early child development psychology

APGAR check

• when does it happen 2

• what score would indicate a healthy baby

• what 5 things do they check for

• what is each scored by/what is the max mark

• Happens at 1 + 5 mins  

• Score of 7+ = healthy  

  • APPEARANCE (skin colour)

  • PULSE

  • GRIMACE (irritation reflex)

  • ACTIVITY (muscle bone)

  • RESPIRATION (breathing rate and effort)

• each score is marked from 0-2

• max score is 10

newborn reflexes: explain

• grasping

• rooting

• sucking

• stepping

• moro

• Grasping: tight grip enough to hold own weight  

• Rooting: turn mouth towards nipple after cheek is stroked  

• Sucking: anything that touches lips  

• Stepping: walking movements when held upright  

• Moro: response to sudden noise/movement, arms and legs flung out when brought back to body  

what are the senses babies can have:

4 (not touch)

• Smell: breastfed babies prefer own mothers breastmilk 

• Taste: suck longer and slower with few pauses with sweet drinks  

• Hearing: distinguish notes attuned to speech  

• Vision: preference for large patterns and high contrast stimuli  

Visual preferences: hour-old newborns show preference for face-like stimuli  

bonding:

• who do they bond with

• when are the different times to bond with a baby 4

• Newborns need bonding with caregivers – a surge of love + tenderness felt for baby  

• Cant predict child development outcomes  

Different times to bind with baby: 

• During pregnancy  

• At birth  

• 1^st week  

• After 1^st week  

name some factors promoting bonding

Factors promoting bonding: 

• Sucking 

• Cuddling 

• Eye contact  

• Crying  

• Scent  

• Smiling  

• Skin to skin contact  

what are the benefits of skin to skin contact

• effect on mother and babys mood

• physiological effects

• hormones involved

Skin to skin contact 

• Calms/relaxes mother and baby  

• Regulates babys heart rate, breathing and temperature  

• Stimulates digestion, encourages pre-feeding behaviour  

• Enables colonisation of babys skin with mother’s friendly bacteria  

• Stimulates prolactin and oxytocin hormone release to support breastfeeding 

• Reduce cortisol levels  

• Similar response for baby and father  

attachment

• what is it

• how does this act as an imprinting method

• Deep emotional, social bond between infant and caregiver  

• Attachment has a neural basis, imprinting = marking an indv as a ‘mother’ 

• Nurturing is more important that food

attachment theory

• why do children need to form attachments

• in the 1st year, what do they use caregivers as

• secure attachments predicts what at 7-8mo

• Important for survival 

• Children are biologically programmed to form attachments to caregiver  

• Attached children show proximity-seeking behaviour  

• (in 1^st year) children use caregiver as a secure base to explore world and develop other relationships  

• Secure attachment predicts social, emotional development  

• Separation anxiety 7-8months  

• factors promoting attachment

• factors influencing attachment

Factors promoting attachment  

• Reciprocation of behaviour in carer  

• Response – fast and appropriate sensitivity to needs, source of comfort and support  

• Coordinated play and stimulation  

Factors influencing attachment behaviour  

• Mood, temperament  

• Emotional and social support  

• Clinical problems (diasbilities) 

what are the 4 attachment styes

S,A,A,D

secure, avoidant, ambivalent (mixed feeling), disorganised

why do babies with no/insecure attachment have developmental delay

• Social-behavioural problems (impaired response to emotional expression and forming emotional attachments) 

• Safety seeking  

• Altered neurodevelopment  

• Smaller prefrontal cortex in children who have been mistreated  

• Neurochemistry differences  

• what is the importance of fathers

• what is the difference when babies have involved fathers

Importance of fathers  

• Men report to be excluded during pregnancy and birth of baby  

• Co-parenting interventions reduced stress of parenting and symptoms of depression, enhance parenting quality  

Babies with involved fathers: 

• Become more social  

• More at ease with strangers  

• Improved cognitive functioning  

• Fewer behavioural problems  

what are the hormones involved in both mums and dads

O,P,T,C,E,P

oxytocin, prolactin, testosterone, cortisol, oestradiol, progesterone

^^ during pregnancy

child development: examples of

• social, emotional

• cognitive

• physical, motor

Social, emotional 

• Relationships with others, self, communication, independence, theory of mind  

• Smiling (6wks) - may have evolved to strengthen bond

• Self identity (18mo)

• Relationship with peers (18 months) 

• Social skills  

Cognitive  

• Language, thinking, intelligence, problem solving  

Physical and motor 

• Crawling, walking, hand-eye coordination, body size  

cognitive development

• language examples before 12mo

• when is 1st word

• telegraph speech age

• sentences age

• conversation

• Cooing  

• Babbling  

• First word – 12months  

• Telegraph speech – 2 years  

• Sentences – 3 yrs  

• By 5 – thousands of words and understand complex sentences  

explain Piaget’s stages of development 4

• S

• P

• CO

• FO

what does this theory show

• sensorimotor stage

  • 0-2y

  • recognise objects, learn through basic senses

  • act with intention

• preoperational stage

  • 2-7

  • pretend play, egocentric thinking

  • can classify objects by single features (colour, shape)

• concrete operational

  • 7-11

  • logical thinking, conservation concept

• formal operational

  • 12+

  • complex thinking, morals, abstract concepts

(shows that children are not small adults but they think very differently to us)

• what does schema, assimilation, accommodation explain

• Piagets theory of cognitive development

• schema - own images of things, organised by us

• assimilation - fitting new info into existing schema, w/o changing it

• accommodation - altering existing schema based on new info changing preexisting image

physical developments: ages

gross motor skills

• newborn abilities

• rolling

• sitting

• standing

• crawling

• walking

fine motor skills

• uncoordinated reach for objects

• pinching

• poking

• dominant hand preference

bowel/bladder control

Gross motor skills  

• Uncontrolled movement of head and limbs – newborn  

• Rolls over – 3 months  

• Sitting – 6 months  

• Standing with support – 6 months  

• Crawling – 9 months  

• Walking – 12 months  

Fine motor skills  

• Uncoordinated reach for objects – 0-4months  

• Pinching movement – 4-12 months  

• Poke, point – 1-2 years  

• Strong hand preference – 2-3 years  

Bowel/bladder control – 2-2 ½ years