Child Physical Development

Child Physical Development

PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT INTRODUCTION

Infants
Physical development in babies generally starts from head to toe and the time in which baby learns to control his muscles may differ. Below is listed an overall idea of what physical skills the infants may gain during their first year:
They cannot look around as their heads are wobbly as the muscles of their necks are still not strong to hold their head properly. They also do random movements of arms and legs. When infants are about three to four months old, they start to learn to hold up their heads and also use their arms to grab their favorite toys. When infant is lied on their back, adult can dangle things above them and they will try to catch the things. Slowly they learn to use the upper part of their body. Within four to six months, they start trying to turn their body side to side. Within seven to eleven months, most infants start crawling and learn to coordinate the movements of their arms and legs, however some babies may never crawl. They directly move on from sitting to standing and walking. Moreover, within twelve to fourteen months, most babies start practicing getting up and to walk. They use walls and adults help as support. At fifteen months, babies even can walk alone with broad based and high stepping gait. They even start to climb and finally at eighteen months, they walk well without assistance and support with feet close together and with some flow of movement in their arms. They push and pull wheeled toys, trolleys. First signs of hand dominance may start to appear and they can hold a crayon like a dagger (palmer grasp) and scribbles.
Toddlers
Gross motor skills really improve over the year as two years olds strength and coordination clearly increase. They are able to jump with two feet together, hold on and walk upstairs with two feet to each step quite confidently. They also can turn pages of a book singularly. When they are two and a half years old they are able to hold a pencil...

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