Lesson07
Chapter 6 - Cognition in Infants and Toddlers
Perception I don't think it matters how much you know about children - it's still amazes most people how much young children are capable of learning in early childhood. They are truly "little sponges" seeking out new experiences and wanting to learn more about the world around them. Their natural instinct is to explore and investigate anything and everything, and the more safe opportunities we can provide to them, the more they will want to learn! Lets quickly review Piaget's Theory of Cognitive Development, which again focuses on the way people understand and think, which ultimately shapes their behavior and personality. Piaget believed that children were active and motivated learners, that they constructed knowledge from their experiences, and that they learned through the two complementary processes of assimilation and accommodation. Piaget identified four distinct age segments where specific cognitive learning was believed to be possible - but the time when most cognitive growth was identified was during the first two years of life! Sensorimotor (0-2 years) – infants use their senses and motor skills to understand their world. Piaget further identified six specific developmental stages within Sensorimotor development 0-1 months - Stage 1 - modification of reflexes sucking, grasping, staring, listening. Every "skill" seen during these first four weeks are really reflexes, and the reflexes used during this time will become skills by around four weeks. The reflexes not used by the infant (or that don't seem to serve a purpose) will disappear around four weeks. Primary Circular Reaction - (the world revolves around the infant) 1-4 months - Stage 2- begins coordinating 2 reflexes to create a skill, such as grabbing a
rattle and then sucking on it Secondary Circular Reaction - (the infant begins to react to the reactions of others) 4-8 months - Stage 3 - baby repeats actions which get pleasing responses from others 8-12 months - Stage 4 - coordination of secondary circular reaction - goal directed behavior - infant is purposeful in actions Tertiary Circular Reaction - (the infant begins to respond to the "world" by wanting to figure out how the world works) 12-18 months - Stage 5 - baby varies a given behavior to learn new reactions 18-24 months - Stage 6 - using mental combinations to anticipate and solve problems without experimenting So we know what the theory is - what does it mean to those of us working with children? Or to those of us who have (or plan to have) children? Lets think about the concepts of assimilation and accommodation in terms of taking an online class for the first time. Many of you had shared that this class was your first experience taking an online class - I'd received many emails prior to the first week of class asking for the "time" that everyone needed to be online for discussions and lectures (we're all assimilated to the idea of how traditional classes function, and expect that to participate in a discussion, we all need to be "there" at the same time). Everyone had some experience with taking classes, and you each brought with you those experiences and expectations, and while you knew there would be some different things to learn (accommodation of differences) by taking an online class, you knew what it meant to actually take a class (assimilation to expectations based on experiences). Now that we're starting week 7 of this class, you've (hopefully) assimilated more to the idea of online education - you know that each week you need to log in to participate in the discussions and to take the weekly quiz you don't need to be reminded by me to do these things they're things that are "normal" to you now because you
have experience from the first 6 weeks of the class. So for a young child, what are they assimilated to? For a child in a healthy home, they assimilate very early in life to the idea that if they need something and cry, someone will take care of the need that they have (such as feeding or changing or holding). We talked about rooting last week - how if you lightly rub the cheek of a newborn, they will turn toward that direction and begin to suck - and gradually over the first four weeks of life they will learn the skill of sucking. They have assimilated to the process of feeding. So what happens at 4-6 months when rice or cereal is introduced to this child on a spoon? Typically, they suck it from the spoon! They have never used a spoon and haven't yet learned to open their mouths wide enough to put the spoon inside their mouth - they simply use the skills and knowledge that previously worked! Over the next few weeks, they will gradually accommodate their skills to get more food into their mouths, or to bring the food into their stomachs faster, by trying new ways of using the spoon (or as they get older, by using hands instead of utensils since they can be a bit faster!). By the time skills are mastered, they are assimilated into the person's routines or habits - we don't need to think about how to use a spoon as adults, so when one is given to use, we use them exactly the way we've assimilated to them! But even as adults, we are constantly introduced to new ideas and objects, and must use the knowledge we possess to accommodate these new "things" into our lives, such as by taking a class to learn more about something! Take a look back at the chart above on Piaget's Cognitive Development do you see assimilation and accommodation within the chart? By the time a child reaches a new stage they have assimilated the knowledge gained in the previous stage, and are seeking to learn more about their environment by accommodating the knowledge they previously had with their new experiences. And every new experience for these little ones is an opportunity to learn! Think about what you've heard (or experienced) with children between 1-2 years old - have you ever heard about the "terrible two's"? They take everything apart, they certainly let you know their
opinions, they suddenly seem to have a "mind of their own", which can certainly drive parents a bit crazy now and then. Think back to Piaget and why they are taking everything apart - if they are taking everything apart and leaving a trail as they go, they're simply doing what we would developmentally expect them to do - they're "little scientists", remember? Knowing that this is completely normal and healthy, if we want children to continue to love learning, then we need to create an environment that is safe for them to take things apart! This doesn't mean that they get free run of the home or classroom, but that for healthy cognitive development to occur, they need to have the opportunity to explore. Many homes and classrooms will have cupboards and drawers that are off limits to little hands, but others that are intentionally set up for children to explore - boundaries are wonderful, but be sure these learning opportunities are available, especially since we KNOW these little minds need to take things apart and explore how they work! The more we know about how and when children begin to accommodate for new experiences, the more we can create a safe and fun environment for them to learn in! Very early in infancy, children are already learning! By the time a child reaches 3 months, they have a basic understanding about how things work and move, such as how a rattle works. By 6 months, they have developed perceptual constancy, meaning that they recognize that the size and shape of an object remains the same despite changes in its appearance (if they see you holding an animal, they don't think part of it has disappeared just because they can't see ALL of it). Around this same time, they also develop depth perception, which gives them the incentive to learn to reach objects at a distance by crawling or walking. By 8 months, they can categorize by shape, color, sound and density - which makes object permanence possible (just because they can't see the object doesn't mean it doesn't exist - they will search for their favorite toys and objects). Know that these ages are averages, and that some children will develop these skills earlier than the age listed above, and others will develop them later than the age listed above. The important thing to recognize is that learning is always occurring - and that
infants and toddlers are instinctively seeking out new learning experiences! Young children are also learning about communication very early in life! In fact, the first form of communication is crying - which those of you with experience with children know they have mastered at birth! Slowly infants begin to coo, babble and gesture to make their wants and needs known, and the average child begins using one-word sentences (holophrasing) around 12 months, and twoword sentences around 21 months. While language skills are growing quickly, children do have a little trouble understanding how words can be used. For example, my step-daughter is Brittany and my niece is Britney - when Britney was 2, she was introduced to Brittany (12), and insisted that the older's name was Dittany! She could say her own name just fine, but knew there couldn't possibly be TWO people with the same name, so she renamed the other one! This is underextention, when words become more narrow than they should be. Another common theme in language development for young children is overextention, when children overgeneralize the meaning of a word - such as when they learn the word "dog", and call every four legged animal is "dog" - since children are fast mapping, they only learn the meaning of the word based on the context in which it was used that one time they heard it. Think about the opportunities you have created for children in this age group - opportunities for learning, exploring, and interacting - knowing what children are instinctively ready for, what opportunities should exist for them to continue wanting to learn beyond this age group? What will excite them about the world around them?