Unit 4-Human lifespan development

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Human lifespan development

Unit 4- P1

There are 5 different life stages in life span development these are:

-Infancy

-Childhood

-Adolescence

-Adulthood

-Later Adulthood

I am now going to explain the physical, intellectual, emotional and social needs for the different lifespan developments.

Conception

Human life starts with conception. A fertile woman normally generates one egg cell each month, roughly 2 weeks after her menstrual period.

Conception is a process of becoming pregnant. Most woman ovulate each month, this is when an egg is released by the ovaries.

During the procedure of sexual intercourse the male will ejaculate and sperm will be lead from the testicles through the penis and will enter through the woman's vagina. If a sperm connects to the egg, fertilization may often occur.

Whilst a male ejaculation, there is between 60 million and 500 million that swift there way through like a race. They come across the collar of the uterus within 10 minutes or so. Only around 100 to 200 of the chosen ones will meet the most fertile place.

If the sperm achieves becoming successful and penetrates the egg it will mislay its tail and the head will become larger. The entrances will cause the egg to activate which will result it to enlarge.

-The woman.

The woman's role in conception is vitally important during conception.

All of woman's eggs are already present from the day they are born. From early years of childhood they begin to release eggs. But it has been notified tat a average female around the age of 50 still has around 1000 eggs left.

If fertilization by the sperm occurs it should take place in the Fallopian tube, which then movements occur to the early embryo along towards the tube itself. If the egg fails to fertilize, or the embryo does not implant in the womb, the progesterone levels drop and periods take place. Therefore the whole cycle then starts again.

-The man.

The males' main role during conception is the ejaculation and construction of sperm cells. To fertilize an egg, a man must be able to produce sufficient numbers of swimming (motile) sperm. A small number of these sperm cells will eventually contact the egg, and only one will essentially penetrate and fertilize it.

During the course of puberty, the testes become vigorous and begin to produce sperm. From the males' teens until about the age of 70, a man will naturally produce 5,000 sperm cells every minute. Ejaculation produces semen, which is a combination of two per cent sperm cells and 98 per cent liquid created by the glands in the testes. Production of sperm is beneath the control of FSH and LH, the same hormones that manage the woman's fertility.

Infancy (0-3 years)

Physical development-

When a child is new born also known as a neonate stage, the child is born with various reflexes that the midwife must ensure that the baby is developing acceptably. There are four main different primitive reflexes that are crucial these are:

Moro- is also known as the startle reflex which is during the premature period. This occurs when a baby discovers a loud noise that there reflexes will respond by jilting there head back, places there hands/arms or legs in front of them, cries, then places there body to its original state. It may be observed more in premature birth circumstances after the 28th week of gestation. Moro reflexes lasts until the baby is around 5-6 months old.

Rooting- This reflex occurs when the baby senses touch on the corner of there mouth or cheek, the baby should retaliate by moving there face towards the direction of the stroking and opens its mouth. This reflex helps the baby in search of a feeding bottle or breast.

Grasp- this occurs when the babies' palm of hand is stroked, they should respond by closing his/her fingers and grasping to the object. This reflex lasts only a couple of months and occurs stronger in premature infants. Startle- is the reaction of mind and body to a sudden unexpected stimulus, such as a flash of light, a loud noise (acoustic startle reflex), or a quick movement near the face.

Walking-this is when the baby is held upright with there feet towards the floor, the baby will try to make movements to encourage them to walk more confidently each time.

Motor skills

Gross motor skills include- lifting head, rolling over, balancing, walking, crawling and sitting up. Gross motor kills generally follow a particular pattern. Normally the larger muscles develop more rapidly then the smaller more delicate muscles. T he first thing that develops more rapidly is there eyes.

Fine motor skills- this includes the ability to control small objects, and transmit objects from one hand to the other, and also various hand-eye coordination tasks. An obvious example of this is the use of thumb and forefinger (pincer grasp) to allocate small objects, coloring, cutting, drawing, threading beads or writing. Fine motor development refers to the development of skills involving the smaller muscle groups.

Ambidexterity- is a specialized skill in which there is no control between body symmetries, so tasks requiring fine motor skills can be performed with the left or right extremities. The most frequent example of ambidexterity is the ability to write with the left or right hand, rather than one dominant side.

Pregnancy

Pregnancy starts when a sperm penetrates an egg. During one to one and a half days the single fertilized egg cell begins to divide. After two to three days there are enough cells to develop the fertilized egg into the size of a pin head. The first primster is 0-12 weeks, Second primster is 18-28 weeks and finally the third primster is 29-40 weeks.

Birth & infancy

Birth-

During the remaining 7 months before birth, all the organs continue to develop. During the 20 weeks, the foetus will have reached about half the length of the baby at birth. By 32 weeks the foetus will be around half its weight. The new born baby (neonate) has to take easily digestible food for example the mother's breast milk in order to grow properly.

Babies-

If you are used to babies you should know that they learn how to:

Recognize key people in their lives and respond in different ways.

Recognize and respond to stimuli such as sound, movement or touch.

More and hold themselves up as they grow bigger and stronger

Infancy (0 - 2 years)

Physical development; neonate stage (newborn) infants are born with various reflexes.

-Infancy - more rooting

-Primitive- grasp

-Reflexes 0 startle

-Primitive reflexes.

-Rooting; when baby moves their head towards any touch on cheek, searching their Mothers nipples.

-Grasp; when placing finger in palm of the babies hand, the baby will grab tightly.

-Moro / startle; loud noise, the baby will throw their hands and arm outwards and straighten their legs.

-Walking; baby is held upright with the feet towards the floor, the child will make movements as through trying to walk.

Age at which types of body control begins

Body control

Age

Be able to lift head slightly

0-1 month

Roll over

6 months

Able to pass an object from one hand to the other

6 months

crawl

9-10 months

Stand alone

2 months

Human growth & development

There are two main different skills used during infancy, childhood and later life which are known as the cognitive and linguistic (verbal) skills.

Cognitive-

This involves the factors of:

-memory

-perception

-thinking

Cognitive and social/emotional development refers to the intellectual and psychological maturation of children as their physical development allows them to cooperate more with other individuals and the outer life. There are various theories of these forms of development in children and adolescents. In general this is considered useful for aspects of development in some children. Increasingly, appropriate attachments and nurturing in infancy and early childhood are recognized as critical factors in cognitive growth and emotional health. For example, reading to a child from an early age, presenting academically motivating experiences, and providing warm and developing relationships all have a massive impact on growth in these areas. Intellect is evaluated in young children by observations of language skills, interest, and problem-solving abilities. As the child begins to become more verbal, intellectual functioning becomes easier to consider using a number of dedicated clinical tools. Once the child starts school, it undertakes regular monitoring as part of the intellectual process.

Emotional growth and the achievement of social skills are assessed by examination, the child relates with others in everyday circumstances. When the child obtains speech, the understanding of his/her emotional state becomes much more precise. As with intellectual, emotional operation can be defined more accurately with specialized equipment.

Intellectual development

During the first 18 months it is crucial that infants learn to interact with their essential senses and their muscle action. Firstly, a baby will be dependent on inbuilt patterns for behavior; an example of this is watching, crawling and sucking. A baby will be familiar with this conduct in order to discover a wider variety of items. Babies explore by sucking clothing, toys, fingers ECT. As they do this they are gradually developing an understanding of objects.

Jean Piaget (1896-1980) was a biologist who originally studied mollusks (publishing twenty scientific papers on them by the time he was 21) but transferred into the study of the development of children's understanding, through observing, talking and listening to them while they worked on exercises he set.

Social development

Before an infant is born, much has occurred in terms of social development. Genetic and prenatal biological factors play a big, regulated role in determining later social behavior. After birth, parents and other family associates are the key socializing agents of the preschooler's development.

By studying identical and fraternal twins, as well as adopted siblings, behavioral geneticists have accomplished that genetic factors account for 40 to 70 percent of the changeability in certain characteristics. Genes may contribute directly to children's characteristics and ultimately influence social development through three procedures: passive effects, in which children's genes are associated to the parenting of their biological parents; evocative effects, by which children obtain certain types of behaviors from others; and active effects, through which children seek out environments that best fit their genetic makeups.

Even though it is clear that genetic makeup plays a fundamental role in social development, it is less certain exactly what biological mechanisms account for this influence. Without doubt, many innate factors affecting social behavior are frequently to virtually all infants. For example, infants will cry when troubled, and they actively attend to and seek consideration from caregivers. Infants have dissimilarities, nevertheless, in their genetic makeups, and researchers have looked for ways in which these differences are articulated. Possibly the most extensively studied feature is temperament, which involves several components related to emotional reactivity and regulation. Infants described as having "difficult temperament" are those who are picky, become upset effortlessly and are not easily calmed. Other infants are considered inhibited-they are timid and fearful, become easily upset by intense stimuli, and are also not easily calmed. Infants with "easy temperaments" are outgoing and respond positively to social stimuli (i.e., do not show excessive fear), and are easily calmed when they do turn out to be upset. Temperament is rather steady across time and applies vigorous eliciting effects on parents' and other family members' behaviors toward the child across development..

Parenting practices also play a fundamental role in infants' social development. Specified parenting practices; such as feeding and protecting, are necessary for the infant's survival and are performed by nearly all parents. Parents vary significantly, however, in the degree to which they are nonjudgmental, are warm or rejecting, and are consistent in the course of seeking obedience. A lot of these factors are integrated into three typologies of parenting: authoritative parenting, in which parents are caring and responsive to the child, yet sustain limits on the child's behavior; authoritarian parenting, in which parents place strict rules on the child's behavior, with violation of these limits harshly punished, and in which there is little parental warmth; and permissive parenting, in which parents are warm and nurturing without placing limits on the child's behavior. There is significant evidence that authoritative parenting is associated with positive social development, whereas authoritarian and permissive parenting is associated with negative development.

These parenting styles are influential throughout development, but may be especially important in the formation of attachment security in infancy. Some may say that nearly all infants form an attachment bond to their caregivers, and this bond is evolutionarily adaptive in establishing a balance between exploring the world and seeking safety with the caregiver. There are quite important differences in infants' attachment styles, depending on the past of the caregiver availability and responsiveness. Secure attachment is related to a history of warm and consistent parenting, avoidant attachment to parental negativity and rejection, and resistant attachment to inconsistent parenting. These attachment styles influence social behavior not only with parents, but also with siblings and peers. Securely attached children are the most socially competent with others, while avoidant toddlers are hostile and aggressive, and resistant toddlers are socially inhibited in their interactions with others.

These early influences likely exert influence on further social behavior through the formation of social cognitions, or mental illustrations of the social world. Three classes of social cognitions that guide social behavior: self-efficacy is the perception of one's ability to enact a behavior (e.g., "how well am I able to maintain a conversation with a peer?"); outcome expectations are the expected consequences if one enacts a behavior (e.g., "if I converse with this boy will he want to be my friend?"); and outcome values are the values placed on the expected outcomes (e.g., "do I want him as my friend?"). The behaviors of parents and other family members shape these early social cognitions, which are further shaped by interactions with peers in childhood.
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Emotional Development

Infants that are aged roughly around the age of 5-6 months can actually pick up emotions from their careers. While they are growing and developing, they realize that the way they behave can also influence there careers emotions. Around 2 years old, they should be able to recognize the some differences of gender between a male and female.

Childhood

Physical development

From the time of a baby's birth, we eagerly wait for the day when our child will start to roll over, crawl and then walk. Unlike speech and language development, ...

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