Solution Manual for Childhood Voyages in Development

5th Edition by Rathus ISBN 1133956475

9781133956471
FULL DOWNLOAD LINK AT:
SOLUTION MANUAL: HTTPS://TESTBANKPACK.COM/P/SOLUTION-MANUAL-FOR-CHILDHOOD-
VOYAGES-IN-DEVELOPMENT-5TH-EDITION-BY-RATHUS-ISBN-1133956475-9781133956471/
TEST BANK: HTTPS://TESTBANKPACK.COM/P/TEST-BANK-FOR-CHILDHOOD-VOYAGES-IN-
DEVELOPMENT-5TH-EDITION-BY-RATHUS-ISBN-1133956475-9781133956471/

CHAPTER 5
Infancy: Physical Development

CHAPTER LEARNING OBJECTIVES

1. Describe the processes of physical growth and development during infancy.

2. Discuss the role of nutrition in “fueling” development.

3. Explain how the brain and nervous system develop during infancy.

4. Discuss the roles that genetics and experience play in motor development.

5. Describe sensory and perceptual development in infancy.

CHAPTER OVERVIEW

This chapter provides an overview of biological growth and physical development from birth to age 2.
Patterns in growth in height and weight, brain maturation, motor development (both gross and fine motor
developments), and changes in sensation and perception are examined. The nutritional needs of the infant
and toddler are described and a discussion of breast- versus bottle-feeding is presented. Finally, in the
section on sensory and perceptual development, the author revisits a major theme in the book concerning
the relative influence of nature and nurture in development and the question of the child’s role (active or
passive) in the developmental process.

CHAPTER OUTLINE

I. Physical Growth and Development

A. Sequences of Physical Development: Head First?
1. Physical development during both prenatal life and infancy is governed by three main
principles: the cephalocaudal principle in which development proceeds from the head
down, the proximodistal principle in which development proceeds from the body’s
midline outward, and differentiation, in which physical reactions move from global
responses to specific responses.

57
 Chapter 5

B. Growth Patterns in Height and Weight: Heading toward the Greek Ideal?
1. The most rapid period of human development occurs from conception to birth, during which
children grow from a microscopic one-celled zygote to a full-term infant that is on
average 20 inches long and 7.5 pounds. During the first year after birth, infants grow in
spurts (rather than continuously) to triple their weight and increase their height by about
50%.
2. Children’s bodies become more proportionate as they grow, with the head making up about 1/4
of the body’s length at birth and 1/8 by adulthood.

C. Failure to Thrive
1. FTT is a condition characterized by failure to gain weight within normal limits during infancy
and early childhood.
2. Marasmus is a form of FTT characterized by wasting away due to lack of essential nutrients.
3. FTT can be biologically based (due to underlying medical conditions) and/or nonbiologically
based (due to social or psychological factors or poor caregiver-child interactions).
4. FTT can result in cognitive, behavioral, and emotional problems, and some think it may lead to
reactive attachment disorder. Proper treatment can lead to catch-up growth or an
acceleration of growth to return the child to age-appropriate norms. This tendency to
return to one’s genetically determined pattern of growth is referred to as canalization.
II. Nutrition: Fueling Development
1. Infants’ primary source of nutrients in the first year of life should be breast milk or iron-fortified
infant formula. Solid foods are typically introduced between 4-6 months of age when a
child can indicate hunger and fullness.
2. According to the National Center for Children in Poverty, 44% of children live below the poverty
line that impacts their ability to receive adequate nutrition.
A. A Closer Look--Real Life: Food Timeline for the First Two Years
1. Children require different diets than adults and should not be on low-fat or high-fiber diets.
2. A timeline of movement from breast milk to table foods is provided in this section.
B. Breast-Feeding versus Bottle-Feeding: Pros and Cons, Biological and Political
1. There is a social component to breast-feeding: presently, about 70% of American mothers
breast-feed, although in the 1960s and 1970s, bottle-feeding was seen as “scientific” and
more prevalent. Breast-feeding is the “medical gold standard” and by mothers the “moral
gold standard.”
2. The first breast milk produced by a woman, colostrum, contains a high level of nutrients and
many of the mother’s antibodies, but in a low volume.
3. Breast-feeding offers health benefits for both babies (breast milk is easy to digest, contains
mother’s antibodies, and can protect against lymphoma and obesity later in life) and
mothers (reduced risk of breast and ovarian cancer).
4. Harmful substances, such as the HIV virus, alcohol, and drugs, can be transmitted to a baby via
breast milk.
5. Breast milk production is stimulated by the hormone prolactin, and the breast is stimulated to
eject milk in response to the hormone oxytocin.
C. A Closer Look-- Diversity: Wasting Away from Hunger
1. PEM is the most severe type of childhood malnutrition and results from an inadequate intake of
protein. About 1 in 5 children worldwide have stunted growth because of malnutrition.

58
 Chapter 5

2. Kwashiorkor is a form of protein-energy malnutrition in which the body may break down its
own reserves of protein, resulting in enlargement of the stomach, swollen feet, and other
symptoms.
3. Treatment involves educating health workers about how to identify PEM, preparing appropriate
food supplements, monitoring child intake of nutrients and output of wastes, and teaching
parents to provide adequate child nutrition.
III. Development of the Brain and Nervous System
A. Development of Neurons
1. The nervous system is a system of nerves that control various body functions.
2. Neurons, the cells that make up the nervous system, transmit and receive messages from one
part of the body to another. They are composed of three main parts: dendrites are the
branching fibers that receive messages, the cell body contains the basic biological
material that keeps the neuron functioning, and the axon is the long trunk-like extension
that transmits nerve impulses to other neurons, often by releasing chemical substances
known as neurotransmitters.
3. Myelination or the process by which axons are coated with a myelin sheath (a white fatty
substance that provides insulation and speeds up neural impulses) continues into the
second decade of life and is associated with gains in coordination in children and
increases in working memory and language skills in adolescents. Multiple sclerosis is a
disease in which healthy myelin is replaced by hard tissue and thus leads to interference
in neural transmission.
B. Development of the Brain
1. Structures of the brain include the medulla, which controls life-sustaining functions such as
heartbeat and breathing, the cerebellum, which is involved in balance and motor control,
and the cerebrum, which is composed of the left and right hemisphere and responsible
for the complex cognitions that make us human such as learning, memory, and language.
2. The majority of neurons are already formed at birth, but the brain undergoes a growth spurt
between the 25th week of prenatal development and the end of the second year after birth,
during which dendrites proliferate forming a multitude of new neural connections. The
myelination of axons also serves to develop the brain and increase children’s
sensorimotor abilities.
C. Nature and Nurture in the Development of the Brain
1. Experience and genetics interact to influence the development of the brain. Neural connections
that are stimulated by experience are maintained while those that are not used may be
lost.
IV. Motor Development: How Moving
A. Lifting and Holding the Torso and Head: Heads Up
1. Motor development follows cephalocaudal and proximodistal patterns and differentiation.
2. Infants’ heads must be supported while holding them until they can do so independently when
they are 3-6 months of age.
B. Observing Children, Understanding Ourselves: Early Gross Motor Development
C. Control of the Hands: Getting a Grip on Things
1. Infants progress from clumsy swipes (3 months of age) to successful grasping behavior (4-6
months of age).

59
 Chapter 5

2. The proximodistal pattern is seen in the progression from an ulnar grasp that uses the fingers
and the palm (3-4 months of age) to the pincer grasp that uses the index finger and
thumb (9-12 months).
3. Advances in visual-motor coordination are evident in children’s increasing ability to stack two
blocks at 15 months and five blocks by 24 months.
D. Locomotion: Getting a Move On
1. The sequence of motor development is similar in most children, although sometimes a step is
skipped, and there is variability in the age at which each motor milestone is achieved.
Locomotion typically progresses from rolling over (6 months), sitting up (7 months),
crawling/creeping (10 months), walking (12-15 months, known as toddlers), to climbing
stairs (24 months).
2. There are some cultural differences in the ages at which children reach motor milestones, which
may be related to experiences that encourage motor development such as infant stretching
and massage.
3. Both maturation and experience influence motor development. As evidence for the role of
maturation, even Native-American Hopi children who spend their first year of life
strapped to a cradle board begin to walk early in their second year. There is mixed
evidence on the role of experience in that the appearance of motor skills can be
accelerated by training, but the effect is very small.
4. The reaction range is defined as the limits nature puts on a particular trait, while nurture
determines if a child will reach the upper limits of that range.
V. Sensory and Perceptual Development: Taking in the World
A. Development of Vision: The Better to See You With
1. Sensation is the stimulation of sensory organs such as the eyes, ears, and skin and the
transmission of sensory information to the brain. Perception is the process by which
sensations are organized into a mental map of the world.
2. Visual acuity develops rapidly in the first six months of life, from 20/600 at birth to about
20/50. Adult levels of peripheral vision are also reached at 6 months; however adult
levels of visual acuity are not fully reached until between the ages of 3 and 5 years.
3. Infants prefer to look at human faces and patterns over solid colors. There is debate as to
whether infants are “prewired” to prefer looking at faces. One-month-old children tend to
fixate on the edges of objects, while older infants move their gaze in from the edge.
4. Infants generally respond to depth cues by the time they are able to crawl (6-8 months). Classic
visual cliff experiments show that most experienced crawlers will not crawl over what
appears to be a 4-foot drop, although evidence is mixed as to whether infants need
experience crawling before they develop a fear of heights. An infant’s body position
(sitting, crawling, etc.) may be related to an infant’s willingness to approach a cliff.
5. Perceptual constancy is the tendency to perceive an object as the same, even though the
sensations produced by the object may differ under various conditions. Size constancy is
present in early infancy, and shape constancy seems to be established by about 4-5
months of age.
6. Observing Children, Understanding Ourselves: The Visual Cliff
B. A Closer Look--Research: Strategies for Studying the Development of Shape Constancy
1. Shape constancy, the tendency to perceive objects as being the same shape even when viewed
from different angles, in infants is often studied using the process of habituation, which

60
 Chapter 5

involves paying less attention to repeated stimuli. Thus, if a child stays habituated to an
object even when presented at a different angle, we conclude they have shape constancy.
C. Development of Hearing: The Better to Hear You With
1. Children can localize a sound in space as well as adults by the time they are 18 months old.
2. Classic habituation studies reveal that infants as young as 1 month can distinguish between
highly similar speech sounds and can perceive the sounds of most of the world’s
languages. Gradually, infants lose the ability to discriminate sounds that are not present
in their native language.
3. At 6 months of age, babies can screen out meaningless sounds and by 1 year, can understand
many words.

D. A Closer Look—Real Life: Effects of Early Exposure to Garlic, Alcohol, and Veggies
1. Infants ingest more amniotic fluid before birth and suckle breast milk longer after their mother
eats garlic, suggesting they can taste.
2. Infants dislike the taste of alcohol in breast milk and dislike the odor of alcohol when tested as
young children.
3. Early exposure to vegetables has a positive effect on children’s appetites for vegetables.
E. Observing Children, Understanding Ourselves: Sensation and Perception in Infancy
F. Development of Coordination of Senses: If I See It, Can I Touch It?
1. Very young infants have the ability to recognize objects experienced by one sense (e.g., touch)
through another sense (e.g., vision).
G. Do Children Play an Active or a Passive Role in Perceptual Development?
1. There is a controversy as to whether children are active or passive participants in perceptual
development.
2. Children shift from being a passive reactor to an active participant as their actions become
intentional rather than reflexive, they conduct systematic rather than unsystematic
searches, their attention becomes selective, and they are better able to ignore irrelevant
information.
H. Nature and Nurture in Perceptual Development
1. Nature dictates that infants are born with a good number of perceptual skills (e.g., vision and
hearing) and sensory changes seem to be linked to maturation of the nervous system.
2. During critical periods, experience is needed to stimulate typical development. Thus, nurture
also plays a role in perceptual development.

ANSWER KEY: TRUTH OR FICTION?

1. The head of the newborn child doubles in length by adulthood, but the legs increase in length about
five times.
TRUE. The head does double in length between birth and maturity, but the torso triples in length. The
arms increase their length by about four times, but the legs and feet do so by about five times.
2. Infants triple their birth weight within a year.
TRUE. It is true that infants triple their birth weight within a year. The gain sounds dramatic, but keep
in mind that their weight increases more than a billionfold in the 9 months between conception and
birth.

61
 Chapter 5

3. Breast-feeding helps prevent obesity later in life.

TRUE. Drinking breast milk is connected with a better chance of avoiding obesity later in life.
Perhaps it is because breast milk is lower in fat than whole milk.
4. A child’s brain reaches half of its adult weight by the age of 1 year.
FALSE. In keeping with the principles of cephalocaudal growth, the brain reaches a good deal more
than half its adult weight by the first birthday.
5. The cerebral cortex - the outer layer of the brain that is vital to human thought and reasoning – is only
one-eighth of an inch thick.
TRUE. The cerebral cortex is only one-eighth of an inch thick. Yet it is here that thought and
reasoning occur. It is here that we display sensory information from the world outside and command
our muscles to move.

6. Native-American Hopi infants spend the first year of life strapped to a board, yet they begin to walk at
about the same time as children who are reared in other cultures.
TRUE. Although denied a full year of experience in locomotion, the Hopi infants gained the capacity
to walk early in their second year, at about the same time as other children.

7. Infants need to have experience crawling before they develop a fear of heights.
TRUE/FALSE. Actually, evidence is mixed on whether infants need to have experience crawling
before they develop a fear of heights. Some do not. This would appear to be a case in which survival
might be enhanced by not having to learn from experience.

IDEAS FOR INSTRUCTION

I. Physical Growth and Development

A. Key Terms
canalization failure to thrive (FFT)
differentiation marasmus

B. Lecture Expanders
What to Expect
Babies who are born before 37 weeks of pregnancy are considered premature. Parents may have many
concerns in terms of what health issues might be present and birth and what type of problems may arise
later in a child’s life. This site provides comprehensive information regarding causes of prematurity and
what type of interventions can help in minimizing potential health risks. Explore the question and answer
and the “in-depth” sections for lecture ideas.
March of Dimes (2012) Your premature baby. Retrieved September 15, 2012
http://www.marchofdimes.com/baby/premature.html

C. Classroom Activities and Demonstrations

Head, Shoulder, Knees and Toes
Remind students of the children’s song “Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes” (lyrics and tune available
online at http://kids.niehs.nih.gov/lyrics/headsh.htm). Replace the line “and eyes and ears and mouth and
nose” with “that’s the direction cephalocaudal goes.” If you’re adventurous, you can even have them sing
the song while touching the appropriate body parts. This is a simple way to remember the cepholocaudal
principle of development.

D. Student Projects

62
 Chapter 5

Lengthening Body Proportions

Have students bring in pictures of themselves (standing up if possible) as (1) newborns, (2) toddlers, (3)
preschoolers, (4) preadolescents, and (5) their most recent picture. Arrange the picture in chronological
order. Students should then calculate the proportion of the head to total body length. This project provides
a personal illustration of patterns of physical development.

II. Nutrition: Fueling Development

A. Key Terms
kwashiorkor

B. Lecture Expanders
Low-income children and malnutrition in the United States
According to Save the Children (2012), “malnutrition is much more than hunger. Causes of malnutrition
include disease, poverty and food shortages.

Every hour of every day, 300 children die because of malnutrition and in America more than 16 million
kids aren’t sure where their next meal will come from”. The following resources provide information that
can be used to develop a lecture and subsequent discussion on the prevalence of poverty and malnutrition
in the United States and what is being done (and still can be done) to lessen the impact on our children.

Save the Children (2012) Nutrition Report.

http://www.savethechildren.org/site/c.8rKLIXMGIpI4E/b.7980641/k.C98/Nutrition_Report_2012.htm
(Accessed September 15, 2012).

National Center for Children in Poverty (2012, February). Basic Facts about Low-Income Children, 2010.
The Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York:
http://www.nccp.org/publications/pub_1049.html (Accessed September 15, 2012).

C. Classroom Activities and Demonstrations

Class Discussion: Death of a Malnourished Baby
In May 2007, the Associated Press reported that a vegan couple was sentenced to life in prison for the
murder of their 6-week-old son. The son’s death was attributed to malnutrition. He weighed only 3.5
pounds at the time of his death. The first-time parents claimed to have fed the child a diet consisting
primarily of soy milk and apple juice. Their lawyer claims that they unintentionally starved their child
because the apple juice worked as a diuretic and blocked the absorption of nutrients from the soy milk.
Prosecutors claimed the baby suffered a prolonged and painful death, not because of what he was fed, but
because he was fed too little and that his nutritional needs were deliberately ignored by his parents. (Full
articles can be found at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18574603/from/ET/ and

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/21/opinion/21planck.html?ex=1338955200&en=399e423e2a4f7d4b&ei
=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink)
Ask students to reflect on this case. What are the nutritional needs of an infant? What kinds of problems,
other than death, can malnutrition cause? What kinds of social policies could be enacted to inform parents
of their child’s nutritional needs? How can new mothers get help to feed their baby?

63
 Chapter 5

Video Suggestions
Childhood Eating (2008, ABC Video: Childhood and Adolescent Development, 2:21 minutes). Mothers’
eating habits while babies are in the womb affect children’s eating habits after they are born.

D. Student Projects
Infant Diets: Creating a Guide for Caregivers
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, childhood obesity has tripled over the past
30 years. It seems this fear of having an obese child has influenced some parents to implement a low-fat
diet for their infants, which can be harmful to the child’s healthy development. In fact, most of America’s
malnourished infants and toddlers today come from one of two sources: poverty that does not give
children access to the food they need or parents wanting to help their children fight obesity, cholesterol, or
heart disease. However, fat is an essential part of infants’ diets. Fats are needed for brain development,
development of the visual system, tissue growth, and heart health (Uauy & Castillo, 2003). Fats also assist
in general growth and keep a child’s body temperature consistent. Have students use information from
their textbook and the internet to fill out the attached handout, a guide for caregivers.

Students may want to start by looking at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s “A Guide for Use in the
Child Nutrition Programs”: http://www.fns.usda.gov/tn/resources/feeding_infants.pdf.
Center for Disease Control and Prevention. (2012). Childhood Obesity Facts.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/21/opinion/21planck.html?ex=1338955200&en=399e423e2a4f7d4b&ei
=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink) (Accessed September 15, 2012)
Uauy, R. & Castillo, C. (2003). Lipid requirements of infants: Implications for nutrient composition of
fortified complementary foods. Journal of Nutrition, 133(9), 2962S-2972S.

III. The Development of the Brain and Nervous System

A. Key Terms
nerves neurotransmitters
neurons myelin sheath medulla
dendrites myelination cerebellum
axon multiple sclerosis cerebrum

B. Lecture Expanders
How Does Experience Influence Brain Development?
The textbook describes classic research that demonstrated that rats reared in an environment enriched with
toys like ladders, platforms, and boxes developed heavier brains than animals raised in empty cages. But
does this translate to human infants? Should parents shower their babies with toys to stimulate their brain
development?
Indeed, humans do need some degree of experience for typical cognitive development. Researchers now
talk about two ways that experience influences brain development (Greenough, Black, & Wallace, 1987).
The first is experience-expectant development, through which the normal wiring of the brain occurs in
part as a result of the kinds of general experiences that every human who inhabits any reasonably normal
environment will have. In other words, genes are responsible for the rough outline of the brain
development, but experience is responsible for fine-tuning the system. Thus, this type of experience is
vital during early life when the brain is developing at its most rapid pace. It is thought that the visual
system is influenced heavily by this type of experience. Children who grew up in extreme environments of
deprivation (such as orphanages in Eastern Europe) often suffered from deficits in brain development,
resulting in cognitive and behavioral deficits because they were denied species-typical experience. But all
normal children that have the ability to look around and see shapes and colors and can interact with other
humans should have typical brain development of systems influenced by experience-expected
development. Thus, it seems that elaborate toys are not necessary for this part of development.

64
 Chapter 5

Experience-dependent brain development is the process through which neural connections are created and
reorganized throughout life as a function of an individual’s experience. Thus, this type of experience can
affect brain organization throughout the lifespan. For example, the hippocampus, which is the part of the
brain used to store spatial maps, was found to be larger in London taxi-cab drivers than a control group
(Maguire et al., 2000). It is thought that their extensive experience with spatial routes influenced their
brain structure.
Greenough, W.T., Black, J.E., & Wallace C. (1987) Experience and brain development. Child
Development, 58(3), 539-559.
Maguire, E.A. et al. (2000). Navigation-related structural change in the hippocampi of taxi drivers.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 97(8), 4398-4403.

C. Classroom Activities and Demonstrations

Line Up: Demonstrating How Neurons Transmit Information
This demonstration is a hands-on way to demonstrate how neurons transmit information. You will need to
bring in a few ping-pong balls. About 10 students can participate in this demonstration. They will line up
in two parallel lines with one hand on the next student’s shoulder. One line represents the axon of the
sending neuron and the other line represents a dendrite of the receiving neuron. The ping-pong balls
represent neurotransmitters. You should stand at the end of the axon line, and the space between you and
the end student in the dendrite line represents the synapse. Simulate nerve impulse transmission by having
the first student in the axon line say “Message Sent” and gently tap the shoulder of the next student,
triggering that student to gently tap the next shoulder, and so forth until your shoulder is tapped. When
your shoulder receives the “neural impulse,” toss a ping-pong ball across to the end student in the dendrite
line (who represents a receptor). The “receptor” should try to catch the ball with his or her one free hand.
If the ball is caught, he or she will trigger a similar sequence of gentle shoulder taps, ending with student
tapping the shoulder of the last student, who should say, “Message Received.” Have a student summarize
what just happened to assess student understanding of the simulation. You can hold all students
accountable by calling on students not involved in the demonstration.

Video Suggestions
Pediatric Brain Development (1998, Films for the Humanities and Social Sciences, 17 minutes). An
overview of brain development.

D. Student Projects
Early Brain Development
Have students go to the following website on brain development in infancy and childhood:
http://www.zerotothree.org/site/PageServer?pagename=ter_key_brainFAQ. From the section on postnatal
development from the FAQ page, have students find and list 10 facts about the brain in postnatal
development.

Atypical Brain Development

The text in this chapter focuses on typical brain development in a normal child. However, atypical brain
development can be caused by many factors and result in several abnormalities. There is so much
information available in journals, newspapers, magazines, and via the internet that you might ask students
to complete an article and/or web review exploring one of theses topics. Suggestions for topics include (1)
the effects of early neglect/child abuse on brain development, (2) development of the autistic brain, (3)
brain development and cerebral palsy, and (4) abnormal brain development leading to schizophrenia. A
suggested format is given for both options.
Article Review:
1. Cite the article.

65
 Chapter 5

2. Briefly state the main idea of this article.

3. List three important facts that the author uses to support the main idea.
4. What information or ideas discussed in this article are also discussed in your textbook?
5. List any examples of bias or faulty reasoning that you found in this article.
6. List any new terms/concepts that were discussed in the article, and write a short definition.
Web Review:
1. List the URL and the author of the site.
2. How do you know the information on this site is credible?
3. Summarize the topics/contents on this site.
4. What did you find interesting or thought-provoking within this site?
5. What was new information for you? List three facts that were not in your textbook.
6. What would you like to learn more about?
7. How valuable was this site to you in terms of relevance to this course?
IV. Motor Development

A. Key Terms
ulnar grasp pincer grasp locomotion
toddler

B. Lecture Expanders
Cross-Cultural Views on Toilet Training
One highly controversial milestone of physical development is that of toilet training. Toilet training is an
example of highly specific muscle control and one of great concern for many parents. Toilet training is a
great way to examine the role of nature and nurture on physical development because it involves a
complex interaction of nature (a child must have the physical ability to control the necessary muscles) and
nurture (cultural expectations and training practices).
The culture influences on toilet training have changed over time in the U.S. The availability of disposable
diapers in industrialized nations has dramatically increased the average age for a child to become fully
toilet trained (day and night, bowels and bladder). Currently, the average age for girls to be toilet trained is
29 months, and for boys it is 31 months. Remember, these are averages and there is individual variability.
Almost all children are trained by 36 months of age. The general zeitgeist in our culture tends to be not to
start toilet training too early, so as to avoid a lot of frustration, unhappiness, and mess. You can bring in
children’s books about potty training to illustrate how our culture approaches toilet training.
In contrast, in many African and Asian cultures, infants are expected to be toilet trained well before they
turn 1 year old. In these cultures, it is believed that babies have to be taught all the major motor
milestones, instead of waiting for them to occur naturally (Reed & Brill, 1996). As a result, babies born
into these cultures achieve toilet training significantly earlier than babies in Westernized nations. Some
mothers in the U.S. do use infant (e.g., 6-month-olds!) potty training techniques, the pros and cons of
which can be discussed as a class. Information on infant potty training can be found at www.timl.com/ipt/.
Brazelton et al., (1999) Instruction, timeliness, and medical influences affecting toilet training. Pediatrics,
103(6), 1353-1359.
Toilet training guidelines (1999). The role of the parents in toilet training. Pediatrics, 103(6), 1362-1363.
Reed, E.S. & Bril, B. (1996). The primacy of action in development. In M.L Latash & M.T. Turvey (Eds.),
Dexterity and Its Development (pp.431-451). Mahwah, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

C. Classroom Activities and Demonstrations

Design a Developmentally Appropriate Toy
In the text, the typical motor milestones are given for both arm movement and grasping and for
locomotion. Assign a small group of students to each age group (e.g., 2 months, 3 months, 6 months, 9
months, and 1 year). Ask them to design a baby toy that is appropriate for the motor development of

66
 Chapter 5

children in their assigned age range. For example, 6-month-olds can transfer objects back and forth
between their hands, so a large, patterned object would be an appropriate toy for infants of this age. Have
students present their toys either as a written and illustrated magazine advertisement or as a skit designed
to be a TV commercial. Student presentations should focus on why the toy is developmentally appropriate
and appealing to both parents and children.

Video Suggestions
Physical Development: The First Five Years (1997, Films for the Humanities and Social Sciences, 19
minutes).

D. Student Projects
Observations of Infant Motor Development
Observing babies in action is a valuable learning experience for students, especially for those who have
little exposure to infants. There are several ways to arrange for observation of motor skills. You may
arrange to have infants of various ages brought to class, or you may arrange to have students visit a local
childcare center or a university childcare center. Alternatively, if there is a local park geared toward
toddlers, students may observe children there.

Have students observe infants at play. Ask them to write down several objective observations (e.g., Child
A used pincer grasp to examine small toy, Child B crept across floor, etc.) Later, have the students look for
examples of the proximodistal and cephalocaudal principles.

Lessons in Observation: Parents’ Perspectives on Fine and Gross Motor Development

Ask students to interview parents of young children regarding what they remember about their children’s
fine and gross motor development. If possible, have students interview a wide range of ages (from infants
to children around 9 years of age). Ask them also to include both boys and girls in their sample. Questions
could include the following: At what age did your children first hold their heads up? At what age did they
start grasping items, and what type of grasps did they use? At what age did they roll over, sit up, and crawl
(what type of crawling did they do)? At what age did they first stand, walk, run, and skip? Have students
add their own questions to their interviews based on what they’ve read in the text. If there is more than one
child in the family, have parents make comparisons between the children. Are there differences that might
be related to gender or birth order? Lastly, have students compare the “typical” age at which these motor
milestones are reached and the children they studied. Ask them to summarize their findings and share them
in class.

Gross Motor Development

Ask students to visit WebTutor or the premium website (register/purchase access at
www.cengage.com/login) to view the video “Gross Motor Development.” Below are the video narration
and the application questions with answers on Gross Motor Development.
Video Narration: Early motor development follows the cephalocaudal and proximodistal principles, that
is, development proceeds from the head down and from the middle of the body to the outer parts of the
body. Infants first gain control over their neck muscles. Two-month-old Giuseppina is just beginning to be
able to lift her head while lying on her stomach. Soon, she will be able to use her arms to elevate her chest
and head like 6-month-old Anthony can.
As infants gain trunk control, rolling over and sitting with support become possible. Nine-month-old
Hannah not only sits with support but also shows the ability to coordinate her neck, shoulder, and trunk
muscles when being pulled to a sitting position.

67
 Chapter 5

Once an infant has gained voluntary control over the upper and middle parts of her body, development of
the extremities quickly follows. Nine-month-old Holly can now use her arms and legs to pull to a standing
position. Soon, she will be walking using furniture for support as Steven does.
Finally, at about 1 year of age, children typically begin walking alone, moving quickly to more complex
and coordinated motor skills, such as kicking and throwing a ball, and climbing steps. Although there is
wide individual variation in the exact ages at which infants acquire specific skills, they progress through
the same sequence of motor achievements fairly consistently.
Application Questions and Answers:
1. Describe differences in the gross motor development of Giuseppina, Anthony, Hannah, Holly, and
Steven.
 Giuseppina can just lift her head while lying on her stomach
 Anthony uses his arms to elevate his chest and head
 Hannah sits with support; coordinates head, neck, and trunk muscles when pulled to sitting
position
 Holly pulls to standing position
 Steven walks using furniture for support
How do these differences illustrate the cephalocaudal and proximodistal principles?
 Cephalocaudal, development from “head to toe”; proximodistal, development from center of body
outward
 Head, neck, and upper body control develops before lower body control
 Center of body is more controlled than extremities
 Locomotor activity, e.g., walking, accomplished after upper, center parts of body under voluntary
control
2. Outline developmental milestones for acquisition of the following gross motor skills: lifting head,
elevating chest, rolling over, sitting with support, sitting without support, pulling up to a stand,
standing alone, walking with support, and walking alone.
 Lifting head – 1 month
 Elevating chest – 2 months
 Rolling over – 6 months
 Sitting with support – 6 months
 Pulling up to a stand – 10 months
 Standing alone – 11 months
 Walking with support – 12 months
 Walking alone – 12-30 months (“toddler”)
3. Hannah and Holly are both 9 months old, yet their gross motor skills are not equally developed.
Discuss individual variations in gross motor development.
 Children show individual differences in the exact ages at which motor milestones are acquired
Are Hannah and Holly both developing typically? Will Hannah and Holly likely develop gross motor
skills in the same sequence? Why or why not?
 Yes, they are developing typically; motor skills develop in a predictable sequence, but timing is
variable
4. Discuss three possible explanations for the sequencing and timing of early motor development. Cite
examples from the video that lend support to each of these viewpoints.
 Maturation: biological basis for motor skill development; the sequence of motor achievements,
the ages of the children exhibiting the behaviors consistent with maturational view
 Experience: practice contributes to motor skill development; lack of opportunity to engage in
motor skills can influence development; individual differences between Hannah and Holly may be
due to practice, experience, and disparate opportunities to engage in the behavior

68
 Chapter 5

 Dynamic systems theory: changes in cognitive and motor development due to combination of
elements: maturation of the nervous system, movement of the body, the goals of the infant, and
environmental supports for the skill

Lessons in Observation: Fine Motor Development

Ask students to visit WebTutor or the premium website (register/purchase access at
www.cengage.com/login) to view the video “Fine Motor Development.” Below are the video narration
and the application questions with answers on Fine Motor Development.
Video Narration: Infants continue to gain control of their hands and fingers throughout infancy and
toddlerhood. While the Palmar grasping reflex is present at birth, voluntary grasping begins to be seen at
around 3 months of age. Two-and-a-half-month-old Mackenzie is not yet quite able to reach for the tongue
depressor, although she is clearly interested in it, using poorly coordinated swipes and swings to try and
touch it. 6Six-month-old Anthony, however, can reach for and grasp the interesting toy placed before him,
and 5-month-old James has no difficulty grasping the colorful shapes on his caterpillar.
Nine-month-old Hannah has begun to be able to use both hands to manipulate an object, holding the
tongue depressor in one hand and exploring it with the other. Her finger control is increasing, but she still
shows an ulnar grasp, grasping a Cheerio by pressing her fingers against the palm of her hand. Nine-
month-old Elizabeth, however, easily uses just her thumb and forefinger to pick up a Cheerio; she has
achieved a major milestone in voluntary reaching, the pincer grasp.
Developing fine motor skills allows children to interact with their environment in new ways: building a
tower with two cubes and using a pen to make marks on paper, for example. As children gain not only
more control of their fingers but also the ability to better coordinate motor skills, they begin to be able to
use markers to scribble artistically and to build a much higher tower like 22-month-old Timothy can. As
fine motor skills continue to develop, children will be able to physically interact with the world in new
ways, influencing their development in many domains.
Application Questions and Answers:
1. At what age does voluntary reaching typically emerge?
 Approximately 3 months
2. Describe the development of voluntary reaching and grasping, including the milestones of voluntary
reaching and the average age at which each skill is attained.
 Reflexive grasping at birth
 Pre-reaching, uncoordinated swipes and swings, 3 months
 Use of both hands to manipulate objects, 4-6 months
 Ulnar grasp, presses fingers against palm of hand, 4-6 months
 Pincer grasp, presses thumb against finger tips, 9 months
3. Which infants presented in the video illustrate each of these milestones?
 Aiden, newborn, shows reflexive grasping
 Mackenzie, 2-and-a-half months old poorly coordinated swipes, swings directed at tongue
depressor
 6-month-old Anthony reaches for and grasps colorful toy
 5-month-old James grasps colorful shapes on caterpillar
 9-month-old Hannah uses both hands to manipulate object, holds tongue depressor in one hand,
explores it with the other; picks up Cheerio using ulnar grasp
 9-month-old Elizabeth picks up Cheerio using pincer grasp
4. Hannah and Elizabeth are both 9 months old, yet their grasping skills differ. Is Hannah’s fine motor
development more or less advanced than Elizabeth’s? Is Hannah’s or Elizabeth’s development
atypical? Why or why not?
 9-month-old Hanna uses Ulnar grasp to pick up Cheerio, 9-month-old Elizabeth uses pincer
grasp; both infants are developing typically, individual variation common

69
 Chapter 5

5. Using specific examples from the video, discuss how increases in finger control and manipulatory
skills impact the developing child’s interactions in the environment.
 Building towers, drawing lines on paper, scribbling with markers, scooping macaroni into
measuring cups, using spoons
 All indicate increases in finger control, manipulatory skills; combining simple motor activities to
achieve goal

V. Sensory and Perceptual Development

A. Key Terms
sensations perceptual constancy shape constancy
perceptions size constancy habituation

B. Lecture Expanders: Alternate Ways to Hear: Cochlear Implants

According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), as of December 2010, approximately
219,000 people worldwide have received implants. In the United States, roughly 42,600 adults and 28,400
children have received them. A cochlear implant allows individuals who are deaf or severely hard of
hearing have benefited from this small electronic device. Consisting of a microphone, speech processor,
transmitter, and electrode array, the cochlear implant allows individuals to both sense and perceive sound
in the environment. The following websites provide more information on how cochlear implants work as
well as the controversy surrounding their use. Have students find more information and develop and
defend a position regarding providing sound to deaf individuals.

Cochlear Implants (2011). National Institutes of Health: National Institute on Deafness and Other
Communication Disorders: http://www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/hearing/pages/coch.aspx (Accessed
September 16, 2012).

Cochlear Implants: Sound and Fury. (2001). PBS:

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/soundandfury/cochlear/cochlear_flash.html (Accessed September 16, 2012).

C. Classroom Activities and Demonstrations

Class Discussion: Are Infants “Prewired” to Prefer the Human Face?
Ask students to carefully consider what is known about babies’ preference to look at the human face. You
may want to provide more information on facial preferences, such as the four “faces” presented to
newborns by Johnson and Morton (1991). In their study, newborns visually tracked the face with eyes,
nose, and a mouth, and the face with two blobs where eyes should be and a blob where the mouth should
be, longer than the two faces that scrambled the configuration of the facial features and blobs. Further, a
study by Dannemiller and Stephens (1988) showed that babies developed a preference for a face-like
graphic over its black and white inverse between 6 and 12 weeks of age. This may mean that more
experience with faces increases the preference. Some questions to ask the class: What do you think it
would mean if infants came into the world “prewired” to prefer the human face to equally complex visual
stimulation? Can you explain the evolutionary advantage that such prewiring would provide? Emphasize
the role that paying attention to the human face can have on infant language and cognitive development, as
well as the role it has in infant-parent bonding.
Dannemiller, J. L. & Stephens, B. R. (1988). A critical test of infant pattern preference models. Child
Development, 59, 210-216.
Johnson, M. H. & Morton, J. (1991). Biology and cognitive development: The case of face recognition.
Oxford, UK: Blackwell Publishing.

70
 Chapter 5

D. Student Projects
You’re the Scientist: Research Methods Used to Examine Babies’ Perceptual Abilities
The textbook discusses the habituation/dishabituation paradigm used to research infants’ understanding of
shape constancy. However, other research methods are often used with infants including the preferential
looking technique and instrumental (or operant) conditioning. Take a few moments to explain each of
these paradigms to your students, including examples.
1. Habituation is a decrease in responding to repeated stimulation, followed by renewed
responsivenessness (dishabituation) when the stimulus changes. This was described in the text as a
method for assessing shape constancy.
2. The preferential-looking technique involves showing infants two patterns or two objects at a time to
see if they have a preference for one over another. They will look at the one they have a preference for
longer. This is often used to test visual acuity in infants by presenting a solid square and a lined square. If
the infant shows preference for the lined square, we assume the child can detect a difference in the stimuli.
The lines on the square are put progressively closer together until a child no longer detects a difference in
the stimuli.
3. Instrumental conditioning, also called operant conditioning, involves learning the relation between
one’s own behavior and the consequences that result. Most instrumental conditioning research with infants
involves positive reinforcement, in which a reward that reliably follows a behavior increases the likelihood
that the behavior will be repeated. For example, infants may learn that quick sucking on a pacifier will
lead to hearing their mother’s voice read a story and slow sucking will lead to hearing an unfamiliar
women read the same story. If the infant spends more time sucking in a certain pattern, we can assume the
infant can recognize her mother’s voice.
Have your students design three different experiments, using each technique, to determine at what age an
infant understands size consistency. (You may also vary this by having students assess other skills such as
infants understanding of gravity, recognition of speech sounds, etc.) Handout 5.2 can be used to structure
students’ responses.
You may also want to use this project as a way of introducing the ethical standards for research with
children. This information is provided by the Society for Research in Child Development at
http://www.srcd.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=68. Additionally, you may wish to
present more sophisticated methods of infant research such as eye-tracking and ERP measurement.
Lessons in Observation: Visual Cliff
Numerous videos are available on YouTube demonstrating not only the classic visual cliff experiment
designed by Gibson and Walk but also more contemporary variations of this experiment. Have students
review three or four of these videos and summarize their findings. What do these visual cliff experiments
tell us about the development of depth perception in infants and the influence of mothers on the
willingness of a child to cross the “cliff”? Show some of these videos in class and discuss.

71
Instructions. Use the information
found in your textbook and information
you gather from reputable internet
sources, such as the U.S. Department of
Agriculture’s website (fns.usda.gov) to
create a pamphlet informing new
parents about the nutritional needs of
their children.
Nutritional Needs of Infants
Infants (6 months- 1 year)
Nutritional needs:
Name
___________________________
Date______________ Section:
_______
Diet recommendations: When and how
Infants (0-6 months) should you introduce solid foods?

Nutritional needs:

Toddlers (1-2 years)

Nutritional needs:
Diet recommendations:

Diet recommendations:

72
Name: ________________________________________________________________ Date: _________________ Section:
_______________

Perceptual Research with Infants

Instructions: Use the research methods described in your textbook and by your instructor to determine the age at which infants
achieve the perceptual skill assigned to you: __________________

Evidence indicating an Evidence indicating an

Participants Materials
Procedure infant had acquired the infant had NOT acquired
(ages, etc.) needed
perceptual skill the perceptual skill
Habituation/
Dishabituation

Preferential
Looking

Operant
Conditioning

73
74