INFANCY AND TODDLERHOOD (0-3)

Trust vs. Mistrust (Infancy)

Erikson’s first psychosocial stage (0-18 months) centered on establishing security through reliable, sensitive caregiving.

Example: Developing confidence that hunger will be met when a caregiver consistently feeds on demand.

Sensory Maladjustment

Maladaptive tendency in infancy resulting from excessive trust without mistrust, leading to gullibility or spoiled expectations.

Example: A child who approaches dangerous situations without healthy caution.

Autonomy vs. Shame/Doubt (Toddlerhood)

Erikson’s second psychosocial stage (18-36 months) where toddlers strive to exercise self-control and independence.

Example: A toddler insisting on dressing themselves, building pride when allowed or shame if overly criticized.

Maladaptive Tendency

Impulsiveness. Leads to jump into things without proper consideration.

Malignant Tendency

Compulsiveness. Perfectionism or too rigid follower.

Episodic Growth (Spurts)

Growth in infancy does not occur in a smooth, continuous line, but rather in sudden, distinct growth spurts.

Example: An infant may not grow for weeks and then experience a measurable increase in height within a 24-to-48-hour period.

Lateralization

The functional specialization of the two cerebral hemispheres.

Example: The left hemisphere becomes predominantly specialized for processing speech and logical tasks, while the right hemisphere manages visual and spatial relationships.

Corpus Callosum

A tough band of nerve fibers connecting the left and right cerebral hemispheres, allowing communication and coordination between both sides.

Example: It allows visual information processed in the right hemisphere to be integrated with language centers in the left hemisphere.

Occipital Lobe

The smallest cerebral lobe, located at the back of the brain, dedicated to visual processing.

Example: Processing bright colors and high-contrast patterns shown on a visual card.

Parietal Lobe

Cerebral lobe responsible for integrating sensory information from the body, as well as spatial awareness and object manipulation.

Example: An infant registering skin sensations like touch or temperature while holding a toy.

Temporal Lobe

Cerebral lobe involved in interpreting auditory stimuli, processing smells, and supporting memory formation.

Example: An infant recognizing and reacting to the sound of a caregiver's voice.

Frontal Lobe

Cerebral lobe responsible for higher-order cognitive processes, including reasoning, planning, emotional regulation, and problem-solving.

Example: A toddler deciding to stack blocks to reach a toy on a shelf.

Cerebral Cortex

The outer layer of the cerebrum responsible for complex processing; grows rapidly in early infancy and matures substantially by 6 months of age.

Example: A 6-month-old showing increasingly intentional interactions with objects in the environment.

Neurons

Specialized nerve cells that receive, integrate, and transmit electrical and chemical signals throughout the central nervous system.

Example: Sensory neurons firing in response to an infant touching a warm surface.

Glia (Glial Cells)

Non-neuronal brain cells that nourish, support, protect, and insulate neurons. Example: Glial cells producing the fatty myelin sheath that wraps around nerve fibers.

Axon

A long, single neural projection that sends outgoing electrical signals away from the neuron's cell body toward other cells.

Example: An axon sending a motor command from the spinal cord down to leg muscles.

Dendrites

Branching extensions of a neuron that receive incoming chemical signals from neighboring neurons.

Example: Dendrites picking up chemical signals released by adjacent active neurons.

Synapses

Microscopic gaps between the axon terminal which chemical signals (neurotransmitters) are transmitted.

Example: Neurotransmitters crossing the synaptic space to relay a motor signal.

Cell Death (Pruning)

The natural elimination of excess neurons and synaptic connections to calibrate the brain to its environment and enhance processing efficiency.

Example: Eliminating unused neural connections related to non-native language sounds an infant rarely hears.

Neuroconstructivist View (Reciprocal Interaction)

Perspective holding that biological processes and environmental conditions interact to shape brain development, emphasizing brain plasticity and the link between brain maturation and cognitive growth.

Example: An enriched home environment stimulating neural gene expression and enhancing cognitive problem-solving.

Primitive Reflexes

Innate reflexes related to instinctive survival needs or attachment security.

Example: Rooting, sucking, and the Moro reflex.

Postural Reflexes

Involuntary physical responses to changes in body orientation, posture, or balance.

Example: Parachute reflex, where an infant extends arms downward when tilted forward rapidly. (parang cat)

Locomotor Reflexes

Involuntary movement patterns that mimic later voluntary motor movements.

Example: walking reflex when an infant's feet touch a flat surface upright.

Moro Reflex

infant arches its back, throws its head back, and extends legs, arms, and fingers outward.

Darwinian (Grasping) Reflex

Involuntary curling of the infant's fingers into a tight fist when an object touches their palm.

Tonic Neck Reflex

Reflex where an infant assumes a "fencer" position.

Babkin Reflex (palm)

Reflex where pressing both of an infant's palms causes the infant to open its mouth, close its eyes, flex its neck, and tilt its head forward.

Babinski Reflex (feet)

Reflex where stroking the lateral sole of an infant's foot causes the toes to fan out and the foot to twist inward.

Rooting Reflex

Primitive reflex where touching an infant's cheek causes them to turn, open their mouth, and begin sucking.

Walking Reflex

Locomotor reflex where holding an infant upright with feet touching a flat surface induces rhythmic, step-like leg movements.

Swimming Reflex

Placing an infant face-down in water causes involuntary coordinated swimming and kicking motions.

Denver Developmental Screening Test

A standardized screening tool used from 1 month to 6 years to assess gross motor, fine motor, language, and personal-social development.

Example: A pediatrician observing whether an 8-month-old can sit without support to check developmental progress.

Gross Motor vs. Fine Motor

Gross Motor Skills: Motor behaviors involving large muscle groups and whole-body movements. (Crawling, walking, running, and jumping).

Fine Motor Skills: Precise motor behaviors involving smaller muscle groups, particularly hands and fingers. (Picking up a piece of cereal using a pincer grasp).

Visual Guidance

The use of visual feedback to guide hand movements toward an object.

Example: A baby looking directly at a rattle while reaching out to grab it.

Depth Perception

The ability to perceive distance and three-dimensional spatial relationships.

Example: An infant hesitating to crawl over an apparent vertical drop on a visual cliff simulator (glass yung half).

Kinetic Cues

Visual depth cues generated by movement of an object or the observer.

Example: Realizing an object is approaching closer because its image expands rapidly on the retina.

Haptic Perception

The ability to acquire information about an object's properties (shape, texture, weight) through active touch and handling.

Example: An infant feeling the soft, bumpy texture of a cloth toy by squeezing it.

Social Referencing

Babies learn to look at caregivers for clues.

Perceptual Constancy

The cognitive ability to perceive physical properties of objects as stable despite changes in sensory input.

Example: Recognizing a toy square as square even when viewed from an angle.

Size Constancy

The recognition that an object's actual size remains constant even as its retinal image scales up or down based on distance.

Example: Knowing a parent isn't physically shrinking as they walk away.

Shape Constancy

The recognition that an object retains its shape regardless of changes in its spatial orientation.

Example: Recognizing a door as rectangular even when opened at an angle.

Ecological Theory of Perception by Gibson

Perspective stating that perceptual development involves direct perception of environmental information and learning to detect affordances.

Example: An infant perceiving whether a sloped ramp is safe to walk down based on its angle.

Affordances

Action possibilities offered by objects or environments relative to an individual's physical capabilities (fit for them).

Example: A low flat surface affords sitting to a toddler, but a steep ledge does not.

Dynamic Systems Theory by Thelen

Theory holding that motor behaviors assemble dynamically through self-organization of multiple factors (motivation, physical strength, environment).

Example: An infant learning to walk when leg strength, balance, environmental floor surfaces, and motivation to reach a toy align

Extinction

The gradual weakening and disappearance of a conditioned response when the conditioned stimulus is repeatedly presented without reinforcement.

Example: An infant stopping anticipation of milk at a sight if the sight repeatedly occurs without feeding.

Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development

A standardized developmental assessment assessing cognitive, language, motor, social-emotional, and adaptive behavior in children from 1 month to 3.5 years.

Example: Assessing whether a 12-month-old can successfully place blocks into a container to evaluate fine motor and cognitive domains.

HOME (Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment)

An observational instrument evaluating intellectual stimulation and support provided to a child in their home.

Example: An observer recording the availability of age-appropriate books, toys, and warm parental responsiveness.

Sensorimotor Stage

Piaget’s first stage of cognitive development (birth to 2 years) where infants learn about the world through sensory impressions and motor activities.

Example: An infant exploring a ball by banging, mouthing, and rolling it.

Assimilation

Incorporating new environmental experiences into existing cognitive schemes.

Example: A toddler calling a four-legged cat a "doggy" because they already have a scheme for four-legged animals.

Accommodation

Modifying existing cognitive schemes or creating new ones to fit new environmental information.

Example: Modifying the "doggy" scheme to create a new "cat" scheme after noticing the animal meows instead of barks.

Disequilibrium (cognitive conflict)

State of cognitive imbalance experienced when encountering new information that does not fit existing schemes.

Example: A toddler feeling confused when a heavy-looking plastic toy floats on water instead of sinking.

Equilibration (cognitive balance)

The developmental drive to resolve disequilibrium by adjusting schemes through assimilation and accommodation, moving to higher cognitive organization.

Example: Restructuring mental categories so both floating and sinking objects make sense.

Use of Reflexes (1)

Inborn reflexes and gain some control over them.

Example: Sucking whenever they want to.

Primary Circular (2)

Repeating enjoyable body-centered actions that first occurred by chance (1–4 months).

Example: Repeatedly opening and closing hands or sucking fingers because it feels pleasant.

Secondary Circular (3)

Repeating actions that produce interesting external environmental results (4-8 months).

Example: Repeatedly shaking a rattle to hear the ringing sound it makes.

Coordination of Secondary Schemes (4)

Combining previously learned behaviors intentionally to achieve a specific goal (8–12 months).

Example: Pushing a pillow aside (means) to grab a toy hidden behind it (goal).

Tertiary Circular (5)

Purposefully varying actions to experiment and observe variations in results (12-18 months).

Example: Dropping a toy spoon from different heights and angles to see where and how it falls.

Mental Combinations (6)

Internalizing schemes to represent events symbolically, anticipate consequences, and solve problems mentally (18–24 months).

Example: Picturing how a toy fits into a box before physically trying to shove it in.

Deferred Imitation

Reproducing an observed action after a passage of time. (altho children under 18 months don’t have this daw)

Example: A toddler pushing buttons on a toy phone the day after watching an adult do it.

Object Permanence

Understanding that objects continue to exist even when out of visual range or sensory contact.

Example: Searching under a blanket for a ball after watching someone cover it.

Dual Representation Hypothesis

Proposal that young children (under 3) struggle with spatial relationships because they find it difficult to hold both an object itself and its symbolic meaning in mind at once.

Example: Struggling to use a tiny scale model of a room to locate a real object hidden in the actual room.

Habituation

Decreased responsiveness or attention to a stimulus after repeated or continuous exposure.

Example: An infant losing interest in a picture after seeing it repeatedly.

Cross-Modal Transfer

Ability to use information acquired through one sense to guide or recognize something via another sense.

Example: Identifying a textured pacifier visually after only feeling it in the mouth.

Implicit Memory

Unconscious memory system supporting automatic skills, habits, and procedural actions without conscious recall.

Example: Remembering how to kick a leg to move a mobile attached to the ankle.

Explicit Memory

Conscious, intentional memory system used to recall specific facts, events, names, or declarative details.

Example: Recalling where a specific toy was hidden during a game.

Infinite Generativity

Ability to create and understand an infinite number of novel sentences using a finite set of words and rules.

Example: Combining known vocabulary into original phrases like "big green frog jumped fast"

Pre-linguistic Speech

Utterances preceding formal language, progressing from crying to cooing and babbling.

Example: Making vowel-like "ooo" and "aaa" sounds.

Cooing

Vowel-like sounds occurring around 6 weeks to 3 months.

Example: Making "coo," "ah," and "gool" sounds when happy.

Babbling

Repeating consonant-vowel combinations occurring around 6 to 10 months.

Example: Uttering "ba-ba-ba" or "da-da-da" rhythmically.

Phonology

The sound system of a language, including the speech sounds used and how they combine.

Example: Learning the distinction between the "p" sound in "pat" and the "b" sound in "bat".

Morphology

The system of word structure and meaningful units (morphemes) used in language.

Example: Understanding that adding "-s" to "dog" creates a plural "dogs".

Syntax

The grammar rules governing word order and phrase.

Example: Ordering words as "big dog" instead of "dog big" in English.

Semantics

Meaning of words, phrases, and sentences.

Example: Knowing that "toy" refers to objects played with.

Pragmatics

The social rules governing effective and appropriate conversation.

Example: Taking turns speaking during a conversation like “May I?”.

Receptive Vocabulary

Words an individual understands when spoken by others.

Example: A toddler waving goodbye when told "say bye-bye," even if they cannot speak the word.

Overextension

Categorical error where a child applies a single word too broadly to inappropriate objects.

Example: Calling every quadrupedal furred animal a "doggy".

Underextension

Categorical error where a child applies a word too narrowly to a specific item rather than its full set.

Example: Using "ball" strictly for their personal red ball, refusing to call other balls "ball".

Telegraphic Speech

Early two-word speech lacking grammatical markers, focusing solely on critical content words.

Example: Saying "Mommy juice" to mean "Mommy, give me juice".

Broca’s Area

Region in the left frontal lobe responsible for good motor speech production.

Example: difficulty articulating words like slow talking but clearly knows what to say.

Wernicke’s Area

Responsible for language comprehension and processing speech sounds.

Example: difficulty understanding spoken language or they can speak fluently but speaks nonsense (word salad).

Language Acquisition Device (LAD)

Chomsky's proposed biological framework enabling children to infer linguistic rules from heard speech.

Example: A child naturally picking up native grammatical structures without formal instruction.

Child-Directed Speech

Speech pattern characterized by higher pitch, exaggerated intonation, slower cadence, and simple structure when addressing infants.

Example: Speaking in a high-pitched, melodic voice saying "Look at the lit-tle dog-gy!"

Recasting

Language support technique where an adult rephrases a child's grammatically incomplete utterance into a correct form.

Example: A child says "Cookie eat," and the adult responds, "You are eating a cookie!".

Expanding

Language support technique where an adult adds descriptive detail to a child's short utterance.

Example: A child says "Doggie run," and the adult replies, "Yes, the big brown doggie is running fast!".

Social Smiling

Intentional smile elicited by external social stimuli, typically developing around 2 months.

Example: A baby smiling back directly when seeing a parent's smiling face.

Reflexive Smile

Involuntary, subcortically driven smile occurring without external stimuli, often during REM sleep.

Example: A sleeping newborn's mouth curving upward during early sleep cycles.

Anticipatory Smiling

Smiling at an object and then turning eye contact toward an adult while maintaining the smile to communicate shared pleasure.

Example: Smiling at an exciting toy and then looking at dad to share the joy.

Mirror Neurons

Specialized brain cells that fire both when performing an action and when observing another perform that same action, underlying empathy.

Example: Neurons firing in response to watching someone else express distress.

Types of Children

Easy Children: Children displaying calm moods, regular biological routines, and high adaptability to new situations.

Example: A baby who sleeps and eats on a consistent schedule and smiles at strangers.

Difficult Children: Children displaying intense emotional reactions, irregular biological routines, and slow adaptation to change.

Example: An infant who cries frequently, sleeps irregularly, and resists new foods.

Slow-to-Warm-Up Children: Children with low activity levels, mild emotional reactions, and hesitant initial responses to novelty that gradually warm up.

Example: A child who clings quietly at first in a new day care, but engages comfortably after an hour.

Situational Compliance

Temporary obedience requiring ongoing parental prompting, reminders, or monitoring.

Example: Cleaning up toys only while a parent stands by directing each step.

Committed Compliance

Wholehearted, voluntary obedience to parental requests without direct supervision or reminders.

Example: Putting toys away independently when play time ends

Receptive Cooperation

Eager, harmonious willingness to cooperate with parental requests in daily routines.

Example: Happily extending arms when a parent offers a coat to get dressed.