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Essay The First Two Years of Life

Decent Essays

Human Growth and Development
10-11-12

The First Two Years

The first two years after birth, through the developing person has to do with three domains biosocial, cognitive and psychosocial. There are many different theories regarding the first two years. The three most influential works on growth and development was done by Piaget, Freud and Erikson. Piaget’s theory was called cognitive development or the sensorimotor stage. This is when the child interacts with his surroundings through physical action such as pushing, sucking, grabbing, etc. Freud’s theory of development is psychosexual. He proposed three stages in psychosexual development: oral, anal, phallic. Erikson’s theory is psychosocial. From birth until about one and a …show more content…

By age two the brain has developed to two-thirds of what it will weigh by adulthood and has increased to five times the density it was at birth. What began as involuntary movement and reflexes at birth, by 6 months have become voluntary movements. By 2 years the fine motor skills are beginning to develop. Gross motor skills involve the large muscles of the body that enable such functions as crawling, kicking, sitting upright and rolling over. It is a little harder for an infant to walk because they are top heavy and their thighs are too big to support their little feet. Most infants, starting at nine months begins to learn how to walk. Fine motor skills are necessary to engage in smaller, more precise movements, normally using the hands and fingers. Fine motor skills are different than gross motor skills which require less precision to perform. This is the child's ability to use small muscles, specifically their hands and fingers, to pick up small objects, hold a spoon, turn pages in a book, or use a crayon to draw.
Jean Piaget was a Swiss biologist, philosopher, and psychologist best known for his work in the area of developmental psychology. Even though he divided cognitive growth and development into fixed stages we are focusing on the first two years. His first two years was described as the sensorimotor stage. This is when the child is interacting through physical actions such as sucking,

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