACILITATING LANGUAGE ACQUISITION
Read to Infant
Talk to Infant
Play Games with Infant (e.g., patty cake)
Sing to Infant
Describe What Baby is Looking at