Development of Brain
Mesencephalon → Midbrain
- Within a few months of midfetal life, the cerebrum which begins as a small
bihemisphere organ, evolves into a deeply sulcated structure
- 5th month : sylvian, rolandic, calcarine fissure
6th and 7th month : secondary sulci
8th and 9th month : tertiary sulci
- Changes in neuronal organization are occurring in cerebral cortex and central ganglionic
masses, involved the processes of synaptogenesis and axonal path-finding.
- Neuron become more widely separated, increase in the size and complexity of dendrites
and axons, enlargement of synaptic surfaces
- 10th week : myelination of spinal nerve and roots is associated with the beginning of
reflex motor activities,followed by myelination of ascending and descending tract
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- After birth, brain continues to grow, from 375 to 400 g at birth (40 weeks), it reaches
1000 g by the end of the first postnatal year.
- Glial cells (oligodendrocytes and astrocytes) continue to divide and multiply during the
first 6 months of postnatal life
- The visual system begins myelinate about 40th gestational week, myelination proceed
rapidly and being nearly complete a few month after birth
- Corticospinal tract are not fully myelinated until halfway through the second postnatal
year. Most of the principal tracts are myelinated by the end of this period.
- In the cerebrum, the first myelin is seen at 40 weeks in the posterior frontal and parietal
lobes, and occipital lobes myelinate soon thereafter
- Myelination of anterior frontal and temporal lobes occurs later, during the first year of
postnatal life.
- By the end of second year, myelination of cerebrum is largely complete.
3. Childhood, Puberty, and Adolescence
- Growth of the brain continues, slower rate than before, until 12 to 15 years, when the
average adult weight of 1230 to 1275 g in females and 1350 to 1410 g in males,
myelination also continues slowly during this period.
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Motor Development
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Sensory Development
- The sense organs are fully formed at birth. The neonate is crudely aware of visual,
auditory,tactile, and olfactory stimuli.
- By 6 months, infant discriminates between colors, and saturated colors can be matched
at 30 months
- 2 or 3 months : perception of form, attracted more to certain patterns than to colors
- 3 months : discovered their hand and spend considerable time watching their
movement
The Development of Intelligence
- There is a steady improvement of intelligence that parallels to age
The Development of Languange
- Infant : babbling, cooing, lalling stages , then babbling become interspersed with pauses,
inflection and intonation
- 18 months : combine 1 ½ words, knows 6-20 words
2 years :2 words, knows 50-200 words
2 ½ years : 3 words
3 years : 4 words, consonant p,b,m,h,w,d,n,t,k, knows 200-400 words
4 years : consonant ng, capable to telling stories but with little distinction between fact
and fancy
5-6 years : consonant y,j,zh,wh, knows several thousand words
7 years : f.l.v,sh,ch,s,v
Sexual Development