Neural and Cognitive Development The Early Years

Outline  I. Brian Formation  II. Piaget’s theory of learning  III. Objects  IV. Memory  V. Intentions and Agency  VI. Preoperational Thinking  VII. Language Development  VIII.Cultural Considerations  IX. Why it matters

I. Prenatal Brain Formation  4 th month prenatally brain’s basic structures are formed  Communication occurs in the brain using electrochemical messages  Myelination speeds the process. Myelination begins prenatally in the sensorimotor area

Prenatal Brain Development  So around 4 months prenatal the neurons begin to fire spontaneously  Sounds can be heard by 15 wks  Eyes open & close by 25 th wk and fetus turns toward light. This sensory experience is critical for healthy brain development

Prenatal Brain Development  Neurons continue to produce rapidly thru the 1 st year  neural pruning  New connections are made thru life, but not new neurons  Thus, Babies are not “blank slates”

Sensory Integration Dysfunction

II. Piaget’s Constructivist Theory  Adaptation  Assimilation  Accommodation

III. Understanding Objects  Intersensory Integration  Object Permanence  Representational Thought

IV. Memory  Sensory Memory  Short-term  Rehearsal  Long-term  Consolidation  Recall  Recognition  Forgetting

Memory  Declarative- learning about information and events  Procedural or Implicit- automatic, habitual responses  Verbal vs spatial

Memory  Requires the ability to attend (attention)  At this stage of development we will focus on Recognition and Recall

Recognition  Ability to differentiate between new experiences and those we have had before  Improves thru out infancy  Duration and speed of habituation improve with age  How quickly babies habituate (recognition speed) is correlated with later IQ

Recall  Ability to bring to mind experiences that happened in the past  Requires mental representation, thus occurs later in infancy  Deferred imitation- begins late in 1 st year  Social learning requires deferred imitation  Separation anxiety begins with recall ~ 8 months

V. Infant’s own intentions  Intentional action  ~ 3 mo- Making interesting sights last  ~8-12 mo- Means ends behavior  ~12-18 mo- Invent and try out new ways to problem-solve  ~24 mo- Invent new ways to problem solve and try them out in their heads

Other’s Intentions  Agency  Intention

VI. Pre Schooler’s Cognition- Preoperational Thinking  Centered- Can only think one thing at a time  By age 2: – They develop Object permanence- the understanding that objects exist apart from their own thoughts and perceptions –Can Recall –Can Plan and execute behaviors- even new ones –Understand agency and intention –Can use symbols –Can begin to understand some counting principals –Can figure out if you see something or you don’t –Can use words for what they desire: need, feel, want

 By age 3: –Children can use symbolic artifacts –Begin counting in versatile order –Have trouble understanding “underlying realities” but can be taught to attend to them. This learning is still fragile and easily disrupted –Can understand that another person sees something different then they do (such as a picture being upside down), but can not understand that the other has a totally different view “mountain exercise” –Use cognitive words such as think, forget, remember

 By age 4-5: –Can begin to understand that other’s have a different knowledge and knowing

Implications for Preschoolers  They do not understand that adults want something different than they do –More fragile under stress or when emotionally or personally involved  Perspective taking improves as child develops the cognitive skills to decenter and receives feedback from others in social interactions

VII. Language Development  Phonology  Semantics  Syntax  Voicing  Grammar  Code Switching  Pragmatics

Development  12 wks prenatal- recognizes patterns of sounds  ~6 mo –Begins to lose unimportant distinctions, begins to babble most sounds  ~9 mo: babbles only sounds of native language  ~18-24 mo –After 50 words- vocabulary spurt, 2 word strings, increased comprehension, end of sensorimotor period  ~2-3 yrs: Narratives begin  ~5 yrs –Can produce most sentence structures –~15,000 words

Language Development Implications  Vocabulary size is a key predictor of later literacy and success in school  So: –Educate parents to increase parent child conversations that are lengthy, detailed and include discussions of past experiences of the child –Engage in joint book reading –Encourage preschool for children at risk (or if this is not culturally appropriate, engage extended family or other resources)

VIII. Culture and Development  Thinking is mediated by tools of the culture  Mediated learning  Scaffolding  Egocentric speech

IX. Why does any of this matter to a therapist  In working with children and adults, you must take into account –Their cognitive developmental level, as well as their level of social and emotional functioning. –if their language is concrete vs. abstract and if they have understanding of cause/effect –Their culture and cultural differences in child raising

 You can educate parents and teachers on: –Prenatal interventions: Patterns and sounds to sooth baby –Provision of a sensory stimulating environment –Egocentricity and centered cognitions –Scaffolding vs disciplining –Need for immediate consequences due to limited memory sequencing –Use of accommodation and assimilation –Use of repetition needed –Preschool interventions