In-Depth Exploration of Infancy Development - Research Paper Example

An In Depth Exploration of Infancy Development and number submitted Outline I. Introduction A. Charles Dickens once quoted that “Language was not powerful enough to describe the infant phenomenon.” What really happens during infant development? B. The average course of infant development involves seven developmental areas that must be carefully facilitated by parents or caregivers. II. Body A. The cognitive development is characteristic of the initial period of an infants alertness. 1. This is the stage wherein infants gain great interest with their immediate surrounding. 2. Infants start to learn the things about their environment using reflexive behaviors. B. The motor development has the most evident and observable changes compared to other areas. 1. Babies will find it very uncomfortable to be confined in crib, walker or play pen for they will become more active. 2. At this time, infants actively use their new motor skills to suit their need for movement. C. An infants gradual learning to familiarize with the people around him is the basic characterization of his social development. 1. Infants eventually test their ability to recall the faces, voices and smell of the people surrounding them. D. The emotional development is characterized by an infants innate desire to express his wants using his feelings. 1. This stage is significant for at this point an infant learns how to deal with the world by expressing his emotions in his own little ways (e.g. crying). 2. Through emotions, infants learn how to control their environment. E. Moral development is an essential aspect of a humans life concerning “right” and “wrong” thats why infants must be righteously guided in this stage. 1. This stage is the formation and setting of values that will guide an infant throughout his life. 2. Infants slowly learn about the “reward and punishment” phase where they will recognize the consequences of their actions. F. The aesthetic development of an infant fosters his early appreciation of natural beauty. 1. This area of development serves as an infants outlet of his feelings and imagination. 2. Aesthetic awareness also helps an infant develop his creativity. G. An infants expression through learning and production of words generally occur in language development. 1. This stage involves the infants early articulation of words and basic phonological skills. 2. Other language building blocks must be given enough attention to assure that the infants future way of communication will be accurate. III. Conclusion A. An infants optimal development is a comprehensive process which consists of both biological and psychological changes. B. It is very vital that each developmental area must be given special care and attention to guarantee the infants successful maturation. An In-depth Exploration of Infant Development The development of infants is something that people are irresistibly drawn to. For no apparent reason, people find themselves enthralled with the simple joys that infants bring. However, even though infants show milestones in their lives, their development comes in varying ways. In this regard, there are seven developmental areas that needs to be considered. These areas include cognitive, motor, social, emotional, moral, aesthetic and language skills. Each developmental area requires a different kind of attention and care. The stage of infancy is indeed very significant for it will usually determine how a person will think or act in the future. This viewpoint is clearly illustrated by one infancy development author: The human baby is the most socially influenced creature on earth, open to learning what his own emotions are and how to manage them. This means that our earliest experiences as babies have much more relevance to our adult selves than many of us realise. It is as babies that we first feel and learn what to do with our feelings, when we start to organise our experience in a way that will affect our later behaviour and thinking capacities. (Gerhardt 10) Thus, every area of development must be given specified training for it to be considered as a foundational gain. The first aspect that must be developed in a young offspring is cognition. This is the initial period of alertness where a young offspring learns about his environment and finds ways to appropriately interact with it. Although their memory is not yet refined, they are able to familiarize themselves with the faces, voices, touch or smell of the persons surrounding them. Their range of vision is also limited but they can easily spot bright and moving objects. According to Jean Piaget, there are two significant events that happen during cognitive development. First is what he calls the “goal-directed behavior” wherein infants start to learn about the cause and effect of their actions. Moreover, they repeat particular actions for they already have the idea that those actions will bring out their desired results. The second significant event in cognition is their notion for “object permanence”. Before, infants think that if something that they have seen is taken away or hidden, it is completely gone. After their third month, babies will start to develop their thinking that a thing still exists even if it cannot be seen. During this stage, it is normal that infants exhibit budding and intense curiosity with their immediate surrounding. This is the primary reason why babies use their hands and mouth to inspect things. They find joy in exploring things by touching and putting them in their mouth. For the cognition skill to be effectively developed, activities such as singing and reciting rhymes are highly encouraged. Large and bright pictures will not only catch a babys eyes but will also help him associate names of objects with the illustrations. Since an infants brain is developing at an amazing speed, activities which focus on memory and comprehension skills will suit him well. Human stimulation also works best for their cognitive development which means that constant talking to infants will definitely help them. Mental development can be quite difficult to see but with the motor development stage, changes are indeed very evident and observable. This stage is truly very pressing because this is where infants try to use their hands in acquiring the things that will give them ultimate satisfaction. The most basic self-help skills are likewise established. The height, weight and the presence of basic reflexes are the most common milestones of motor development. As the infant develops, he gradually learns to make use and control his body parts for the mere desire of observing the world (Louw 10). From birth to six months, a baby only has an initial control of his head and neck. He can also move his upper body little by little and simultaneously moves only by crawling and rolling. Over time, his gross motor skills which primarily include balance, muscle coordination and body awareness slowly become evident. The gross motor skills are vital for they will serve as the foundation of an infants development of his fine motor skills. Fine motor skills are composed of functional skills such as standing and walking. It must be remembered that babies must be given plenty of chances to play. By constantly playing, they will have an increasingly better control of their movements. In his helpful work, Moore (113) stated: At this age a child needs several hours of physical activity a day. This helps to build the body, purify the blood, promote good digestion and calm the nerves. (Moore and Moore 113). Placing objects in an infants hands such as rattle and ball assists him in using his reflexive grasp. To make it more exciting, a wide variety of textures and shapes can be used. Another activity for motor skill improvement is the gentle stroking or rubbing of an infants hands. Apart from the reason that it will stimulate the babys hands and muscles, it will also increase body connection. Whats important is that you dont deprive an infant from playing with the things that captivate his attention. Just remember to secure limits to facilitate a safe environment for playing. The third area that doubtlessly needs focus is the social development of an infant. Providing a responsive and nurturing environment is something that an infant will surely appreciate. Parents and guardians truly find this stage very fascinating for the very main reason that their little bundle of joy is starting to interact with the people within his reach. The significant others of the baby are the ones who will primarily contribute to the formation of his social interaction. “For most children, their significant others are their parents, but frequently, there are other family members who also play an important role in the development of the child” (Louw 23). Social development can be generally related with emotional development because early research studies believe that infants mostly learn to express their feelings by having human interaction. From his second to third month, a baby will familiarize himself with the people who are always with him. This time of familiarization also provides an infant to form an attachment with his significant others, most especially the person who always takes care of him. Emotions varying from anxiety, surprise, sadness and fear are usually exhibited during the fourth to sixth month. At around seven months, an infant can already distinguish and feel the expressions of people. It is also in this point that he will try to imitate or mimic the facial expressions that are visible to him. Although activity choices for improving both social and emotional skills can appear quite confusing, there are actually ideas that seem simple yet truly effective. Arranging play dates for infants is a new idea that might make you doubt. However, this activity is currently gaining popularity for its great aid in helping infants to widen their social horizons. Having play dates will encourage an infants likeness for socializing and reaching out to others. There are endless possibilities to develop an infants social and emotional talent but whats important is to make him feel that he always exists. This can be done by sincerely responding to his small baby talks. Even if you cannot really comprehend a thing, an infant will have a sense that you are indeed paying notice to every little thing that he tries to convey. After the social and emotional facets is the moral development of an infant. There are no concrete ways to perfectly define the trends that happen in this stage but the initial basis of infants for whats right and wrong is their feelings. In as early as three months, infants already have a small notion that if something feels good, then it must be the right one. They associate their feelings and emotions with experiences of kindness, love, thoughtfulness or selfishness. It is still a current upheaval whether babies are born without moral sense or if they are innately born to act aggressively. Nevertheless, it can be evident that a baby will repeat something that he thinks is right just because it brings him pleasure. Shaping the character of a particular person can start from infancy by training him with simple and sincere activities. Constantly pampering an infant is an appealing idea but there must also be a boundary in it. For someone to develop sound moral, a healthy balance between love and attention is greatly encouraged. If an infant feels that everything he wants is being given, there is a tendency that he wont develop a likeable virtue but instead delve on selfish individualism in the future. The development of morality in infants can be proliferated by making them feel that they are secured. Since they just use their feelings as sole basis of correctness, giving them an ideal sense of acceptance is likeable. There are no specific activities to shape their characters at an extremely young age but whats essential is that you perfectly give out your love for them. Amidst the existing fact that an infant is just starting to acquire knowledge about his world, it is undeniable that he already possesses a knack for appreciating attractive things. In fact there have been previous studies which believe that infants mostly prefer looking and smiling at faces with likeable and charming appearances. Aesthetic development is informally referred as an infants early ground for creativity. It can come up in numerous interests which commonly pertain to singing, dancing, drawing and making up stories. An infants instant enthusiasm over an artistic thing is the start of this developmental area. Developing a sense of creativity is not that complicated when you provide an infant with aesthetically-designed activities. Music is unquestionably a great way to mold an infants aesthetic skills. By constantly singing songs and rhymes or even humming, a baby will already have an idea of different notes and rhythms. Showing colorful pictures or videos to an infant is another option to catch his interest and hone his admiration for artistic things. Lastly, area that must be carefully nurtured is an infants language development. Indeed, a babys first few actual words are music for everyone who hears them. Based from Louws statement, an infants ability to speak using words is undeniably a priceless achievement: The acquisition of language is one of the most fascinating and significant developmental tasks that a child has to master. This task – the use of sounds to create words and the arrangement of words into grammatically correct sentences. It is nevertheless one of the childs most complex creative tasks. (Louw 185) Throughout the infants first few months, astounding milestones will be present which doesnt necessarily include actual talking with words. At the end of three months, a baby is already capable of making “cooing” sounds. Babbling repetitive syllables or gurgling sounds will be highly evident on his sixth month. The baby can freely change the tone of his voice to properly express the comfort or discomfort that he feels. This stage of prelinguistic speech has an exact explanation in Louws book: In language development, understanding language precedesthe ability to speak it. Babies can understand language before they are able to speak it. Before babies speak their intelligible words, they go through several phases of vocalisation. (Louw, 1983) This period of unclear signals and primitive speech normally ends after the tenth month. On his twelfth month, you can hapily hear the most awaited simple words of a baby such as “Mama” and “Papa”. This is also the point where infants will try their best to imitate words with appealing sounds. Since language development is the key for an infant to communicate well in the future, activities that guarantee speech skills must be handed over. Everyday interactions are perfect training grounds for an infants language skills. Flashing him pictures while saying their names will help him associate words with objects. Initiating a conversation with an infant is a good way to improve his speech. Though an infant will just respond with “oohs” and “aahs”, whats important is that he is starting to communicate even in his own simple ways. Of course, nothing beats the joy of reading. As they say, it is never too early to read to a child. Soft books with eye-catching illustrations are great choices for an infant. Reading is not only a tool for language development, but it is also a great and loving way to bond with a loveable infant. These developmental areas will surely bring you matters that are far from easy. Although these areas have a definite process, remember that no two infants are the same. A baby can develop fastly in some areas whereas he might take some time to master others. Whatever it is that an infant will go through, it is truly vital for you to support him all the way. It is also ones responsibility to observe a babys unique developmental needs and look for compatible unique ways. An infants developmental milestones will definitely amaze you and leave you in awe. Each developmental area has its own complexity but one thing is for sure, all the complexities will be worth it when you see a genuine heartfelt smile coming from an innocent and loving little face. Works Cited Gerhardt, Sue. Why Love Matters: How Affection Shapes a Babys Brain. United States: Brunner-Routledge, 2004.  Louw, D.A. Human Development. United States: HAUM Tertiary, 1991.  Moore, Raymond, and Dorothy Moore. Home Grown Kids. United States: W Publishing Group, 1984. Read More