WEEK 4 Flashcards
Toddlerhood (33 cards)
Describe the physical growth and changes in years 2 and 3
-Growth slows down during toddlerhood compared to infanthood, though it is still rapid compared
to later in life
- During toddlerhood, children lose the ‘baby fat’ of infancy and become leaner as they become
longer - Toddlers in developing countries often do not grow as rapidly as toddlers in developed countries.
- Statistics suggests that children in developing countries fall within the bottom 5% range when
compared to children in developed countries in terms of growth.
Brain development toddlerhood
- The brain continues its rapid growth during the toddler years.
- Early brain development is most distinguished by the steep increase in synaptic density, the number of synaptic connections among neurons
- Toddlerhood is when peak production of new synapses is reached in the frontal lobes, the part of
our brain that is the location of many of our most distinctively human cognitive qualities, such as reasoning, planning and creativity. - The peak of synaptic density comes right at the end of toddlerhood, around the third birthday
- After the peak of synaptic density, a long process of synaptic pruning begins. In synaptic pruning, the connections between neurons become fewer but more efficient, with the synapses that are
used becoming more developed, while unused synapses wither away - Methods of assessing brain activity provide evidence of the rapid growth of the toddler brain.
- One widely used method, the EEG (electroencephalogram), measures the electrical activity of the
cerebral cortex. EEG research on toddlers has found a sharp increase in overall cortical activity from
18 to 24 months, reflecting important advances in cognitive and language development
Sleep changes toddlerhood…
- Sleep declines from 16–18 hours a day in the neonate to about 15 hours a day by the first birthday, and further to about 12–13 hours by the second birthday. The toddler not only sleeps less than the
infant, but also has more of a night-sleeping, day-waking arousal schedule. - Most toddlers take only one nap during the day by the time they reach 18 months old, compared to
the two or more naps a day typical of infants - One study of toddlers in Israel, England and Australia found that episodes of waking in the night
increased in frequency from 1½ to 2 years of age
Toddlerhood motor development…
-Toddlerhood is a time of dramatic advances in motor development.
- Most of the progress in gross motor development takes place in toddler years: going from barely
standing to walking, running, climbing and jumping - With regard to fine motor development, toddlers go from being able to place a small object inside a
large object to holding a cup and building a tower of blocks. - By 15 months, most toddlers can stand (briefly) on one leg and have begun to climb, although once
they have climbed onto something, they are much less skilled at climbing down. - By 18 months, most can run, although at first they run with the same stiff-legged, wide-stance
posture as they use for walking. - By 24 months, they can kick a ball or throw a small object, and their running has become more
flexible and fluid. - Through the third year, toddlers’ gross motor skills continue to develop as they gain more flexibility
and balance. They become better at using visual information to adjust their walking and running in
response to changes in surfaces, so they become less likely to stumble and fall
Toddlerhood fine motor skills development…
- Toddler gains in fine motor development are not as revolutionary as their gains in gross motor
development, but they are certainly substantial. - At 12 months, most have come to show a definite right- or left-hand preference for self-feeding,
and over the next 6 months they try a variety of grips on their spoons until they find a grip they will
use consistently. - During the first year of toddlerhood they also learn to hold a cup, scribble with a pencil or crayon,
build a tower of three to four blocks and turn the pages of a book
Toddlerhood toilet training…
- Toddler years are usually when children are toilet trained
- Recent studies only about 25% of toddlers were toilet trained by 18 months old and only about 60%
by their third birthday - there are variations by social class. The more educated the parents, the later their children tend to
be toilet trained - Most toddlers show signs of toilet training readiness sometime between 20 and 36 months of age.
Some key signs are:
o starting to do things independently
o knowing they are dry or dirty
o increased anticipation of the event, expressed through looks or words
o directly asking to use the toilet or to wear underwear instead of a nappy. - Toilet training continues over several weeks, months or even years.
- The earlier toilet training begins, the longer it takes to complete it
Toddlerhood weening…
- Based on what we know of human history and of practices today in traditional cultures, it is clear
that breastfeeding for 2–3 years has been the most typical human custom, - However, an Australian survey found that only 7.4% of 19–24-month-olds were still receiving some
breast milk - the longer breastfeeding continues into toddlerhood, the more challenging weaning becomes if it is the mother who decides the time has come for the child to stop drinking breast milk.
Piaget’s Theory: Cognitive development in toddlerhood…
-Piaget proposed that cognitive development during the first 2 years of life follows a sequence of six
sensorimotor stages.
- During toddlerhood—the final two stages of sensorimotor development are completed.
- Sensorimotor stage 5: tertiary circular reactions. In this stage, toddlers intentionally try out different behaviours to see what the effects will
be. - Sensorimotor stage 6: mental representations
o The final stage of sensorimotor development, from 18 to 24 months, is the stage of mental
representations
o Now, instead of trying out a range of actions as in tertiary circular reactions, toddlers first
think about the possibilities and select the action most likely to achieve the desired
outcome.
o The words we use are mental representations of objects, people, actions and ideas.
Two areas in the left hemisphere of the brain dedicated to language functions…
-Broca’s area: left frontal lobe, specialised for language production
-Wernicke’s area: left temporal lobe, specialised for language comprehension
Evolution of language…
- Although modern humans are biologically equipped for language, our earliest ancestors were not.
-Early hominids had a larynx similar in placement to modern non-human primates, and so must have
been incapable of language
- Many evolutionary biologists believe that language also conferred an evolutionary advantage
because of its social function. - During the course of human evolution, the size of human groups gradually increased, leading to an increased need for communication that would allow them to function effectively.
Milestones of Toddler language: 12-18 months…
-For the first 6 months of toddlerhood, language develops at a steady but slow pace.
-Toddlers first learn words they need to use in practical ways to communicate with the people around them, usually as part of shared activities
-From 12 to 18 months old, toddlers learn to speak one to three new words a week, reaching a total of 10words by 15 months old and 50 words by about 18 months old, on average
-most toddlers use one word at a time, but a single word can have varied meanings- ‘holophrases’
-Although toddlers do not reach the 50-word milestone in production until about 18 months old, they usually achieve 50-word comprehension by about 13 months old
Holophrase…
The use of a single word can be used to represent different forms of whole sentences, for example: ‘cup’ could mean ‘Fill my cup with water’, or ‘I dropped the cup on the floor’, or ‘Hand me my cup. I can’t reach it’, or ‘Here, take this cup’, depending on when and how and to whom it is said.
Overextension…
toddlers make the most of their limited vocabulary is to have a single word represent a variety of related objects, for example… he son of two language researchers learned the name of the furry family dog, Nunu, he applied it not only to the original Nunu but to all dogs, as well as to other fuzzy objects such as slippers
Underextension…
applying a general word to a specific object, for example… only calling their family dog ‘dog’
Milestones of toddlerhood language, 18-24 months…
-After learning to speak words at a slow rate for the first half of their second year, toddlers’ word production suddenly takes off from 18 to 24 months.
-he pace of learning new words doubles, from one to three words per week to five or six words per week. This is known as the naming explosion or vocabulary spurt
-During this period between 18 and 24 months, they also learn to name one or two colours, at least six body parts and emotional states like ‘tired’ and ‘mad’
-toddlers begin to combine spoken words for the first time. Their first word combinations are usually two words, in what is called telegraphic speech
‘Fast mapping’…
-After just one time of being told what an object is called, toddlers this age will learn it and remember it
-due not just to memory, but also to toddlers’ ability to quickly infer the meaning of words based on how the word is used in a sentence and how it seems to be related to words they already know
Two of the most notable words toddlers learn during 18-24 months…
-‘Gone’ and ‘no’
-Using ‘gone’ reflects their growing awareness of object permanence, as it signifies that something has disappeared from view but still exists somewhere
-Using ‘no’ reflects their budding sense of self
Telegraphic speech…
-strips away connecting words like the and and, getting right to the point with nouns, verbs and modifiers- e.g. ‘My ball’, ‘More milk’ or ‘Mummy gone’
-An interesting feature of telegraphic speech is that it already shows an initial knowledge of syntax (word order). For example, Toddlers say ‘See doggie’, not ‘Doggie see’
Milestones of toddler language: 24-36 months…
-During the third year, toddlers continue to expand their speaking vocabulary at the same rapid pace that began at 18–24 months.
-They learn to use prepositions such as under, over and through
- use words that reflect a more complex understanding of categories. For example, they understand that a bear is not only a bear but also an animal
-continue to exhibit overextension and underextension, but with diminishing frequency as their vocabulary expands.
-continue to use telegraphic speech as well, but now in three- and four-word statements rather than two words.
-during the third year, they begin to speak in short, complete sentences
-by the time they reach age 3, most toddlers can speak clearly enough to make themselves understood about nearly anything they wish.
‘Overregularisation’….
-applying grammatical rules even to words that are exceptions to the rule., for example: ‘Mummy goed to the store’ or ‘I throwed the ball.’
-Mistakes such as these generally become rare by 3 years
Describe how emotional development advances during toddlerhood and identify the impact of culture on these changes.
As toddlers become more self-aware, they learn that the people in their cultural environment regard some behaviours as good and others as bad, some as right and some as wrong, and they learn to feel negative emotions when they do something defined as bad or wrong. They also begin to learn how to regulate their emotions.
During toddlerhood, emotional self-regulation advances in four ways…
- Toddlers develop behaviours that can help them regulate their emotions. For example, toddlers who are frightened may run to a trusted adult or older sibling, or cling to a comforting blanket or toy.
- Toddlers use language to promote emotional self-regulation, e.g. talking about feelings with others
- External requirements by others extend toddlers’ capacities for emotional self-regulation. In toddlerhood, parents begin to convey and enforce rules that require emotional self-regulation: no hitting others no matter how angry you are, no jumping on the table no matter how happy you are, etc.
- Emotional self-regulation in toddlerhood is promoted by the development of the ‘sociomoral emotions’- Becoming capable of guilt, shame and embarrassment motivates toddlers to avoid these unpleasant emotional states. Because they may be admonished by others for expressing primary emotions too strongly (e.g. yelling angrily in a grocery store) or in the wrong context (e.g. laughing loudly in a quiet restaurant), they learn emotional self-regulation as part of an effort to win approval from others and avoid their disapproval.
sociomoral emotions…
-evoked based on what the toddler has learned about culturally based standards of right and wrong
-Shame, guilt, embarrassment, envy, pride, empathy
‘Prosocial Behaviour’…
behaviour intended to help or benefit others
