PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT

During the first 24 months, the physical Development of the average child makes considerable gains in height and weight, begins teething, develops sensory discrimination, and begins to walk and talk.

Sensory acuity develops rapidly during the first three months of life. Research shows that newborns are capable of visual and auditory discrimination. By two days after birth infants can discriminate odors. Infants react to loud noises, and they probably possess taste discrimination. Within three months they can distinguish color and form; they show a preference for complex and novel stimuli as opposed to simple and familiar stimuli.

Newborns perform motor movements, many of which are reflexive. Soon after birth they gain voluntary control of movements. The major stages of locomotion are crawling (propulsion using arms only), creeping (propulsion on hands and knees), and walking. The average infant walks between 13 and 15 months of age.

Normal infants possess neurological systems that detect and store speech sounds, permit reproduction of these sounds, and eventually produce language. Infants utter all known speech sounds, but retain only those heard regularly. Wordlike sounds occur at 12 months and have meaning at about 18 months. One- and two-word sentences are used to convey meaning. Early words generally include naming objects and describing actions, for example, “fall floor.” Acquisition of complex language after 18 months is very rapid.