Monday, February 15, 2010

Question 5- Due before Class Feb. 23

Which sense seems the most important for a baby to have to promote survival and promote interaction with others?

17 comments:

  1. I believe sound is the most important for a baby to promote interactions with others. It's through hearing that they are able to speak, someday. I believe he needs to hear his mother's voice, the comforting sounds, and conversations, the reading of books, music, etc. Of course, babies deaf at birth go on to lead normal lives with the aid of others and sometimes surgery and devices. But, I think that in the idea of promoting interaction with others - it's sound that enables a baby to mock what he hears and develop speech patterns. Speech is a very important part of interaction with others - although I know they can learn sign language. But not very many people in general know sign language. As far as survival, I believe that deaf people have better sensory perceptions than someone who can see but cannot hear.
    Tracy Dowell

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  2. I would have to agree that the most important sense of a baby would be its hearing. The most important aspect of life is communication, and hearing directly develops a babies hearing. This is one reason why most states require a baby to have a hearing screen before they leave the hospital. Early detection is key whenever there is something wrong A baby should respond, to voices, move legs and arms when startled, cry upon hearing loud noises up to six months. At 7-12 months a baby should look when someone says the babies name, respond to want more or come here, and point at objects such as "bottle".

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  3. In reality, all the senses are very important. I agree that communication is the root to success in everything in life, whether it is family, friendship, marriage, career success. Tracy and Jared both mention that hearing is the most important. Yes, babies try and mimic everything, but I think the gift of sight is a the most important. If a baby doesn't have sight, it will limit everything they do in their life. Babies and children mimic virtually every action that they see demonstrated before their eyes. There are far more dangers in this world to a person that can't see. A baby can get used to hearing a parent coming to their aid, but it is actually what they see coming is what calms them.

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  4. Unlike the sense of smell and taste, which are well-developed at birth, hearing and vision develop throughout infancy. Therefore, exposing babies to sounds is important for hearing development because the conversations babies hear help them develop their language skills. As newborns, infants are attracted to light and dark contrasts, and the human face contains such contrasts, making it important for parents to have face-to face contact with their babies.

    In response to the previous posts, I would agree that vision and hearing are both important for communication when the infant is older. But because the senses of hearing and vision are not as well developed during infancy, I think the most important sense is touch. Depending on how an infant is touched, there can be positive or negative effects on development. The sense of touch during infancy can have effects on a baby's attachment to its parent as well as its cognitive and immunological development. An infant who is not held by its parent often enough may not develop that connection with its caretaker. Infants can also sometimes be soothed from gentle strokes on the back or by being held close by a caretaker.

    Source Used: (http://www.udel.edu/bateman/acei/it.vol.16.1%20infantsenses.htm).

    Ashley DeLuka

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  5. I agree with Adam. You can survive a whole lot better without hearing than without your eyesight.Although I do think that both are very important to survival and interaction

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  6. I understand the importance of sight and hearing for infant survival, and agree with many of the reasons stated in previous posts. However, I believe that touch is the most important sense for an infant to have for survival and interaction.
    If an infant does not experience the bonding and security that comes from being touched and held, he or she can have severe developmental consequences in cognitive,physical and emotional development. Babies need to be touched in order to thrive and some studies even suggest that babies who do not experience touch at the critical period of development can die as a result. The bonds established through touch are essential to proper development. There are even parenting strategies, such as Attachment Parenting and infant massage, which emphasize the role of touch in infant development and well-being.

    Whitney Pasquesi

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  7. All senses are important but I believe that touch is the most important. A child needs touch to bond, learn and develop mentally, physically and emotionally. Babies that do not get enough touch when they are born and even as small children they will become distant and not connected. Creating a barrier in between them and others.

    Natalie Derstine

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  8. I do believe that hearing and sight are important, but I'm in agreement with everyone who believes touch is the most important. Touch is how babies bond with others. It is vital for them to have those interactions, and research has shown how important it is. I think it's also useful for survival. Touch would be how the baby learns about its surroundings.

    Ellyn Wisniewski

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  9. Dave's Post

    Of all the perceptual skills a baby has at birth, I think the ability to hear ranks up there close to touch. It has been percieved that babies hear sounds while in the womb like music and voices as we read and talked about earlier in the book. Even after birth, babies learn how to distinguish sounds, sounds that either startle or sounds that soothe, such as mother's voice. This skill also alligns itself with the bonding a baby has with its mother and other surrounding environment. I believe that this sense is perhaps vital in order to promote interaction with others.

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  10. All of our senses are important for growth in infancy, however, I believe that touch is the most important. I agree that sight and hearing are also very important but, babies need to be held. Research has indicated high levels of importance in the bonding that takes place when an infant is being held.Infants in orphanages tend to have physiological problems that stem from the lack of being held. A baby that is deprived of a loving touch lacks the will to survive. Without the will to survive, hearing and vision are pointless.

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  11. I do agree that hearing is very essential in a baby's development.(especially language) But I believe touch is the most important sense for a baby. Like we siad in class a few weeks ago. you can hold your babies bottle to feed him/her and talk to him, but nothing is better than holding that baby close to you for not only bonding experience for the both of you but also emotional and social development. I think touch is most important also because baby's like to feel and touch everything. The need to feel if something is gooey, soft, hard, squishy, hot, etc. to understnad the world around them and to develop cognitively.

    Heather Oltmann

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  12. I feel that touch is the most important to infants. They are very sensitive as young infants and need the security of closeness nad touch and love and care. Children who are loved and cared for grow up to be more secure adults. Children who are in orphanges often suffer from attachment disorder. Infants who are held as infants also cry less and have a greater sense of security.

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  13. I also agree with Whitney, touch is very inportant for a baby. It is part of the bonding process. I feel that eyesight and touch are the 2 most important for infant survivial. Hearing is also important but if a baby can not see or be touched ti would be very hard and tramatizing to try to adapt to the world around them . I supose that you could argue that hearing could be put in this catagory as well but those are the 2 things I would not want to live without.

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  14. I also believe that touch is the most important sense for a baby. I believe this for all of the reasons that other people have stated and for all of the reasons we talked about in class but also because touch is one of the fastest ways we learn that something is dangerous. Our sense of touch allows us to feel pain and pain warns us that something is wrong and we need to fix it. For example, if we had no touch we would all go around sticking our hands in fire, stepping on nails, and breaking bones without noticing. More serious injuries could go without being treated and cause death because we could not feel them.

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  15. Being an adult with all the senses this is hard to answer. The sense of touch and sight is important as mentioned by those before me. In my opinion touch is the most important.
    In the womb researcher have found that babies do suck their thumbs. This feeling of satisfaction, that comes from this small touch is important. Even twins have been known to touch each other. When I was pregnant with my two sons we played a game. It was so neat. I would press on him; he would press/poke me back. I even did my poke in a rhythm, it was amazing how they copied me.
    The babies that don’t receive touch after being born has been know to die. By touching a baby this stimulate them. Touch is very important to their development. Babies learn by touching. For survival I think touch is essential. Touch is also necessary for interacting with others. Babies that aren’t touched a lot are very disconnected from people.

    Mary Carter

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  16. I think that smell is the most important at birth. Infants need this sense to distinguish between their mother and other women. Since mothers, in nature, are the food source for infants smell would be needed. This sense can aslo lead to a beter bonding with mother and child, making the infant feel safe and secure. So this sense, to me, will help promote the survival and the interactions with others for the baby.

    Alice Pennell

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  17. i believe that every sense is as important as the other. They have to work together so that the child can develop and grow in the correct stages. If you are missing a sense or more the infant will not develop at the right stage. So thats when the child needs help.

    Thanks Jacqueline Ryan

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