Infancy and Toddler Development

Integrating the Field of Developmental Psychology: A Review of the Literature Developmental Stage/Age Group: Infancy and toddlerhood (0 - 3 years) In the development stage of infancy to toddlerhood, the child is changing and responding to its environment and social setting. As Levinson (1986) notes, the home is the child’s immediate social and physical environment. The mother tends to be the child’s source of security and the child grows in confidence through connection to the mother.

Between the ages of one and two the child is like a “young scientist,” according to Piaget in the sense that the child explores and demonstrates cognitive development (Thomas, Warner & Foster, 2000). According to Freud, the child is developing a sense of pleasure, first through oral stimulation which is connected to feeding initially but also through relief by way of bowel movements and urination.

According to Erickson, the child is developing trust during this developmental period and moving from a position of security and comfort to a position of exploration and independence by the end of this period. Physical Changes The physical changes associated with infancy and toddlerhood occur rapidly in the first two years of the child’s life—indeed, this is the fastest rate of growth the body will experience in its life. A healthy child will grow in length by 75% in the first two years of development.

The child’s head is disproportionate to the rest of the body in size but will grow at a rate of an inch per year and by toddlerhood the child will resemble adults, proportion wise. (Papalia, Olds & Feldman, 2007) During infancy, the child will communicate by using cries. By toddlerhood, these cries turn into sound words as the child begins to practice mimicking the sounds made by adults to indicate meaning and desire. Vision improves over the course of the first four months.

Rolling over, sitting up, crawling, and then walking follow between the months of four and twelve for most children. Older infants/toddlers will began mimicking adult voices and making their first sound words as indicators. Cognitive Changes The cognitive changes associated with infancy and toddlerhood occur as a result of the child’s interaction with surroundings. At two months of age, the child should be paying attention to faces, following movement with the eyes and fussing if no new activities are provided after a while.

By six months of age, the child should be bringing objects to the mouth to obtain a sense of them. Signs of the child being curious about objects should be apparent, as the child reaches for things and uses the hands to explore. At one year of age, the child is copying adults, understanding simple directives. At two years, the child is able to find objects that are hidden, tell the difference between shapes and colors, engage in imaginative play, stack blocks, and follow more complex commands.

At three years of age, the child should be able to use crayons to color or draw a circle, work buttons and moving parts and enjoy storybooks that are read to the child. These are important milestones because as Murray, Jones, Kuh and Richards (2007) point out, if they are not reached it could be an indication of a cognitive disability that needs to be addressed. Emotional Changes The emotional changes associated with infancy and toddlerhood demonstrate development from a need for security to a need for independence.

During infancy, the child needs to feel safe, secure, comforted and loved. The child responds positively to being held and will smile when happy. By one year of age, the child will be walking and enjoying a degree of independence and freedom with the newfound ability to explore. By two, toddlers will test their boundaries and will also be learning how to self-regulate their feelings. Emotional outbursts or tantrums are not uncommon between the ages of two and three (Potegal, Kosorok & Davidson, 2003).

Social Changes The social changes associated with infancy and toddlerhood reveal progression from attachment to independence and one-on-one play. Erickson shows that children learn to trust during this period of development (Austrian, 2008). They develop from a trust that comes from the parental guardian-child bond to a trust for others who do not show aggression and threat. This trust provides them with a feeling of security and allows them to approach other children their own age with confidence and engage in play. They can also demonstrate independence by playing comfortably alone.

Between the age of 1 and 2, the child will be watching others and learning from them. This frequently included observational play in which the child watches other children play but does not engage. By age 3 the child is more likely to be engaging other children in play—i.e., playing alongside them but not necessarily “with” them.

Evaluating and Appraising the Effects By evaluating the developmental changes and appraising the effects of the physical, cognitive, emotional, and social environments, one can see that at this stage of development, the child is forming a sense of surroundings as well as a sense of others and of self. The child becomes comfortable with the environment thanks to the security provided by the guardian (typically the mother).

The child develops a sense of pleasure, a sense of trust, and a sense of will—i.e., a desire to explore and to engage with the world and the objects that are in reach. Throughout this developmental stage, the child’s cognitive growth allows for communication skills to emerge.

From crying and fussing to making sound words and finally to communicating in full sentences by the age of 3, the child advances from a primitive stage to that of a child who wants and has the ability to express this want in ways that others can easily understand. The child is also observing others and playing alongside and even with others by the end of this stage of development.

Assessment of Developmental Needs The developmental needs of the child during this stage consist of a person of security (a mother or guardian type figure) who can provide shelter for the child, warmth, care, love, affection, food, and stability. The mother or guardian teaches the child to trust by serving as a means of security that the child can move to when needed and leave when there is an occasion or desire to explore.

This is a major developmental need, based on Erickson’s theory of development; however, environmental factors also have a role in promoting the development of the child at this stage. The child’s environment must be one that offers an opportunity for exploration as well as the opportunity to observe others and develop connections with other human beings that facilitate cognitive, social and emotional development (Perry & Szalavitz, 2017).

The absence of a supportive parent that offers security, an environment in which mimicry, engagement and exploration are possible, and other humans or children that can provide an opportunity for socialization, learning, and the development of self-regulation can result in the failure of milestones to be reached and a delay of cognitive, social, and emotional development to take place in the child.

Summary Based on Developmental Theory Through the lens of Piaget’s theory, the development of the child during his period begins early on, as the child begins to hear words in the fetal form, which serves as the child’s first exposure to language. Physically, the child is unable to communicate using language skills but the exposure is useful in forming the child’s emotional, social and cognitive development.

The child will cry and fuss to communicate until the mimicry action takes over around age 1 and the child begins making sound words to convey desire and feeling. Between the age of 1 and 2 the child will begin to explore the environment and the surroundings and demonstrate more independence so long as the security (the guardian) is felt to be within accessible distance.

The guardian (the mother in most cases) serves as the care giver but also as the rock—the support upon which the child will lean in times of emotional or physical need. By the age of the three, the child has developed an interest in playing alongside or with others and desires to be more social and leave the parent’s side for extended periods of time. The parent is still needed however for emotional and physical support.

Solutions for Areas Not Addressed by the Theory Solutions for areas not addressed in the theory would be the lack of cultural influence that plays a part in the child’s cognitive development. For example, how is a child able to attach significance to abstract words that have no direct relationship with a physical object? While the child is able to hear words and understand them, there is not always a physical relationship between the words and the child’s external reality.

The environment for instance can offer a range of objects for the child to get to know but even basic commands, like, “Stop!” or, “Come here!” can be discerned by children at this age as their cognition develops and they pick up on the cultural cues that accompany these words. Cultural cues can include the intonation, the manner in which the word is said, the experience that accompanies the verbal expression, and the culture that is created using these words.

Ethical Considerations Ethical considerations for research and practice with this selected developmental stage are.