Infants: Intellectual Development Child Development

Curiosity How does curiosity lead you to learn??? What things to infants need to learn about the world around them?

Learning in the first year A baby’s brain is fed by what he or she experiences through the senses. These experiences help the baby become organized. Baby’s ability to learn from the senses, called perception, improves. In just a few months babies can see farther away and learn hand-eye coordination Babies develop for abilities that show growing thinking power: ◦ Remembering ◦ Making Associations (Parent=care) ◦ Understanding Cause and Effect ◦ Paying Attention

Piaget’s Theories Jean Piaget, a Swiss psychologist, found that intellectual development followed a pattern. Children learn to master one thinking skill before they can master another one. ◦ Sensorimotor Period  Birth – 2 years  Children learn through senses and their own actions  Babies learn that objects do not just disappear (Peek-a-boo) ◦ Preoperational Period  2-7 years: Children think in terms of their own activities and what they perceive at the moment ◦ Concrete Operations  7-11 years: Children can think logically but still learn best through experience ◦ Formal Operations  11 years-Adulthood: People are capable of abstract thinking

Major steps in Intellectual development 1-2 months ◦ Follows objects with eyes ◦ Prefers faces to objects, recognizes certain voices ◦ Cries to get needs met 3-4 months ◦ Recognizes caregivers face, responds to talking ◦ Grasps and swipes at objects, practices sounds ◦ Interested in their hands and feet 5-6 months ◦ Alert for long periods of time ◦ Reaches for things and holds onto them ◦ Studies objects and looks for things that are dropped ◦ Loves Peek-a-boo ◦ Recognizes their own voice and recognizes angry voices

Stages (Continued) 7-8 months ◦ Imitates actions of others ◦ Begins to understand cause and effect ◦ Remembers things that have happened ◦ Sorts objects by size, solves simple problems ◦ Babbling speech, remembers some words 9-10 months ◦ Search for hidden objects, take objects out and put them back in ◦ Plays patty cake and handles large objects well ◦ Responds to some words, may say some words ◦ Obeys simple commands months ◦ Manipulates objects skillfully ◦ Likes picture books ◦ Knows parts of body ◦ Recognizes many words and speaks some words

Ways to help baby learn Learn about child development through books Give your time and attention Provide positive feedback Express your love TALK, TALK, TALK Provide a safe learning environment

Play is important! There are many toys for many age groups Choose toys that are appropriate for age group, but also challenging so they can move ahead in development Make sure toys are safe and not recalled Check Out These Toys:

Birth to Three months

Four to Six months

Seven to Nine months

Ten to Twelve months

Journal: Choose one (4-5 sentences) Think about toys you played with as a child. Can you think of a toy that was particularly important to you? Describe that toy and how it helped your development. Think about yourself as a parent. Of the toys we talked about today, which toy would you definitely buy for your child? Why is this toy important to their development?