CHAPTER 5: COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT IN

INFANCY

HEHD 8010

Chris Raymond and Stojanna Hollis

ACTIVE CONSTRUCTION

Jean Piaget's influential theory on infant

development

Constructs understanding of the world on the basis

of their own actions

Compared to other developmental scientists who

believe that infants learned by being 'passive'

ACTIVE CONSTRUCTION

Shapes how parents and YDL's can influence youth

learning

Exposing youth to activities in which they are the

'driver'

Ex: Games in which children control the outcomes

Ex: Focusing less on standardized tests

COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT

Adaptation: “The process whereby knowledge is

altered by experience.”

Assimilation: when new information is processed

according to what the child already knows

Accommodation: when the child 'changes' their

knowledge to better understand reality

COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT

Adults and YDL's can facilitate child learning in multiple

ways

Ex: Taking the child to a petting zoo to further develop

their understanding of 'animals'

Ex: Expose the child to people of different races in an

effort to show expand their knowledge of 'people'

Ex: Exposing the child to many different objects so they

can gain a greater understanding of their surroundings

Sensorimotor Period Birth-1 month

Minimal mental development

1-4 months Coordinate

various aspects of understanding

4-7 months Relation of

their actions and the environment

18-24 months Mental

representation

10-18 months Discover

unexpected relations of outside world

7-10 months Construct

relations among environmental stimuli

SENSORIMOTOR PERIOD

While these stages are not set in stone, they provide a

framework for cognitive development

Parents and YDL's should be aware of these stages

Ex: When interacting with a child in a particular stage,

attempt to 'play' within each stage

Do not try to force a child into the next stage they are not

ready for

Play within their cognitive abilities

CHALLENGES TO PIAGET

Too much focus on active exploration

Not enough focus on sensory and organizational

capacities

Object permanence and mental representation

appear much earlier than Piaget stated

Infants have been seen to be able to imitate an

action after a delay

As long as a week

CHALLENGES TO PIAGET

It has been shown that not all of Piaget's conclusions are

true for all developing children

Ex: Expose children to more 'advanced' behavior than

Piaget recommends

Parents and YDL's should use what they can from Piaget's

writing, but focus on developing each child in a unique way

Ex: If you notice a child showing a sign of cognitive

development, continue to foster that particular action

SOCIAL AND CULTURAL FACTORS

Distal forces influence development through

proximal forces

Socioeconomic status, parent's education, parent's

age, single mother, air quality, schools, etc..

Scaffolding

Joint attention, responsiveness, material

environment

Ethnotheories

SOCIAL AND CULTURAL FACTORS

High quality education programs

Can improve IQ

Constant interplay between child's abilities and environment

Ex: Begin by assisting the infant in putting puzzle together,

than let them take the lead

Ex: Read to the infant

Ex: Respond appropriately when the infant initiates interaction

CATEGORIZATION

Grouping separate items into a set according to

some rule.

CATEGORIZATION SIMPLIF IED IN 3 WAYS:

Infant experience the world in biological states that are

frequently changing. • For example, when a teddy bear is in the light and when it’s in

the dark(it’s the same).

Facilitates storage of information• Doesn’t have to remember everything a person does to

remember who they are. • Example, facial expressions

Knowledge of an attribute of one member of a category

provides information about other members of the same category.

CATEGORIZATION

Youth Development Leaders can become

very impactful when incorporating

categorization into activities or games. • For example, we can group our youth in

different categories based off of age, gender, race, sports they like to play, etc.

• This method can help leaders organize their youth better, especially when dealing with larger crowds.

PHONOLOGY, SEMANTICS, SYNTAX

Phonology• Sounds must be produced and perceived

Semantics• Meaning of words and sentences, or the content of

speech

Syntax• Ways in which words and phrases are arranged to

ensure correct and meaningful communication.

PHONOLOGY, SEMANTICS, SYNTAX CONT. .

Grammar, understanding sentences, and

pronouncing words are all important throughout the

process of communication and understanding

language. • YDL’s can use these tools to help develop our youth

vocabulary. • Engage in activities that allow our youth to explain the

meaning of words and understanding of sentences.

LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT IN INFANTS

To study the language development in infants one

must simply observe, record, and analyze what

children seem to understand or say as they grow up.

LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT IN INFANTS

Being a YDL recording, observing and analyzing

will inevitably help us impact our youth and keep

their parents informed about their child

development. • Keeping notes about the youth can be beneficial that

way as staff members we know if our youth are progressing or digressing.

INFANT-DIRECTED SPEECH, TURN-TAKING, AND GESTURES

Infant- Directed Speech• Rhythm and tone, simplification, redundancy

Turn-Taking• Teaches that it’s impolite to interrupt. Wait our turn to speak

Gestures• Form of non-verbal communication

These strategies elicit the baby’s attention, change the

baby’s state of arousal, communicate emotion, and facilitate

language comprehension.

INFANT-DIRECTED SPEECH, TURN-TAKING, AND GESTURES

As YDL’s we must understand that our youth won’t always

comprehend everything that we say. There will be times

where we have to simplify things so they will understand so

they can be better and more productive in life. • For example, teaching our youth to raise their hand and

wait to be called on. • Saying excuse me before interrupting conversations.

• While these are things that parents should teach their children we must understand that a lot of youth lack parenting at home.

SOUND PRODUCTION

Prelinguistic• Crying and babbling

One-Word• Holophrase

• One word stands in for a phrase and has different meaning depending on context.

Multiword Stage• Vocabulary increases and the child begins to learn

multiple words.

SOUND PRODUCTION

Helping our youth increase their vocabulary is

very important and beneficial to mentors.

While society is changing it’s still important

that our youth understands the importance in

proper grammar and speaking grammatically

correct. • YDL’s can play board games such as scrabble,

hang-man, etc. these are all ways that our youth can engage in learning new words and using them.