Tag: Infants and toddlers

What do infants listen to?

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It is important to realize that newborns are alert and can discriminate sounds.

By one month, infants differentiate speech sounds (phonemes) such as /p/ and /b/ (Trehub & Rabinovitch, 1972). By 6 months of age, infants discriminate two syllable words such as /bada/ and /baga/ and recognize a familiar syllable inside a string of syllables (MacWhinney, 2011).

Infants also discriminate speech sounds of familiar and unfamiliar languages. However, this ability diminishes considerably for unfamiliar consonant contrasts by one year of age (Dietrich, Swingley, & Werker, 2007). Examples of contrasting consonants are pack-back; pie-buy; and rope-robe.

In one experiment, Werker, Maurer, and Yoshida (2010) showed that by 6 to 8 months, infants discriminated most foreign consonant pairs and some foreign vowel pairs. However, by 10 to 12 months, infants barely heard any of the foreign pairs. Examples of vowel pairs are boat and fruit where usually the second vowel is silent. Examples of consonant pairs are /p-b/ and /t-d/ where one letter is voiced using the vibrations of the vocal cords and the other letter isn’t.

The tone in which the language is conveyed also makes a difference. Fernald (1993) found that 5-month-old infants will respond with a smile to a positive tone and not to a negative tone even when the language was unfamiliar.

Last but not least, infants can respond to their own names by 5 months old (Newman 2005).

The above findings highlight the importance of speech interactions with the child and the role of both the environment and experience on speech perception. Widening children’s listening experiences is a window for them to learn many languages and to engage in successful communication styles. Ultimately, high quality listening experiences ensure success in a global world.

Reference:

Boyd, D., & Bee, H. (2012). The developing child (13th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

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How do newborns see and hear the world?

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Boyd and Bee (2012) discuss how children interact with the world around them. How do newborns use their senses and how could caregivers help them in their life journey?

Newborns can see a person located around 8 to 10 inches (20 to 25 centimeters). They can also see the colors red, green, orange, and yellow in a week’s time but need a bit longer to see blue and violet (allaboutvision.com).

Babies can also track a moving object in the first few weeks. At about 6 weeks, the tracking becomes more defined with the accuracy improving dramatically by 10 weeks.

Babies’ visual acuity reaches 20/20 by 6 months of age; that is, babies can see at 20 feet – 6 meters- what other people with normal vision can see at that same distance.

With regards to their other senses, newborns hear in the general human hearing range and turn their head in the direction of the sound; they differentiate sweet, sour, bitter, and salty tastes; and they discriminate the smell of their mother.

To help children use their senses efficiently, it is important that the caregiver holds the newborn closely, looks in their eyes and converses with them. Caregivers should not assume that newborns don’t see them. In effect, newborns focus on and respond to the caregivers’ signs, sounds, and touch.

Caregivers need to welcome the child into this world. Positive people and nurturing environments give children the confidence and the ability to succeed in a global world.

Reference:
Boyd, D., & Bee, H. (2012). The developing child (13th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

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Planning activities for infants and toddlers

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Many infants and toddlers are attending childcare. It is important not to think of them as passive learners that just need to eat and sleep during the day.

The first two years of life provide the foundation for later development. Educators and parents need to make optimal use of this period.

To plan activities, Greenman, Stonehouse, and Schweikert (2008) recommend the following:

– Educators need to take into account theories on children’s development as well as the progress of individual children.
– The children’s families and background cultures need to be accounted for in the planning. Children bring different home experiences to the childcare and those experiences need to be used as starting points for planning.
– The plan should help children transition from the earlier activity, include a clear indication on how the children will start engaging with the activity, state the needed material, indicate the expectations upon engagement, and finally specify the transition to the next activity.
– Documentation of children’s learning should start prior to the plan, during the implementation, and after the completion of the activity.

By following clear guidelines, we can ensure that learning is taking place in a positive environment.

To read more, refer to:
Greenman, J., Stonehouse, A., & Schweikert, G. (2008). Prime times: A handbook for excellence in infant and toddler programs (2nd ed.). St. Paul, MN: Redleaf Press.

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Children with temperament: When does this become an issue?

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According to Thomas and Chess (1977), children’s temperament can be categorised into three types: Easy, slow to warm up, and difficult children.

The easy child smiles frequently and approaches new toys, situations, faces with a willingness to experiment.

The slow to warm up child looks at new people, toys, and events around and instead of approaching immediately hangs on to an adult and observes the full situation prior to engaging in play or in conversation.

The difficult child looks at any change in routines with caution and is wary of strangers. He/she cries easily and is willing to show a lot of resistance or “stubbornness” when faced with new material, adults, settings, or even small changes in the immediate environment.

The same interface applies to food intake and children’s experimentation with new types of food.

Children display those types unconsciously. However, this could become an issue depending on how the adults react to the child. The caregiver needs to be willing to work with children and to give them the space and time needed to become familiar with new situations and new environments.

Even the easy child could have issues with an overly cautious adult. If scolded for being open, the child will learn to doubt himself or herself.

When children grow up in an understanding environment, they will learn to experiment and to trust themselves and the future.

For further reading, refer to:
Thomas, A., & Chess, S. (1977). Temperament and development. New York, NY: Brunner/Mazel.

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Engaging children in artful writing for a healthy academic growth

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Children use their body to communicate actions from Day One. A precursor to writing is how children use their hands.

When given a large paper and a large crayon, toddlers scribble with the action coming from the shoulder. The end result will be wide circles and lines spread over the whole paper. The fine muscles of the fingers are not strong enough to help children control the crayon. Soon later, children hold the crayon in their fist and the writing is coming from the wrist. With maturity and practice, children hold the crayon with their fingers bringing the position of the crayon similar to the adult grip.

To help children with the writing process, parents and teachers can:

Provide papers and non-toxic large crayons for children to practise as they might bite into them. Do not shame children when they attempt writing on the wall or books. Instead, provide materials and let children know that there is material and space for them to experiment.

Show interest in what the child is doing and provide short and positive feedback. Do not push children to explain themselves if they don’t wish to.

Keep a sample of children’s work with dates in order to track the progress of the child.

Share with children stories with illustrations and give them enough time to explore both letters and illustrations.

Watch for the moment when children start conveying meaning to the drawing. This is the beginning of meaningful writing. For example, although the adult cannot see a rabbit among the lines, accept the child’s interpretation of the drawing as a rabbit running around.

One last benchmark is when the child realises that the letters hold a meaning. It is then when they start paying attention to the letters around them and the journey of alphabet learning begins.

The process of writing development needs to be smooth as children progress at their own pace. Forcing the child to write prematurely or shaming the child will have negative consequences both academically and emotionally. They could hate school before they even start.

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How to make caring routines for infants and toddlers prime times?

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Parents and teachers engage in caring routines with infants and toddlers on a daily basis. Examples are feeding, washing, dressing, and diapering.

It is important for the child to gain independence by developing acceptance of who they are and what they need. Some suggestions to ease the implementation of the caring routines are:

  • Be patient with the child as much as time permits.
  • Talk to the child by letting him/her know what is going to happen and how.
  • Propose options when the infant or toddler could contribute instead of doing everything for them. Have them take control of their bodies.
  • Accept the bodily wastes of infants and toddlers and remain positive when changing a child. Explain to them what you are doing so they could transition to taking control of their urges in due time with acceptance.
  • Respect children by not engaging in feeding or diapering while ignoring them. Feeding is the starting point of social communication with the child while taking meals as a family.
  • Acknowledge that you might have feelings and cultural beliefs about how children should be raised and be willing to review them if they impact negatively on the child.

To read more, refer to:

Greenman, J., Stonehouse, A., & Schweikert, G. (2008). Prime times: A handbook for excellence in infant and toddler programs (2nd ed.). St. Paul, MN: Redleaf Press.

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