Читать книгу Infants and Children in Context - Tara L. Kuther - Страница 251

Theo pushes into a crawling position onto all fours and rocks back and forth. Theo will soon crawl, about 2 months later than the other babies in the child care center. Much smaller than his peers, Theo is new to the child care center, recently adopted from an overcrowded orphanage in a developing country. At first tiny Theo didn’t eat much. The adults around him worried about his poor eating habits and lack of growth. Soon, however, Theo became comfortable in his new, affectionate and nurturing home and he began to grow quickly.

1 What are patterns of normative growth in infancy? What are influences on growth and how might they explain Theo’s development?

2 How do motor skills unfold during infancy? Should Theo’s parents worry about his progress? Why or why not?

3 Theo’s mother worries about how his early experiences of deprivation might influence Theo’s brain development. Discuss processes of brain development and the role of experience in development. Should Theo’s mother worry? What can she do to help Theo?