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Horton Week 3 look back

Chapter 3 divides prenatal development into 3 stages: germinal, embryonic, and fetal. What struck me in chapter 3 were tables 3.2 and 3.8. I learned that teratogens are any environmental agents, like smoking cigarettes or drinking alcohol during pregnancy or exposure to infectious diseases,  that create developmental risks to an embryo or fetus. Exposure to teratogens lead to abnormal birth defects such as cognitive deficiencies, neurological problems, and even death. Figure 3.8 shows that during the embryonic period (3-8 weeks when the heart, ears, and eyes form) a fetus is most susceptible to teratogens. 

In chapter 4, I learned that a newborn child is also known as a neonate. Neonates exhibit their development through their sensory perception and reflex responses to stimuli. Sensory competencies such as: vision, smell, taste, hearing, and touch play an important role in how an infant gains information about the world and grows physically, cognitively, and emotionally. We are able to gauge early behaviors and responses based on a neurological assessment specifically designed for newborns known as the Apgar Scale. 


Chapter 5 outlines the importance of the infancy period to our physical development. During the infancy period a newborns’ brains and motor skills develop. Infants are able to perceive depth, patterns, movements, sounds, and colors during infancy. Relationships and attachments are necessary and important components to psychosocial development. Here children are categorized based on their level of attachment to their mothers. Working in special ed, it is interesting for me to see my students level of separation from their mothers in relation to their independence level in the classroom. 

Comments

  1. Jay RamadanSeptember 11, 2018 at 2:38 PM

    Thomas,

    I just wanted to say that I love the format and setup of your blog! I'm definitely gonna take some notes for future blogs. As someone who works in special ed, what kind of differences do you see in the independence level of your students in contrast to the typical development scale?

    ReplyDelete
  2. KRiddleSeptember 12, 2018 at 10:18 AM

    Hey Tommy,
    Thanks for your blog entry. Or should I say, excellent text outline. How did this weeks reading leaving you thinking in regards to some of the learning disabilities that our students face? Do you feel better equipped to deal with even those every blue moon situations?

    ReplyDelete

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