Infancy (first 1000 days)

L17 Psychological Medicine Infancy - First 1000 days

What are ingredients for healthy development

• basic needs met
• emotional regulation - key skill to develop
• cognitive stimulation - need to be stimulated for good intellectual development
• stable positive relationship - needs to have a strong foundation for loving and growthd
  • serve and return- if a child makes any attempt at communication it should be returned and reciprocated

What is a developmental task

A developmental task is a task which arises at or about a certain period in the life of the individual, successful achievement of which leads to his happiness and to success with later tasks, while failure leads to unhappiness in the individual, disapproval by the society, and difficulty with later tasks.

Developmental tasks: Understanding and developing influence of people and place.

Age period:

• infancy to preschool Tasks:
• Secure relationship with caregivers (social)
• Language (cognitive/social)
• Differentiation of self from environment (cognitive)
• Self control and compliance (social/emotional)

What are the multiple domains development can occur in

• Physical
• Emotional
• Behavioural
• Cognitive
• Social (Incl language and communication)

Developmental tasks: independent motor control and locomotion

Birth	3 months	6 Months	9 Months	12 Months	18 months	24 months	36 months
Survival reflexes (sneezing, sucking) Legs make crawling movement (when lying on stomach)	Head control, lifting head up Push up head and shoulders on tummy Grasp rattle and reach with two hands	Sit briefly unaided, rolls from back to tummy, transfer block between 2 hands	Standing up. walk holding furniture/fingers. crawl, pick up button with thumb and forefinger	Walk unaided, make mark with crayon	Climb stairs, throw ball in box, build tower with three cubes	run, walk backwards, place square peg in square hole, build tower six blocks.	Dress self, toilet training underway (day vs night), ride a balance bike

Developmental tasks: making sense of the world and the things in it

What cognitive developments do we see in the first 1000 days?

First 1000 Days

• Cause and effect (if i push this cup over then it will fall and an adult will come put it back)
• Active explorlation/discovery/environment (exploring and curiosity)
• Object permanence (if i cant see it it can still exist)
• Mental representations (words and symbols have meaning associated with them. eg “what does the cow saw, “moo"")
• Goals directed behaviour (intentionally starting to manipulate items)
• Use of tools (see above)
• Imitation (imitate someone or something and see what happens)
• Memory (allows higher levels of learning and social connections)

Social: language development

What are some developmental tasks associated with this age?

3 months	6 months	12 months	18 months	2 years	3 years	4 years	5 years
Cooing and gurgling	Babbling	First words	Knows 5 to 40 words	150-300 words, 2-3 word sentences	900-1000, asks short questions	2000 words, 5+ word sentences	Identifies letters, creates longer sentences

Social and emotional milestones

2 mths	4 mths	6 mths	9 mths	12 mths	18 mths	24 mths
Begins to smile, Can briefly calm self, directs gaze towards caregivers	smiles spontenously at people	knows those who are familiar, likes to interact in play with others, looks at self in the mirror	may be afraid of strangers, has favourite toys	nervous with strangers, cries when caregiver leaves, cooperate with dressing, brings a book to be read, repeats sounds	afraid of strangers, affection for familiar people, simple pretend play	copies others especially those who are familiar excited with other children, parallel play, increasing independance

Behavioural milestones

What behavioural milestones are to be achieved in the first 1000 days

• activation of skill in other domains
• talking and gesturing
• initating and responding to social interactions
• exploring the environment
• pretend play
• grasping objects
• independant movement
• expressing emotion
• follow simple instructions