Intellectual Development of the Toddler Chapter 12

Before we begin…  Why do you think Toddlers get into mischief by exploring household objects, such as wastebaskets and dresser drawers. Are children naturally destructive, or do they have other reasons for exploring?  1. Discussion  2.Write your response on the sheet provided.

Discovering New Ways to Solve Problems  months: Children are busy exploring  Toddlers are active explorers and experimenters  Piaget called them: “little scientists.”  After discovering one way to use an object, toddlers seem to want to know what else they can do with the same object.  Repeating actions helps to verify their observations.

Working Toward a Goal  Children’s actions involve reaching a goal. Ex: A child may pull an object by its string in order to grasp it.  They want to know what happens to objects when they are rolled, shaken, thrown, or moved in other ways.  Toddlers can begin to solve common problems themselves  As they learn more about objects their thinking skills improve. Ex: opening doors, dressing themselves  They do not think about the consequences of their actions.

Beginning of Thought  Toddlers think about what they do before they do it. Ex: a large object will not fit through a small opening in a container.  Their thinking is not mature yet—they mainly think in terms of actions. Ex: The toddler would mentally see himself/herself trying to put the object through the opening before concluding it was too big to fit.  Toddlers identify objects in terms of actions. Ex: A toddler may be asked “What is a ball?” with the reply, “To play with,” or “To roll.”

Thinking and Imitation  Toddlers show they can think by imitating what someone else has done at a earlier time.  The ability to recall an observed behavior and later imitate it is called deferred imitation.  Deferred imitation is used in both pretend play and language.

Reflection & Discussion  How does deferred imitation relate to the influences of negative models on young children?  To keep in mind: Seeing models does mean the child has the “know how” for imitation.  Examples: television, movies, video games

Thinking and Goals  A toddler can think through how to reach his/her goal.  Ex: He or she may have used a stepstool in the bathroom, but not the playroom. The child thinks about the stool and how it works in the bathroom. Then the child gets the stool to reach the object. If the child cannot bring the stool into the playroom, he or she may use another object as a stool.

Thinking and Hiding Games  Thinking is evident in hiding games.  A child will search for objects that they have not seen someone hide.  Adults can pretend to hide a toy in one place, but really hides it in a another—the child knows the object still exists (object permanence) and considers where the adult could have hidden it.  Hidden objects has children thinking in terms of spatial concepts.

Thinking and Shape, Size, Colour and Texture  Toddlers learn about the attributes of objects, such as their shape, size, colour, and texture.  Attributes: distinctive characteristics of an object, such as size, shape, colour, and texture.  Toddlers begin to perceive differences in shape, size, colour and texture.  Nothing these differences is a thinking skill, for it requires comparison.  Toddlers must be able to mentally compare differences before they can successfully use terms such as ducks, geese, red or pink.

Activity  1. Choose an three objects  2. Write a description of the objects.  3. Underline words that are attributes.  4. Note the importance of using attributes in identifying objects.

Thinking and Object Exploration  Toddlers learn more about what will happen as they handle objects.  They learn by throwing, rolling, shaking, or moving objects.  Toddlers learn that round objects roll and flat objects slide.  They also learn that hard objects will make a loud noise when hit together but soft objects will not.  A toddler knows the attributes of new objects based on prior experience.

Thinking and Language  The way children think is observed through their use of language  In order to learn language children use two thinking skills:  A) Thy associate the word with the person or object to which it refers.  B) Children must recall the word and its meaning when they hear the word or want to say it.  In your groups: Make a list of all the reasons that language skills are important to humans.

Language Abilities  Research emphasizes the importance of parents as the first language teachers.  Parents often speak in a high-pitched style known as parentese.  Parents put their faces closer to children, use shorter sentences, and speak in a singsong fashion.  Parents who use parentese look at objects they are describing more than other parents.

Learning to Articulate  Articulation: making the sounds of language  Toddlers learn words and language of those around them through imitation.  Learning to control the tongue, lip muscles, and vocal chords to form words, takes practice.  Children who cannot make one sound will substitute another. Ex: They may use d for th.  Toddlers may also change the sound order of a word. They may say perslip to mean slipper.  A few children articulate most sounds correctly from the beginning.

Learning Meanings: A Major Brain Development  Wiring for language is very active during the toddler years.  Studies support the window of opportunity for language learning.  How many words a child understands or speaks is related to how much parents and other caregivers talk to him or her.  The most important thing for word growth is the number of times a child hears given words.  In order to learn the meanings of words, a child must link certain features with a name.  Without meanings attached to spoken words, there would be no language.

Communication  Communication is the skill needed to understand others and be understood by them.  When toddlers say words, they want to be understood.  Toddlers often use their communication to achieve three goals *Task: Copy the 12-8 Chart into your notes. Pg. 312  Toddlers learn to think in words. As a child learns to talk, words go with actions. Ex: The toddler will say goodbye while waving.

Vocabulary  Most children’s vocabularies grow slowly until 18 months to two years of age.  Toddlers will vary in the number of words their vocabularies include at different ages.  The size of the vocabulary can be measured most easily in children three years of age and older.  Discussion Point: Do you remember, or have your parents ever told you about phrases and words you liked to use when you were a toddler?

Grammar  Grammar is the study of the preferred word usage and order in a given language.  Children begin to learn these rules in the toddler period.  The learning begins with single-word “sentences” and will often progress to simple sentences of a few words during the toddler years.  By listening to adults and having good books read to them, toddlers learn the basic rules for the language they hear and apply these rules to their own phrases and sentences.

Single Words  From months of age, toddlers use sentences of only one word.  The one word is often used by the toddler to mean different ideas at different times.  Children use words that represent the actions they see and the people and objects they know.  First words are usually nouns and simple action verbs.

Two or More Words  After 19 months, many children begin combining two or more words to form sentences.  By months, many toddlers begin using three or more words in their sentences.  When the child begins to use these multi-word sentences, the words that are added fill in the gaps.

Different Rates of Learning to Talk  Refer to Page 314 of your textbook.  Summarize the six factors that impact learning to talk- hearing, interest, mental abilities, gender, need for speech, interesting environment.

To Finish  Complete: Thinking Further on Pg. 317 (Questions 1-3)  Final Assignment (20 Marks) Choose from these three options:  Poster: Make a poster describing in words and/or drawings the toddler’s learnings between 12 and 24 months. I would like vibrant visuals and colours.  Story: Write a story from a toddler’s point of view in which the language used shows typically toddler language development as described in the text. Same rubric expectations as the prenatal story. Your knowledge mark will be how you present your understanding of how/when a toddler is developing linguistically.  Role Play: Work with a partner to role-play both positive and negative ways parents can respond to their parents can respond to their toddler’s language usage errors. Show how toddlers might react to each of these responses. You will present this in front of class and provide me with a copy of the script.