Perceptual-Motor Abilities of Infants in the 1 to 2 Month Period

Introduction

During the 1-2 month period of infant development, perceptual-motor behaviour shifts from spontaneous movements to intentional movements. As infants stay awake longer periods of time they are able to explore and connect with their social and physical environment. During this period of development you can expect to see the following:

• movements shift from writhing to fidgety
• greater head control and movements allowing increased ability to visually reach and gather information
• turning towards sounds and visual events within their environment
• exploring their bodies, clothing and surrounding surfaces with their hands and feet
• successful and intentional reaching

Communication and Social Interaction

Caregiver interaction

When caregivers speak to infants they use baby talk called motherese. This type of infant directed speech allows adults to alter their acoustic properties to use a higher pitch, increased pitch range, more pitch variability and a slower speech rate. Research shows that these vocal adjustments happen across all populations.

Infant interaction

Newborns during this period will begin to demonstrate more complex, sustained and expressive social behaviour. Some of the communication and social developments you might notice on a 1-2 month old are bulleted below:

• first miles
• turning head toward voice and other sounds within the environment
• quietening their limbs movements
• smile in response to sounds

• interest in faces
• recognising familiar faces
• eye contact
• different cries for different needs
• producing pre-speech sounds known as protophones which includes grunts, coos, and gurgles

Vocalization

Infants use vocalization spontaneously allowing them to practice and explore different ways of producing a range of sounds. In addition to a range of sounds, infants can change the emotional tone or inflexion with their vocalization. These different sounds will provide the foundation for later babbling and words.