Teacher Education

Obenza Street, Island Garden City of Samal

Davao del Norte

BIG PICTURE C

Big Picture in Focus: ULO b. Draw implications of the physical,

cognitive, and socio-emotional development concepts to
childcare, education, and parenting.

Metalanguage
The most essential terms below are operationally defined for you to have a better
understanding of this section in the course.
1. Cephalocaudal trend is the postnatal growth from conception to 5 months when the
head grows more than the body.
2. Proximodistal trend is the pre-natal growth from the 5 months to birth when the
fetus grows from the inside of the body outwards.
3. Myelination or myelinization, the process by which the axons are covered and
insulated by layers of fat cells, begins prenatally, and continues after birth.
4. Reflex is an involuntary and nearly instantaneous movement in response to a
stimulus.
5. Gross motor skills involve large muscle groups and are generally broader and more
energetic than fine motor movements.
6. Fine motor skills involve a refined use of the small muscles controlling the hand,
fingers, and thumb.
7. Temperament is an individual's characteristic level of emotional excitability or
intensity and is typically recognized within the first few weeks after birth.

Essential Knowledge
We have just traced the developmental process before birth. We shall continue to
trace the developmental process by following the infant or the baby who is just born up to
when he reaches age 2. The period that comes after pre-natal or antenatal stage is infancy
which, in turn, is followed by toddlerhood. Infancy and toddlerhood span the first two years of
life.

PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT OF INFANTS AND TODDLERS

Cephalocaudal and Proximodistal Patterns

• Cephalocaudal Trend. This cephalocaudal trend of growth that applies to the
development of the fetus also applies in the first month after birth. Infants learn to use
their upper limbs before their lower limbs. The same pattern occurs in the head area
because the top parts of the head – the eyes and the brain – grow faster than the
lower parts, such as the jaw.

1
 Teacher Education
Obenza Street, Island Garden City of Samal
Davao del Norte

• Proximodistal Trend. This also applies in the first month after birth, as shown in the
earlier maturation of muscular control of the trunk and arms, followed by the hands
and fingers. The proximodistal trend refers to the development of motor skills from
the center of the body outward when referring to motor development.

Height and Weight

• It’s normal for newborn babies to drop 5-10 percent of their body weight within a
couple of weeks of birth. That is due to the baby’s adjustment to neonatal feeding.
Once they adjust to sucking, swallowing, and digesting, they grow rapidly.
• Breastfed babies are typically heavier than bottle-fed babies through the first six
months. After six months, breastfed babies usually weigh less than bottle-fed babies.
• In general, an infant’s length increases by about 30 percent in the first five months.
• A baby’s weight usually triples during the first year but slows down in the second year
of life.
• Low percentages are not a cause for alarm as long as infants progress along a
natural curve of steady development.

Brain Development
• Among the most dramatic changes in the brain in the first two years of life are the
spreading connections of dendrites to each other.
• At birth, the newborn’s brain is about 25 percent of its adult weight. By the second
birthday, the brain is about 75% of its adult weight.
• Shortly after birth, a baby’s brain produces trillions of more connections between
neurons than it can possibly use. The brain eliminates connections that are seldom
or never used (Santrock, 2002). The infant’s brain is literally waiting for experiences
to determine how connections are made.
• Enriching the lives of infants who live in impoverished environments can produce
positive changes in their development (Santrock, 2002).
• Depressed brain activity has been found in children who grew up in a depressed
environment (Circhetti, 2001, cited by Santrock, 2002).

Motor Development
Along this aspect of motor development, infants and toddlers begin from reflexes, to
gross motor skills and fine motor skills.
Reflexes
• The newborn has some basic reflexes that are automatic and serve as survival
mechanisms before they have the opportunity to learn. Many reflexes present at birth
will generally subside within a few months as the baby grows and matures.
• There are many different reflexes. Some of the most common reflexes that babies
have are:

2
 Teacher Education
Obenza Street, Island Garden City of Samal
Davao del Norte

o Sucking Reflex: The sucking reflex is initiated when something touches the roof
of an infant's mouth. Infants have a strong sucking reflex which helps to ensure
they can latch onto a bottle or breast. The sucking reflex is very strong in some
infants, and they may need to suck on a pacifier for comfort.
o Rooting Reflex: The rooting reflex is most evident when an infant's cheek is
stroked. The baby responds by turning his or her head in the direction of the
touch and opening their mouth for feeding.
o Gripping Reflex: Babies will grasp anything that is placed in their palms. The
strength of this grip is strong, and most babies can support their entire weight in
their grip.
o Curling Reflex: When the inner sole of a baby's foot is stroked, the infant
responds by curling his or her toes. When the outer sole of a baby's foot is
stroked, the infant will respond by spreading out its toes.
o Startle/Moro Reflex: Infants will respond to sudden sounds or movements by
throwing their arms and legs out and throwing their heads back. Most infants will
usually cry when startled and proceed to pull their limbs back into their bodies.
o Galant Reflex: The Galant reflex is shown when an infant's middle or lower back
is stroked next to the spinal cord. The baby will respond by curving his or her
body toward the side which is being stroked.
o Tonic Neck Reflex: The tonic neck reflex is demonstrated in infants who are
placed on their abdomens. Whichever side the child's head is facing, the limbs on
that side will straighten, while the opposite limbs will curl.
Gross Motor Skills
• It is always a source of excitement for parents to witness dramatic changes in the
infant's first year of life. This dramatic motor development is shown in babies unable
to even lift their heads to being able to grab things out the cabinet, to chase the ball
and to walk away from parent.
Fine Motor Skills
• The development of these skills allows one to complete tasks such as writing,
drawing, and buttoning.
• The ability to exhibit fine motor skills involves activities that involve precise eye-hand
coordination. The development of reaching and grasping becomes more refined
during the first two years of life. Initially, infants show only crude shoulder and elbow
movements, but later they show wrist movements, hand rotation, and coordination of
the thumb and forefinger.

Sensory and Perceptual Development

The newborn senses the world into which he/she is born through his/her senses of
vision, hearing, touch, taste, and smell. Ideally, as he/she advances physically his/her
sensory and perceptual abilities also develop.

3
 Teacher Education
Obenza Street, Island Garden City of Samal
Davao del Norte

What are some research findings regarding newborns Visual perceptions? Can
newborns, see?
• The newborn's vision is about 10 to 30 times lower than normal adult vision. By six
months of age, vision becomes better, and by the first birthday, the infant's vision
approximates that of an adult. (Banks & Salapatek, 1983 cited by Santrock,2002)
• Infants look at different things for different lengths of time. In an experiment
conducted by Robert Fantz (1963 cited by Santrock, 2002), it was found out that
infants preferred to look at patterns such as faces and concentric circles rather than a
color or brightness. Based on these results, it is likely that pattern perception has an
innate basis (Santrock,2002). The first few things that babies learn to recognize is
their mother's face, as the mother feeds and nurses them.
Can newborns hear?
• The sense of hearing in an infant develops much before the birth of the baby. When
in the womb, the baby hears his/her mother's heartbeat and the grumbling of his/her
stomach. The mother's voice and music. How soothing it must have been for you to
listen to your mother's lullaby.
• Infants' sensory thresholds are somewhat higher than those of adults, which means
that stimulus must be louder to be heard by a newborn than by an adult.
Can newborns differentiate odors?
• In an experiment conducted by MacFarlane (1975), "young infants who were
breastfed showed a clear preference for smelling their mother's breast pad when
they were six days old. This preference did not show when the babies were only two
days old. This shows that it requires several days of experience to recognize their
mother's breast pad odor."
Can newborns feel pain? Do they respond to touch?
• They do feel pain. Newborn males show a higher level of cortisol (an indicator of
stress) after circumcision than prior to the surgery (Taddio, et al, 1997 cited by
Santrock, 2002).
• Babies respond to touch. In the earlier part of this module on motor development,
you learned that a newborn automatically sucks an object placed in his/her mouth, or
a touch of the cheek makes the newborn turn his/her head toward the side that was
touched in an apparent effort to find something to suck.
Can newborns distinguish the different tastes?
• In a study conducted with babies only two hours old, babies made different facial
expressions when they tasted sweet, sour, and bitter solutions (Rosentein and
Oster,1988, cited by Santrock.2002)
• When saccharin was added to the amniotic fluid of a near-term fetus, increased
swallowing was observed.
• This indicates that sensitivity to taste might be present before birth.

4
 Teacher Education
Obenza Street, Island Garden City of Samal
Davao del Norte

Do infants relate information through several senses? In short, are infants capable of
intermodal perception?
• Intermodal perception is the ability to relate, connect and integrate information about
two or more sensory modalities such as vision and hearing.
• In a study conducted by Spelke and Owsley (1979), it was found out that as early as
at 3 ½ months old, infants looked more at their mother when they also heard her
voice and long at their father when they also heard his voice.
• This capacity for intermodal perception or the ability to connect information coming
through various modes gets sharpened considerably through experience.

COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT OF INFANTS AND TODDLERS

Sensorimotor stage
• An analysis of the 6 substages of the sensorimotor stage of Piaget's cognitive
development shows that development begins from reflexive behaviors to more
refined and more coordinated activities. Cognitive development of infants evolves in
orientation from becoming focused on themselves to becoming object or world-
oriented, from one that is action-based to one that is mentally based, from one
that does not involve much of coordination of schemes to one involving
intentionality, novelty and curiosity and from a thinking that is purely
sensorimotor to a symbolic one.
• Piaget's substages are termed circular because the adaptive behavior to the world
involves repeated actions. Circular reactions are attempts to repeat an event that the
baby likes. Circular reactions serve as the building blocks for intelligence (Pasek, P.,
and Golinkoff R, 2003).
• Primary circular reactions are oriented toward the infant's own body, whereas
secondary circular reactions are aimed toward the environment including others.
Here is an example of a primary circular reaction:
At first, by accident, the baby gets her thumb in her mouth. But she doesn't know
how to do it again. She waves her hand around and after many attempts, eventually
succeeds in doing it again. Gradually, she learns how to do it at will (Pasek. K., and
R., Golinkoff, 2003).
• Secondary circular reactions are repetitive actions that involve recreating events
which 4–10-month-old babies observe outside of their own bodies, such as making
their mobile crib shake by kicking their legs (Pasek, K and R. Golinkoff, 2003).
• Tertiary circular reactions, seen from approximately 10 to 18 months, is when a
baby does things over and over again. Just a little differently each time. e.g., When a
baby seems to enjoy dropping the spoon over and over again in any different ways, a
proof of the creation of novel variations in events Piaget described the baby at this
stage as "the scientist". When parents don't understand their child's behavior, they
see this act as abusive and get frustrated.

5
 Teacher Education
Obenza Street, Island Garden City of Samal
Davao del Norte

• From dropping the spoon many times in many different ways, the baby discovers a
pattern "objects fall down not up". They create the patterns with their repetitive
actions and then evaluate them. Babies are born pattern seekers (Pasek, K and R.
Golinkoff, 2003).
• Acquiring the sense of object permanence is one of the infant's most important
accomplishments, according to Piaget. “Object permanence is the understanding that
objects continue to exist even when the objects are not immediately perceptible
through the senses. Before the infant's acquisition of the sense of object
permanence, the principle that applies is "out of sight, out of mind”.

Learning and Remembering

Do infants learn and remember?
Yes! Pavlov's classical conditioning and Skinner's operant conditioning have been
proven to apply to infants.
All of us experience infantile amnesia, the inability to recall events that happened
when we were very young (Spear, 1979). Generally, we can remember little or nothing that
has happened to us before the age of about 5 years, and it is extremely rare for someone to
recall many memories before age 3 years. Reports of childhood memories usually involve
memories of significant events (e.g., birth of a sibling or the death of a parent; Fivush and
Hammond, 1991). For example, some adults have recalled their own hospitalization or the
birth of a sibling as far as back as age 3 years (Usher and Neisser, 1993).

Language Development
From day one, infants appear to be programmed to tune in to their linguistic
environment with the specific goal of acquiring language. Infants clearly have remarkably
acute language learning abilities even from an early age (Marcus, Vijayan, Bandi Rao and
Vishton, 1999; Pinker, 1997, 1999 cited by Sternberg, Robert, 2003).
Within the first years of life, we humans seem to progress through the following
stages in producing language (Sternberg, 2005):
1. Cooing, which comprises largely vowel sounds
2. Babbling, which comprises consonant as well as vowel sounds; to most people's
ears, the babbling of infants growing up among speakers from different language
groups sounds very similar
3. One-word utterances, these utterances are limited in both the vowels and the
consonants they utilize (Ingram, 1999 cited by Sternberg, 2003)
4. Two-word utterances and telegraphic speech
5. Basic adult sentence structure (present by about age 4 years) with continuing
vocabulary acquisition.

6
 Teacher Education
Obenza Street, Island Garden City of Samal
Davao del Norte

The infant utters his/her first word- followed by one or two more, and soon after, yet a
few more. The infant uses these one-word utterances termed holophrases-to convey
intentions, desires, and demands. Usually, the words ae nouns describing familiar objects
that the child observes (e.g., book, ball, baby) or wants (e.g., Mama. Dada).
By 18 months of age, children typically have vocabularies of 3 to 100 words (Siegler,
1986). Because the young child's vocabulary is very limited at this point in the development
process, the child overextends the meaning of words in his/her existing lexicon to cover
things and Ideas for which a new word is lacking. For example, the general term for any kind
of four-legged animal may be "doggie". In linguistics this is called overextension error.
Gradually between 1.5 and 2.5 years of age, children start combining single words to
produce two-word utterances. These two-word or three-word utterances with rudimentary
syntax but with articles and prepositions missing are referred to as telegraphic speech.
Vocabulary expands rapidly, more than tripling from about 300 words at about 2
years of age to about 1,000 words at about 3 years of age. At about 4 years, incredibly
children acquire the foundations of adult syntax and language structure (Sternberg, 2003).
It is clear that no toddler blossoms all of a sudden into one capable of telegraphic
speech. As the 5 stages above show, the acquisition of language comes in stages beginning
with cooing, then babbling to one-word utterances, to two- or three-word utterances or even
more but without articles and prepositions thus called telegraphic speech.

Language Acquisition Device (LAD)

Noam Chomsky (1965, 1972), noted linguist, claims that humans have an innate
language acquisition device (LAD). This LAD is a "metaphorical organ that is responsible
for language learning. Just as a heart is designed to pump blood this language acquisition
devices preprogrammed to learn language, whatever the language community children find
themselves in.”
This means that we, humans seem to be biologically preconfigured to be ready to
acquire language. Indeed, children seem to have a knack for acquiring an implicit
understanding of the many rules of language structure, as well as for applying those rules to
new vocabulary and new contexts. This may partly explain why children are said to learn
language fast.
Professor Laura-Ann Petito of Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire and
her colleagues conducted a recent study that concluded that "by 5 months of age, babies
are already specializing by using the left side of their brains for language sounds and the
right side for expression emotion… We all speak out from the right side of our mouths...
Babies babble out from the right side of their mouths.
The right side of the body is controlled by the left side of the brain while the left side
of the body is controlled by the right side of the brain (connections in the brain are
contralateral or crossed). Babies use the right side of their mouths for babbling, then
babbling is language function controlled by the left side of the brain.

7
 Teacher Education
Obenza Street, Island Garden City of Samal
Davao del Norte

SOCIO-EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT OF INFANTS AND TODDLERS

Much has been said about the importance of the first three years in human
development. They are so-called the formative years that is why, parents and other
caregivers at this stage of human development play a significant role in the development of
infants and toddlers.
Attachment
• For healthy socio-emotional development, the infant needs to establish an enduring
emotional bond characterized by a tendency to seek and maintain closeness to a
specific figure, particularly during stressful situation. This is the social phenomenon of
attachment.
• According to Dr. John Bowly, the father of attachment theory, the beginnings of
attachment occur within the first 6 months of baby's life with a variety of built-in
signals that baby uses to keep her caregiver engaged. The baby cries, gazes into her
mother's eyes, smiles, etc. the next few months, the baby develops in her degree of
attachment to her parents. She smiles more freely at them than at any stranger
whom she seldom sees.
• The key to a good start in the social development of the baby is a lot of responsive
interaction with the baby (K. Pasek and R. Golinkoff, 2003). Babies thrive on social
interaction when it is in response to their social bids. Babies seem to let us know
when they want to interact or not. The timing of the caregiver's response to the baby
is important.
• Other relevant and interesting research findings cited by K. Pasek and R.
Golinkoff, 2003 in their book “Einstein Never Used Classcards” are given below:
o What is absolutely central to babies’ emotional well-being is not so much
feeling but the consistent involvement of caregivers. Being fed by your mother
is not what attached you to her. It is consistent, close nurturing that matters in
early relationships.
o Children who have good attachment relationships as infants make better
adjustments in a number of areas in future life. But remember, having a good
attachment in infancy gives you a great start but can’t carry you through life.
You have to be treated sensitively and responsibly as you grow up if you are
to develop favorably.
o Infants attach to more than one caregiver, and they are developing emotional
relationships with multiple caregivers at once.
o Even when children are in childcare for more than 30 hours per week, the
family contributes more to child’s social and cognitive well-being than does
the childcare arrangement. Parents matter and children are attached to
parents even when children are in childcare.
o Parents and caregivers help children regulate their emotions by working with
them and by serving as their models.

8
 Teacher Education
Obenza Street, Island Garden City of Samal
Davao del Norte

Temperament
• Another factor related to the infant's socio-emotional development is temperament.
Temperament is a word that "captures the ways people differ, even at birth, in such
things as their emotional reactions, activity level, attention span, persistence, and
ability to regulate their emotions" (K. Pasek and R. Golinkof, 2003). Every baby
expresses personality traits we call temperament. How a child responds emotionally
to objects, events, and people is a reflection of his individual temperament.
• Researchers Thomas, Chess, and Birch described nine different temperament
categories (Honig, 2010, Secure Relationships: Nurturing Infant-Toddler Attachments
in Early Care Settings.)
This includes:
1. Activity level
2. Mood
3. Threshold for distress
4. Rhythmicity
5. Intensity of response
6. Approach-Withdrawal
7. Distractibility
8. Adaptability
9. Persistence
• To determine a child's temperament, make the following observations:
1. Activity level. Some babies are placid or inactive. Other babies thrash about a
lot and, as toddlers, are always on the move. At this stage, they must be
watched carefully.
2. The mood. Some babies are very smiley and cheerful. Although securely
attached emotionally to their teachers, others have a low-key mood and look
more solemn or unhappy.
3. Child's threshold for distress. Some babies are very sensitive. They become
upset very easily when stressed. Other babies can more comfortably wait when
they need a feeding or some attention.
4. The rhythmicity of children. Some babies get hungry or sleepy on a regular
and predictable basis. Other babies sleep at varying times, urinate, or have
bowel movements at unpredictable times, and get hungry at different times.
They are hard to put on a “schedule."
5. The intensity of response in each baby. When a baby's threshold for distress
has been reached, some babies act restless. Others act cranky or fret just a
little. Still others cry with terrific intensity or howl with despair when they are
stressed. They shriek with delight and respond with high energy when reacting
to happy or challenging situations.
6. Approach to new situations. Some infants are very cautious. They are wary
and fearful of new teachers, being placed in a different crib, or being taken to

9
 Teacher Education
Obenza Street, Island Garden City of Samal
Davao del Norte

visit a new setting. Other infants approach new persons, new activities, or new
play possibilities with zest and enjoyment.
7. Distraction. Some children can concentrate on a toy regardless of surrounding
bustle or noise in a room. Others are easily distracted.
8. Adaptability of each child. Some children react to strange or difficult situations
with distress but recover fairly rapidly. Others adjust to new situations with
difficulty or after a very long period.
9. Child's attention span. Some children have a long attention span. They
continue with an activity for a fairly long time. Others flit from one activity to
another.
• Based on these temperament traits, psychiatrists Alexander Thomas and Stella
Chess studied babies temperament and clustered temperaments into 3 basic types
1) the easy child; 2) the difficult child; and 3) the slow-to-warm-up child and
those that did not fall under any of the 3 basic types. The "easy child" easily readily
establishes regular routines, is generally cheerful, and adapts readily to new
experiences. The "difficult child" is irregular in daily routines, is slow to accept new
experiences and tends to react negatively and intensely to new things while the
"slow-to warm-up-child" shows mild, low-key reactions to environmental changes, is
negative in mood, and adjusts slowly to new experiences.

The Development of Emotions

Here are the milestones of the baby and the toddler's emotional development and
social development:
Early infancy (birth-six months)
• It is not clear whether infants actually experience emotions, or if adults, using adult
facial expressions as the standard, simply superimpose their own understanding of
the meaning of infant facial expressions.
• Between six and ten weeks, a social smile emerges, usually accompanied by other
pleasure-indicative actions and sounds including cooing and mouthing. This social
smile occurs in response to adult smiles and interactions.
• As infants become more aware of their environment, smiling occurs in response to a
wider variety of contexts. They may smile when they, see a toy they have previously
enjoyed. Laughter, which begins at around three or four months, requires a level of
cognitive development because it demonstrates that the child can recognize
incongruity. That 15, laughter is usually elicited by actions that deviate from the norm,
such as being kissed on the abdomen or a caregiver playing peek-a-boo. Because it
fosters reciprocal interactions with others. laughter promotes social development.
Later infancy months (7-12)
• During the last half of the first-year infants begin expressing fear, disgust, and anger
because of the maturation of cognitive abilities. Anger often expressed by crying is a

10
 Teacher Education
Obenza Street, Island Garden City of Samal
Davao del Norte

frequent emotion expressed by infants. Although some infants respond to distressing

events with sadness, anger is more common.
• Fear also emerges during this stage as children become able to compare an
unfamiliar event with what they know. Unfamiliar situations or objects often elicit fear
responses in infants. One of the most common is the presence of an adult stranger, a
fear that begins to appear at about seven months. A second fear of this stage is
called separation anxiety. Infants seven to twelve months old may cry in fear if the
mother or caregiver leaves them in an unfamiliar place.
• Socialization of emotion begins in infancy. It is thought that this process is significant
in the infant's acquisition of cultural and social codes for emotional display. teaching
them how to express their emotions, and the degree of acceptability associated with
different types of emotional behaviors.
• Another process that emerges during this stage is social referencing. Infants begin
to recognize the emotions of others and use this information when reacting to novel
situations and people. As infants explore their world, they generally rely on the
emotional expressions of their mothers or caregivers to determine the safety or
appropriateness of a particular endeavor.
Toddlerhood years (1-2)
During the second year, infants express emotions of shame or embarrassment, and pride.
These emotions mature in all children and adults contribute to their development.

Emotional Understanding
• During this stage of development, toddlers acquire language and are learning to
verbally express their feelings. This ability rudimentary as it is during early
toddlerhood, is the first step in the development of emotional self-regulation skills. In
infancy, children largely rely on adults to help them regulate their emotional states. If
they are uncomfortable, they may be able to communicate this state by crying. but
have little hope of alleviating the discomfort on their own.
• In toddlerhood, however, children begin to develop skills to regulate emotions with
the emergence of language providing an important tool to assist in this process.
Being able to articulate an emotional state in itself has a regulatory effect in that it
enables children to communicate their feelings to a person capable of helping them
manage their emotional state, Speech also enables children to self-regulate, using
soothing language to talk themselves through difficult situations.
• Empathy, a complex emotional response to a situation, also appears in toddlerhood,
usually by age two. he development of empathy requires that children read others
emotional cues, understand that other people are entities distinct from themselves,
and take the perspective of another person (put themselves in the position of
another).

11
 Teacher Education
Obenza Street, Island Garden City of Samal
Davao del Norte

Erikson's Psychosocial theory

The first two stages (of the 8 stages of a person's psychosocial development) apply
at the periods of infancy and toddlerhood, that is why they are discussed below:
Hope: Trust vs. Mistrust (Infants, 0 to 1 year)
Psychosocial Crisis: Trust vs. Mistrust
Virtue: Hope
The first stage of Erik Erikson's centers around the infants’ basic needs being met by
the parents. The infant depends on the parents, especially the mother, for food, sustenance,
and comfort. The child's relative understanding of world and society come from the parents
and their interaction with the child. If the parents expose the child to warmth, regularity. and
dependable affection, the infant's view of the world will be one of trust. Should the parents
fail to provide a secure environment and to meet the child's basic need a sense of mistrust
will result. According to Erik Erikson, the major developmental task in infancy is to learn
whether or not other people, especially primary caregivers regularly satisfy basic needs. If
caregivers are consistent sources of food, comfort, and affection, an infant learns trust – that
others are dependable and reliable. If they are neglectful, or perhaps even abusive, the
infant instead learns mistrust- that the world is in an undependable, unpredictable, and
possibly dangerous place.
Will: Autonomy vs. Shame & Doubt (Toddlers, 2 to 3 years)
Psychosocial Crisis: Autonomy vs. Shame & Doubt
Main Question: "Can do things myself or must I always rely on others?"
Virtue: Will
As the child gains control over eliminative functions and motor abilities, they begin to
explore their surroundings. The parents still provide a strong base of security from which the
child can venture out to assert their will. The parents’ patience and encouragement help
foster autonomy in the child. Highly restrictive parents, however, are more likely to instill the
child with a sense of doubt and reluctance to attempt new challenges.
As they gain increased muscular coordination and mobility, toddlers become capable
of satisfying some of their own needs. They begin to feed themselves, wash and dress
themselves, and use the bathroom. If caregivers encourage self-sufficient behavior, toddlers
develop a sense of autonomy- a sense of being able to handle many problems on their own.
But if caregivers demand too much too soon, refuse to let children perform tasks of which
they are capable, or ridicule early attempts at self-sufficiency, children may instead develop
shame and doubt about their ability to handle problems.

Self-Help: You can also refer to the sources below to help you
further understand the lesson:

Corpuz, B. B., Lucas, M.D., Borabo, H. L., and Lucido, P. I. (2018). The Child and
Adolescent Learners and Learning Principles: Quezon City: Lorimar Publishing Inc.

12