CHAPTER 9INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT IN INFANTS

HUMAN DEVELOPMENT I

LEARNING OBJECTIVESAND FCS STANDARDS

• Learning Objectives: Students will understand the basic anatomy of the brain and examine how the brain changes when a child is learning. Students will also identify key concepts and milestones that babies are learning in the first year and how Piaget’s theories apply to this learning. Finally students will consider how to encourage a child’s learning.

• FCS Standards: 4.B, 06-12.5.1, 5.A, 5.B, 5.C

BRAIN GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT

• At birth, the brain is one-fourth its adult weight.

• At six months, the brain has grown to half its adult weight.

• At age two, the brain is three-fourths adult size and weight.

• Females have a physically smaller brain, but 11% more neurons than males.

The brain is made up of nerve cells called neurons, the majority of which were present at birth.

Neurons located in the various lobes or segments of the brain are task specific. This means certain neurons located in certain areas of the brain are responsible for specific tasks.

Neurons are hooked together with varying numbers and kinds of connections called synapses (a neuron and it’s synapses are shown at right).

The number of connections results from inherited growth patterns first, and then environmental stimuli and challenge.

New learning exercises the brain, causing the blood supply to increase, and leading to a greater supply of oxygen to the brain.

The number of connections, or synapses, determine a person’s capacity to learn.

The more synapses, the greater the capacity for learning.

Synapses: connections in the brain

HOW BABIES START TO LEARN.

4 Abilities that show growing intellectual ability.

1. Remembering Experiences- A 2-3 month old may stop crying when a caregiver enters the room.

2. Making Associations-Associating a caregiver with receiving comfort.

3. Understanding Cause and Effect-If the baby stops sucking, milk stops.

4. Paying attention-Attention span: the length of time a person can concentrate on a task without getting bored-grows longer.

INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENTAL MILESTONES

• Complete the worksheet

• What specific activities could you suggest to parents to help babies reach the milestones?

• Pick one milestone from each two-month time period.

PIAGET’S THEORIES

• Intellectual development follows a pattern.

• The four periods of learning appear in the same order in all children.

• Children must learn to master one thinking skill before they can move on to another.

• Children can’t be forced to understand a skill any faster than the speed at which their abilities mature.

• When children don’t get the chance to apply new skills during each stage, they may never reach their full potential. Constant learning opportunities are important.

PIAGET’S FOUR PERIODS OF LEARNING

• Sensorimotor (birth-2 years) Children learn through their senses and own actions.

• Preoperational (2-7 years) Children think in terms of their own activities and what they perceive at the moment.

• Concrete Operations (7-11 years) Children think logically, but still learn best through experiences.

• Formal Operations (11-Adult) People are capable of abstract thinking.

SIX STAGES OF SENSORIMOTOR STAGE

• Stage 1 (birth-1 month)-Practicing reflexes. Does not understand self as a separate person.

• Stage 2 (1-4 months)-Combines 2 or more reflexes. Develops hand-mouth coordination.

• Stage 3 (4-8 months)-Acts intentionally to produce results. Improves hand-eye coordination.

• Stage 4 (8-12 months)-Begins to solve problems. Finds partially hidden objects. Imitates others.

• Stage 5 (12-18 months)-Finds hidden objects. Explores and experiments. Understands that objects exist independently.

• Stage 6 (18-24 months)-Solves problems by thinking through sequences. Can think using symbols. Begins imaginative thinking.

MORE ON THE SENSORIMOTOR PERIOD

• One of Piaget’s important findings…

• At about 10 months of age babies understand object permanence: objects continue to exist, even when they are out of sight.

• Object Permanence Video

MORE LEARNING TO COME

• Between the ages of 1-3 years, children begin to form concepts: general categories of objects and information.

• Concepts range from categories for objects such as “fruit” to qualities such as color or shape.

• Children start by thinking that labels are for whole objects, not parts. (may call a “tire” a “car”)

• Children believe that labels apply to the group to which the individual objects belong, not to the particular object. (any four-legged animal might be a “dog”)

• Children tend to believe that an object can only have one label. (don’t understand “Mommy” can be “she”

WAYS TO ENCOURAGEA CHILD’S LEARNING

• Learn about child development-When you understand what to expect at certain ages, you know what toys and learning experiences are… • Age Appropriate: things that are suitable for the age and

individual needs of a child.

• Give kids your time and attention.

• Provide positive feedback.

• Express love.

• Talk, talk, talk

• Provide safe learning

TOYS

• Complete the toy activity

DEVELOPING COMMUNICATION

• Baby Babble

DEVELOPING COMMUNICATION

• Communication takes development in all areas-physical, emotional, social, and intellectual.

• Babies first communicate with cries. Different cries mean different things. They will often wait for a response when crying.

• By the end of the first year, babies can communicate quite well, using mostly gestures.

• What are some gestures babies use to communicate?

LEARNING TO SPEAK

• Before being able to talk, a baby must learn to associate meanings with words, which is a gradual process.

• Talking to baby using simple words, but not baby talk, prepares them for speech development.

• Speech starts as babbling and continues to mature until they are possibly speaking simple words by the end of the first year.

• Children vary in the rate at which they develop speech.