Dr. B. Seegmiller

 
 BASIC COMPETENCIES

- What are the major developmental tasks of infancy?

- Which crises occur during infancy, according to Erikson, when does each occur, what happens in each, and how is each resolved?

- What is the relation between physical, psychological, social, and cognitive development during infancy?

- Define infancy and the neonatal period and briefly describe the neonate's appearance and capabilities.

- Discuss what is known about Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).

- Identify and describe the states that Wolff talks about.

- What are the basic temperament types? How might they affect the growing organism? How might they affect the baby's interaction with its caregivers?

-Are all cries alike?  If they are not, describe how and when they differ.

- What is the significance of the infant's crying and the effect of the caregiver's response on the newborn's crying?
Distinguish between theoretical predictions and actual occurrences, e.g., what would Freud and Skinner predict and what happens?.

- List a variety of techniques that parents use to help soothe their infants. Which are most effective?

- Describe the effects of pregnant women's drug use on their newborns.

- What are the advantages and disadvantages of schedule vs. demand feeding, breast vs. bottle feeding?

- Describe each reflex and how it is elicited. What do reflexes tell us about the baby's development?

- Define the terms norms, rate, and sequence and the significance of each for physical growth.

- Briefly discuss how distinct parts of the body grow at different rates.

- What is the significance of cerebral cortex, subcortical level, left and right hemispheres for brain development?.

- What have PET scans shown about changes in brain activity during infancy and early childhood?.

- What are the cephalocaudal and proximodistal principles of development?. Give an example of each in motor
behavior.

- List some of the rhythmical behaviors displayed by young infants. What are their role in motor development?

- Briefly describe the development of locomotion. Do not memorize when each milestone occurs.

- Briefly describe the child's development of manual skills. Do not memorize the timetable.

- What methods (e.g., habituation, visual preference, scanning, visual cliff, etc.) are used to find out about what
babies know and what their competencies are? Describe each of the methods.

- Describe the newborn and young infant's ability to see, hear, taste, smell, and feel heat, cold, pressure, pain.

- What is know about circumcision? Do most physicians recommend it? Why or why not?

- Comment on interconnections among sensory systems in infants.

COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT

- What kinds of evidence suggests newborns may be affected by prenatal experiences?

- What's the name of Piaget's first period of development, and why is it so named?

- What are the main characteristics of this period as they relate to learning and the development of cognition during
the first two years of life? What are the baby's major achievements during this period; how does the two-year-old
differ from the newborn?

- Define assimilation; accommodation; equilibration. Give an example of each of the first two in infants.

- Describe how caretakers influence children's experiences of the world, intersubjectivity and social referencing.

- Explain the effects of maternal depression of children's development.

- Explain how decrement of attention and recovery of attention can be used to some extent to predict cognitive
competence in childhood?

- Describe some tasks used in the Bailey Scales of Mental Development? What can we conclude from performance
on such tests?

- What is know about the effects of early intervention on infants who are at risk for delayed cognitive development?

-Do babies learn from observation?  Support your answer.

LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT

- Define language; discuss some of the similarities and differences between language and  cognition.

- Is language the same thing as communication?  If not, what are the major differences and similarities between language and communication.

- According to Chomsky, what are the three necessary, definitional characteristics of a language?

- Explain the functional importance of each vital contribution language makes to the human condition..

- What are the major theories of language acquisition?

- Discuss learning and interactionist theories of language acquisition; explain caretaker speech/motherese.

- Describe the innateness theory of language acquisition. Discuss some of the major inadequacies which its
proponents find with the positions of learning and interactionist theorists.

- Discuss differences and similarities between deaf children and normally hearing children in regard to language
development in the first two years.

- Explain the significance of the findings that (a) deaf infants create their own sign language if a manual language
model is not provided for them, and (b) deaf infants appear to engage in manual babbling.

- Discuss Chomsky's theory of language development, defining each of the following terms: language acquisition
device, phonemes, surface structure, deep structure, transformational grammar.

- How does birth order affect language development?

- Compare the language of young children to that of adults? In what ways are they the same? different?

- Explain the interplay of biological and environmental factors in the development of language. What kinds of things
influence language development?

- When is the best time to start learning a second language? Why?

- Define phonology, semantics, syntax.

- Describe the timing (when) and sequencing (what) of the major milestones of language development. Be able to
define terms describing language development.
 
 

PSYCHOSOCIAL DEVELOPMENT

- Define emotion and social referencing. What functions are serves by emotional reactions?

- Categorize the individual differences observed in infants regarding temperament; discuss "goodness of fit" between
infants and their families.

- Define and trace the course of infant attachment? What is indiscriminate attachment; specific attachment? What
and/or who are the objects of attachment?

- What are the functions of attachment?

- How might a researcher know an attachment exists?

- What is Ainsworth's strange situation?

- What major attachment styles did Ainsworth identify?  Be particularly familiar with the first three. How do children with different attachment styles differ?

- What relationships exist between caretaker behaviors and attachment style?

- Describe research data on the development of stranger anxiety (transient fear) and person permanence in
children

- Summarize the impact of poverty on children in the US

- Briefly describe Freud's views on development in infancy.

- Evaluate conflicting research on early parental child- rearing practices and their effects.

- Define scaffolding.

- Examine the role of the father in the development of young children.

- Compare mothers' and fathers' caretaking/caregiving behaviors.

- Describe the effects of father absence on boys and girls.

- How does multiple mothering affect children's development?

- Critically appraise the effects of daycare on young children. How do daycare- and home-reared children compare?