PHYSICAL

DEVELOPMENT OF
INFANTS AND
TODDLERS

MODULE 12
TODDLERS
Young child: a young child
who is learning to walk.
CEPHALOCAUDAL
 The postnatal growth from conception to 5 months when the head grows
more than the body.
 The greatest growth always occurs at the top –the head.

 The infants learns to use their ‘’UPPER LIMBS ‘’before heir

‘’LOWER LIMBS ‘’.
 The same pattern occurs in the head area _.
 The top parts of the head= the eyes and the brain- grow faster
than the lower parts such as the jaw.
 The pre-natal growth from
PROXIMODISTAL 5 months to birth when the
fetus grows from the inside
MOTOR DEVELOPMENT of the body outwards.
 Refers to the
development of The muscular control of the
motor skills from
trunk and the arms comes
the center of the
body outward. earlier as compared to the
hands and fingers.
 HEIGHT & WEIGHT
PHYSICAL  Its normal for new born babies to drop 5 to
DEVELOPMENTS 10 percent of their body weight within a
couple of weeks of birth.(Due to the baby’s
adjustment to neonatal feeding/ once they
adjust to sucking, swallowing and
digesting, they grow rapidly).
 Breastfed babies are typically heavier than
the bottle-fed babies through the first 6
months.(After 6 months, breastfed babies
usually weigh less than bottle-fed babies.
 In general, an infant’s length increases by
about 30% in the first 5 months.
 A baby’s weight usually triples during the
first year but slows down in the second
year of life.
 Low percentages are not a cause for alarm
as long as infants progress along a natural
curve of steady development.
Brain
Development
Among the most dramatic changes
in the brain in the first 2 years of life
are the spreading connections of
dendrites to each other. (Remember
neurons, dendrites, axon, synapses).

Myelination or myelinization

=The process by which the axons are

covered and insulated by layers of fat
cells, begins prenatally and continues
after birth.

=The process of MYELINATION or

MYELINIZATION increases the speed
at w/c information travels through
the nervous system.
 At birth, the newborn’s brain is
about 25% of its adult weight. By the
second birthday, the brain is about
75% of its adult weight.
 Shortly after birth, a baby’s brain
produces trillions more connections
between neurons than it can
possibly use. The brain eliminates
connections that are seldom or
never used. The infant’s brain is
literally waiting for experiences to
determine how connections are
made.
Motor Development
Along this aspect of motor development, infants and toddlers begin from
reflexes, to gross motor skills and fine motor skills.

REFLEXES
 The newborn has some basic reflexes which are, of course automatic, and
serve as survival mechanisms before they have the opportunity to learn.
Many reflexes which are present at birth with generally subside within a
few months as the baby grows and matures.
COMMON REFLEXES
 Sucking Reflex( The sucking reflexes is initiated when something touches
the roof of an infant’s mouth. Infants have a strong sucking reflex which
helps to ensure they can latch unto bottle or breast. The sucking reflex is
very strong in some infants and they may need to suck on a pacifier for
comfort).
 Rooting Reflex( The roofing reflex is most evident when an infant’s cheek
is stroked. The baby responds by turning his or her head in the direction
of the touch and opening their mouth for feeding).
 Gripping Reflex( Babies will grasp anything that is placed in their palm.
The strength of this grip is strong, and most babies can support their
entire weight in their grip).
 Curling Reflex( When the inner sole of a baby’s foot is stroked the infant
respond by curling his or her toes. When the outer sole of a baby’s foot
is stroked, the infant will respond by spreading out their toes).
 Startle/Moro Reflex( Infants will respond to sudden sounds or
movements by throwing their arms and legs out, and throwing their
heads back. Most infants will usually cry when startled and proceed to
pull their limbs back into their bodies ).
 Galant Reflex( The galant reflex is shown when an infant’s middle or
lower back is stroked next to the spinal cord. The baby will respond by
curving his or her body toward the side which is being stroked).
 Tonic Neck Reflex( The tonic neck reflex is demonstrated in infants who
are placed on their abdomens. Whenever side the child’s head is facing,
the limbs on that side will straighten, while the opposite limbs will curl).
LIFE SPAN DEVELOPMENT OF
INFANTS and TODDLERS
Gross Motor Skills
 It is always a source of excitement for parents to witness dramatic changes
in the infant’s first year of life. This dramatic motor development is shown
in babies unable to even lift their heads to being able to grab things off
the cabinet, to chase the ball and to walk away from parents.

Fine Motor Skills

 Are skills that involve a refined use of the small muscles controlling the hand,
finger and thumb. The development of these skills allows one to be able to
complete tasks such as writing, drawing and buttoning.
 The ability to exhibit fine motor skills involve activities that involve precise eye-
hand coordination.
 The development of reaching and grasping becomes more refined during the first
2 years of life. Initially, infants show only crude shoulder and elbow movements,
but later they show wrist movements, hand rotation and coordination of the
thumb and forefinger.
SENSORY and PERCEPTUAL
DEVELOPMENT
 The newborn senses the world into
which he/she is born through
his/her senses of vision, hearing,
touch, taste and smell. As he/she
advances physically his/her sensory
and perceptual abilities also
develop.
 RESEACH FINDINGS regarding
NEWBORN’S VISUAL PERCEPTION
 The newborn’s vision is about 10 to 30 times lower than normal adult
vision. By 6 months of age, vision becomes better and by the first birthday,
the infant’s vision approximates that of an adult.
 Infants look at different things for different lengths of time. In an
experiment conducted by Robert Fantz(1963 cited by Santrock, 2002), it
was found out that infants preferred to look at patterns such as faces and
concentric circles rather than at color or brightness. Based on these
results, it is likely that ‘’pattern perception has an innate basis’’. Among
the first few things that babies learn to recognize is their mother’s face, as
mother feeds and nurses them.
Can NEWBORN Hear?

 The sense of hearing in an infant develops much before the birth of the
baby. When in the womb, the baby hears his/her mother’s heartbeats, the
grumbling of his/her stomach, the mother’s voice and music.
 Infants’ sensory thresholds are somewhat higher than those of adult
which means that stimulus must be louder to be heard by a newborn than
by an adult.
Can NEWBORNS differentiate
Odors?
 In an experiment conducted by
MacFarlane(1975) ‘’ Young infants
who were breastfed showed a clear
preference for smelling their
mother’s breast pad when the babies
were only two days old. This shows
that it requires several days of
experience to recognize their
mother’s breast pad odor’’.
Can NEWBORNS feel pain?Do
they Respond to touch?
 They do feel pain. Newborn males
show a higher level of cortisol( an
indicator of stress) after a
circumcision than prior to the
surgery.
 Babies respond to touch. The
newborn automatically sucks an
object placed in his/her head toward
the side that was touched in an
apparent effort to find something to
suck.

Can NEWBORNS distinguish
the different tastes?
 In a study conducted with babies
only two hour old, babies made
different facial expressions when
they tasted sweet, sour and bitter
solutions.
 When saccharin was added to the
amniotic fluid of a near-term fetus,
increased swallowing was observed.
 This indicates that sensitivity to taste
might be present before birth.
Do infants relate information
through several senses? Or
Are infants capable of
intermodal perception?
 INTERMODAL PERCEPTION is the ability
to relate, connect and integrate
information about two or more sensory
modalities such as vision and hearing.
 In a study conducted by Spelke and
Owsley(1979), it was found out that as
early as at 3 ½ months old, infants looked
more at their mother when they also
heard her voice and longer at their father
when they also heard his voice.
 This capacity for intermodal perception or
ability to connect information coming
through various modes gets sharpened
considerably through experience.
WHAT INFANTS and TODDLERS
can do Physically?
 DOMAIN: Physical Health, Well-Being and Motor Development

PHYSICAL HEALTH
STANDARD 1_ The children demonstrates adequate growth ( weight, height, head
circumference).
STANDARD 2_ The child has adequate sensory systems to participate in daily activities.

0-6 months
 Startles to loud sounds
 Visually follows a moving object from side to side
 Visually follows a moving object up and down
 Reacts to pain by crying
 Withdraws or reacts with surprise when in contact with something cold
 Reacts with pleasure/smiles or relaxed expression when he/she tastes something
delicious
 Reacts by making a face/frowns/grimaces when he/she tastes something he/she
does not like
7-12 months
 Reacts with pleasure when he/she smells something nice
 Reacts by making a face when he/she smells something fouls
STANDARD 3_ The child has adequate stamina to participate in daily activities.
 Pushes and/or pulls moderately heavy objects (e.g.. chairs, large boxes)
 Walks without tiring easily

13-18 months
 Play without tiring easily, able to keep pace with playmates
 Participates actively in games, outdoor play and other exercises

19-24 months
 Sustains physical activities (e.g. dancing, outdoor games, swimming) for at least
3-5 minutes
 MOTOR SKILLS DEVELOPMENT(Gross
Motor skills)
Standard 1_ The child shows control in coordination of body movements
involving large muscle groups.
0-6 months
 Holds head steadily
 Moves arms and legs equally to reach at dangling object
 Rolls over
 Bounces when held standing, briefly bearing weight on legs
 Sits with support
 Stating to crawl but not yet very good at this
7-12 months
 Sits steadily without support
 Creeps or crawls with ease as a primary means of moving around
 Stands without support
 Stands from a sitting position without any help
 Squats from standing position with ease
 Stands from standing position with ease
 Bends over easily without falling
 Stands from a bent position without falling
 Walks sideways by holding onto the sides of crib or furniture (cruises)
 Walks with one hand held
13-18 months
 Walks without support
 Walks backwards
 Walks up the stairs with hand held, 2 feet on each step
 Walks down stairs with hand held, 2 feet on each step
 Jumps in place
 Climbs onto a steady elevated surface (e.g. bed, adult chair or bangko etc.)
 Kicks a ball but with little control of direction
 Throws a ball but with little control of direction
 Throws a ball but with little control of speed
 Runs without tripping or falling
 Maintains balance (walking on a low, narrow ledge, between 2 lines without
assistance
 Moves with music when he hears it
 Can move body to imitate familiar animals
 Can move body to imitate another person/TV character
19-24 months
 Walks up the stairs with alternating feet, without help
 Walks down the stairs with alternating feet without help
 Kicks a ball with a control of direction
 Throws a ball with control of direction
 Throws a ball with control of speed
 MOTOR SKILLS DEVELOPMENT(Fine
Motor skills)
Standard 1_ The child can control and coordinate hand and finger
movements
0-6 months
 Hands open most of the time
 Bring both hands together towards dangling object/toy
 Uses either hand interchangeably to grasp objects
 Uses all 5 fingers in a ranking motion to get food/toy placed on a flat surface
 Grasps objects with the same hand most of the time (hand preference emerging)
7-12 months
 Pulls toys by string
 Bangs 2 large blocks together
 Picks up objects with thumb and index fingers
 Grasps and transfer objects from hand to hand
 Grasps objects with the same hand all the time (definite
hand preference established)
13-18 months
 Puts small objects in/out of container
 Unscrew lids
 Unwraps candy/food
 Holds thick pencil or crayon with palmar grip (e. g. all 5
fingers wrapped around pencil)

19- 24 months
 Colors with strokes going out of the lines
 PERSONAL CARE AND HYGIENE
(Activities of Daily Living)
Standard 1_ The child participates in basic personal care
routines.

0-6 months
 Sucks and swallows milk form breast/bottle
 Begins to take complementary or semi-solid foods by the en of 6 months
 Keeps reasonably still while being dressed, undressed bathed and while
diaper is being change
7-12 months
 Holds feeding bottle by himself
 Helps hold cup for drinking
 Chews solid foods well
 Feeds self with finger foods
 Scoops with a spoon with spillage
13-18 months
 Feeds self with assistance
 Feeds self using fingers to eat rice/viands with spillage
 Feeds self using spoon with spillage
 No longer drinks from feeding bottle
 Drinks from cup unassisted
 Participates when being dressed by lifting arms or raising legs
 Pulls down gartered short pants/underpants or panties
 Removes shoes/sandals
 Informs caregiver of the need to move his bowels so he/she can be
brought to comfort room
 Takes a bath with assistance
 Brushes teeth after meals with assistance from adult
 Washes and dries hands under adult supervision
 Washes and dries face with the assistance of an adult
19-24 months
 Gets drink for self unassisted
 Removes loose sando
 Removes socks
 Informs caregiver of the need to urinate so he/she can be
brought the comfort room
 Goes to the designated place to urinate but sometimes wets
his/her pants
 Goes to the designated place to move his/her bowels but
sometimes still sols his/her pants
 Goes to the designated place to move his/her bowels but
needs help with wiping and washing
 Brushes teeth after meals with adult supervision
 Washes and dries face under adult supervision
 LANGUAGE (Expressive Language)

Standard 1_ The child is able to use words and gestures to

express his thoughts and feelings.

0-6 months
 Makes gurgling; cooing, babbling or other vocal sounds
 Uses gestures (e.g. stretching his/her arms, pointing) to indicate he/she
wants
7-12 months
 Repeats sounds produced by others
 Says meaningful words like papa, mama, to refer to specific
persons
 Uses animal sounds to identify animals (e.g. meow-meow
for cat)
 Uses environmental sounds to identify objects/events in the
environment (boom for thunder)
13-18 months
 Speaks in single words
 Says “yes” and “no” appropriately
 Uses words accompanied by gestures to indicate what heshe wants
 Responds to simple questions with single words

19-24 months
 Uses pronouns
 Uses possessive pronouns
 Says what he/she wants without accompanying this with gestures
 Attempts to converse even if he cannot be clearly understood
 PRE-READING AND PRE-MATH
(MATCHING)
Standard 1_ The child is able to match identical objects, colors,
shapes, symbols.

7-12 months
 Able to match 2 identical objects (e.g. 2 spoons, 2 balls)

19-24 months
 Matches identical objects
 Matches identical pictures
 Thank
you:>

Presented by: Arrissa E. Gimena & Elsa C. Navales

BSED 01