SAMPLE Developmental Psychology

After the fetus has been born, the nervous system will continue to develop. A type of nerve cell, the neurons will begin undergoing plenty of changes. The axons, which are neural fibers that carry messages away from one neuron to another neuron, will start growing longer. The Dendrites, the neural fibers that receive messages, will multiply. The connections between the neurons will grow much stronger as the brain develops. Interestingly, when someone is born, they have approximately one hundred billion brain cells, most of which are immature. The neural connections will allow the neural cells to become much more efficient and help process more information. This will enable a child to gain more skills. The cortex is one of the body’s last parts that fully develops. It is needed to help control complex voluntary activities like emotional regulation and decision-making. Other behaviors like defecation and urination are managed by the brainstem and spinal cord reflexes.

B. Motor Skill Development Motor development is the intricate process of acquiring and honing the abilities to maneuver and control one’s body within the surrounding environment. This developmental journey unfolds from infancy through adolescence, following a general sequence where each mastered skill becomes a foundation for the next. Although individual timelines may vary, there is a general expectation for children to acquire specific skills around the same age. Many infants will learn skills without having someone teaching them. Infants learn things through observing others. Human interaction during this period of an infant’s life is vitally critical for appropriate development. It has been found that children who have been raised by parents who held them a lot or have left them in confined spaces tend to have a slower development rate than a child who is put on the floor and allowed to explore. The children who are given the opportunity will be able to learn how to walk quicker and have better stepping reflexes. The stepping reflex is a gross motor skill, a significant body movement. Fine motor skills usually refer to small body movements.

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