Newborn's Reflects Essay

Soon after birth, infants are accessed by behaviors such as motor, reflexes, adaptation, and responsiveness. Newborn’s reflexes are their involuntary and automatic respond to a stimulus and are basic for survival. For example, the rooting reflex is when the baby turns its head toward the direction of a stimulus to the cheek. This reflex facilitates the sucking reflex in order for the newborn to receive nutrients. Another sensory stimulation is bright lights which will cause the eye-blink reflex. Most of the reflexes are important to test for neural function because the absence of a reflex could indicate brain damage, immaturity, or slow responsiveness. Another important milestone in newborns is the progression through the six states of sleep
cycles. As infants mature, these patterns become more regular. Infants are born with sensory capabilities which provide developmental progress. Newborns vision is the least developed sense since at birth they can only see objects that are 8 to 10 inches away.
By 4 months, infants can see most colors and can distinguish depth perception. Newborns hearing has been working since in the womb. They are able to detect voices, especially mother’s voice and can distinguish phonemes. Newborns can discriminate smells and tastes as early as birth by showing positive reactions toward preferred odors and tastes. Newborns are sensitive to touch and skin to skin contact has proven to promote developmental progress, provide comfort, and assist in bonds of attachment. Children make significant changes in physical growth, cognitive development, and motor skills in the first year of life. These developmental milestones can be enhanced by parents to improve a healthy development. A lack of development in any of the milestones can be a red flag to the parent. I really enjoyed Taylor, Christina, and Heather’s presentation because it great visual PowerPoint and the videos of Connor were actual evidence of the developmental milestones discussed. They presented the information in a developmental order which made it easy to follow. I believe Heather was more familiar with the information because of her real life experience with her
nephew.
Of the three case presentations, I was most intrigued by Sara’s focus child, Jordan. He is a 5-year-old boy who attends an early childhood center preschool. He is there for the majority of the day from 9:00am until 5:30pm. During nap time, Jordan does not like to sleep and prefers to make noise in order to wake up the other children. He also has a blanket that he likes to chew on. This could lead to a teeth issue such as an overbite, it could serve as a comfort or security blanket, or it could just be a normal habit that he hasn’t broken yet. Jordan is described in “Ds”: distracted, disruptive, delayed, and deficient. I do not agree with the teacher’s description of him being delayed if he is able to add, multiply, and make intricate designs with shape tiles at a young age. I am concerned about his social interactions since he walks alone in the play yard and is not easily accepted by other children. I would be curious to find out the results of an IEP and would recommend that rather than going to a speech therapist, he should be seen by a behaviorist instead.