PSYB20H3 Chapter 5: Chapter 5
Document Summary
Physical development and health, birth to age 3. Infancy begins at birth and ends when a child begins walking and stringing words together between 12 and 18 months of age. Toddlerhood lasts from about 18 to 36 months, When children become more verbal, independent, and able to move about. Early growth and physical development first three years are a time of explosive growth and development. Despite its rapidity, however, the developing body grows in an orderly and patterned way. Cephalocaudal principle growth occurs from top down. Thus, a newborn baby"s head is disproportionately large. The head becomes proportionately smaller as the child grows in height and the lower parts of the body develop. Sensory and motor development follow the same principle; infants see objects before they can control their torso, and they learn to use the upper parts of the body before the lower parts. Growth and motor development proceed from the centre of the body outward.
