Toddlerhood Flashcards

Question

Language in Toddlers

Answer 1

Toddlers go from speaking a few words at their first birthday to being fluent users of language by their third birthday. Chimpanzees and other animals lack vocal apparatus to speak but one famous chimpanzee, Washoe, learned to use about 100 signs, mostly involving requests for food. She even learned to lie and to make jokes. However, she never learned to make original combinations of signs (with one possible exception, when she saw a duck for the first time and signed ‘water bird’). Early hominids had a larynx similar in placement to modern non-human primates, and so must have been incapable of language. The placement of the larynx became notably lower beginning nearly 2 million years ago, and the earliest Homo sapiens 200,000 years ago had a vocal apparatus that was not much different from yours.

Answer 2

Mostly, Washoe and other primates who have learned sign language simply mimic the signs they have been taught by their human teachers. They lack the most important and distinctive feature of human language, which is infinite generativity, the ability to take the word symbols of a language and combine them in a virtually infinite number of new ways.

Answer 3

A variety of human biological characteristics indicate that we are a species built for language, especially our vocal apparatus, brain specialisation and specific genes. First, humans have a unique vocal apparatus. We are able to make a much wider range of sounds than the other primates because, for us, the larynx is located lower in the throat, which creates a large sound chamber, the pharynx, above the vocal cords. We also have a relatively small and mobile tongue that can push the air coming past the larynx in various ways to make different sounds, and lips that are flexible enough to stop and start the passage of air. Second, two areas in the left hemisphere of the human brain are specifically devoted to language functions: Broca’s area, in the left frontal lobe, is specialised for language production; and Wernicke’s area, in the left temporal lobe, is specialised for language comprehension. If damage to one of these areas occurs in adulthood, the specialised language function of the area is also damaged; but if damage takes place in childhood, other areas of the brain can compensate—with compensation being greater the younger the child when the brain injury takes place. In addition to Broca’s and Wernicke’s areas, many other regions of the brain contribute to language use. In fact, some linguists argue that the extraordinary size of the human brain in comparison to other species is due mainly to the evolution of language. Third, genes for language development have recently been identified. Identifying the specific genes for language strengthens our knowledge of how deeply language is embedded in human phylogenetic (species) development. FOXP2 gene

Answer 4

According to Chomsky, innate feature of the brain that enables children to perceive and grasp quickly the grammatical rules in the language around them.

Answer 5

For the first 6 months of toddlerhood, language develops at a steady but slow pace. By 18 months, a toddler may know between 20 and 100 words, and by 2 years old, they will start putting two words together. Toddlers may speak their 10th word anywhere from 13 to 19 months old, and their 50th word anywhere from 14 to 24 months old, and still be considered within the normal range. From 18 to 24 months, the pace of learning new words doubles, from one to three words per week to five or six words per week. By their second birthday, toddlers have an average vocabulary of about 200 words. Girls’ vocabulary increases faster than boys’ vocabulary during this period, initiating a gender difference in verbal abilities that will persist throughout childhood. Two of the most notable words toddlers learn during this period are gone and no. They also learn to name one or two colours, at least six body parts and emotional states like ‘tired’ and ‘mad’. 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. They also use words that reflect a more complex understanding of categories. They continue to exhibit overextension and underextension, but with diminishing frequency as their vocabulary expands. They continue to use telegraphic speech as well, but now in three- and four-word statements rather than two words. They can speak about events that are happening in the present as well as about past and future events. Toddlers raised in homes where Chinese is spoken have learned that raising or lowering the pitch of a word changes its meaning. French toddlers have learned how to make nasal sounds and say ‘Voilà!’, and !Kung San toddlers in Botswana have learned how to click their tongues against various parts of their mouths to make the words of their language. Without any explicit instruction, by the end of the third year toddlers have learned the rules of their language, no matter how complex those rules may seem to someone who does not speak it.

Answer 6

A single word can be used to represent different forms of whole sentences.

Answer 7

Another way toddlers make the most of their limited vocabulary is to have a single word represent a variety of related objects.

Answer 8

Applying a general word to a specific object.

Answer 9

After just one time of being told what an object is called, toddlers this age will learn it and remember it.

Answer 10

Like a telegram in the old days, telegraphic speech strips away connecting words like the and and, getting right to the point with nouns, verbs and modifiers. These two word phrases start to be used at around 2 years old. An interesting feature of telegraphic speech is that it already shows an initial knowledge of syntax (word order).

Answer 11

Applying grammatical rules even to words that are exceptions to the rule.

Answer 12

In New Zealand, Australia and other developed countries, parents often read to their infants and toddlers, explaining the meaning of the words as they go along. Parents in high-income families talked the most to their children, averaging about 35 words a minute; parents in middle-income families talked to their children an average of about 20 words a minute; and parents of low-income families provided the least language stimulation, just 10 words per minute. By 30 months old, there were substantial differences in the toddlers’ vocabularies, averaging 766 words in the high-income families and just 357 words in the low-income families.

Answer 13

Learn to regulate emotions. Learn shame and guilt from learning right and wrong. In African and Asian cultures, by the time toddlerhood is reached, children have already learned that they are expected to control their emotions and their behaviour, and they exercise the control required of them.

Answer 14

-Toddlers develop behaviours that can help them regulate their emotions. -Toddlers use language to promote emotional self-regulation. -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. -The development of sociomoral emotions promotes self-regulation in toddlers. These emotions are also called self-conscious, requiring an understanding of self. Becoming capable of guilt, shame and embarrassment motivates toddlers to avoid these unpleasant emotional states and win approval of others.

Answer 15

In toddlerhood, new emotions appear, including guilt, shame, embarrassment, envy and pride. These are known as secondary emotions because they develop later than the primary emotions and they are based on what toddlers experience in their social environment.

Answer 16

The ability to understand and respond helpfully to another person’s distress. Throughout the first year, infants respond to the distress of others with distress of their own. However, true empathy requires an understanding of the self as separate from others, so it develops along with self-awareness in toddlerhood. It is only in the second and especially the third year that toddlers have enough of a developed sense of self to understand the distress of others and respond.

Answer 17

Behaviour intended to help or benefit others.

Answer 18

Upon seeing the child with the red nose in the mirror, 9- and 12-month-old infants would reach out to touch the reflection as if it were someone else, but by 18 months most toddlers rubbed their own nose, recognising the image as themselves. About the same time self-recognition first appears (as indicated in the red-nose test), toddlers also begin to use personal pronouns for the first time (‘I’, ‘me’, ‘mine’), and they begin to refer to themselves by their own name. These developments show that by the second half of their second year, toddlers have the beginnings of self-reflection, the capacity to think about themselves as they would think about other people and objects. Important for developing sociomoral emotions.

Answer 19

Between 18 and 30 months of age is when children first identify themselves and others as male or female. Sex refers to biological status of being male or female. Gender is cultural categories. Toys are gender-specific custom complexes, representing distinctive cultural patterns of behaviour that are based on underlying cultural beliefs. Toys for boys—such as super-hero figures, cars and balls for playing sport—reflect the expectation that boys will be active, aggressive and competitive. Toys for girls—such as dolls, jewellery and playhouses—reflect the expectation that girls will be nurturing, cooperative and attractive in appearance.

Answer 20

Evolutionary: For males, survival was promoted by aggressiveness, competitiveness and dominance. For females, survival was promoted by being nurturing, cooperative and emotionally responsive to others. Ethological: The behaviour of closely related primate and mammalian relatives are the same as human. Hormonal: Throughout life, beginning even prenatally, males and females differ in their hormonal balances, with males having more androgens and females more oestrogens. These hormonal differences influence human development and behaviour.

Answer 21

Observed findings that were inconsistent with the belief of the first half of the 20th century that the association between mothers and food was the basis for the love that infants feel for their mothers. There were three findings that were especially notable to Bowlby: institutionalised infants, Rhesus monkeys and imprinting. The child’s primary attachment figure is the person who is sought out when the child experiences some kind of distress or threat in the environment, such as hunger, pain, an unfamiliar person or an unfamiliar setting.

Answer 22

Reported that infants raised in institutions suffered in their physical and emotional development, even if they were fed well. Spitz studied infants who entered an orphanage when they were 3–12 months old. Despite adequate physical care, the babies lost weight and seemed listless and passive, a condition Spitz called anaclitic depression. Nurses cared for many and spent little time nurturing. The infants showed no sign of developing positive feelings towards the nurse, even though the nurse provided them with nourishment.

Answer 23

Placed baby monkeys in a cage with two kinds of artificial ‘mothers’. One of the mothers was made of wire mesh, the other of soft terry cloth. Harlow found that even when he placed the feeding bottle in the wire mother, the baby monkeys spent almost all their time on the cloth mother that provided warmth and physical comfort, going to the wire mother only to feed.

Answer 24

Newborn goslings would bond to the first moving object they saw after hatching and follow it closely, a phenomenon he called imprinting. To Lorenz and other ethologists, the foundation of the bond between the young of the species and their mothers was not nourishment but protection.

Answer 25

Secure attachment: Toddlers in this category use the mother as a secure base from which to explore during the first part of the Strange Situation when only the mother and toddler are present. Upon separation, securely attached toddlers usually cry or vocalise in protest. When the mother returns, they greet her happily by smiling and going to her to be hugged and held. Insecure-avoidant: These toddlers show little or no interaction with the mother when she is present, and no response to her departure or return. When these toddlers are picked up in the last episode of the Strange Situation, they may immediately seek to get down. Insecure-resistant: Toddlers classified as insecure–resistant are less likely than others to explore the toys when the mother is present, and they show greater distress when she leaves the room. When she returns, they show ambivalence, running to greet the mother in seeming relief but then pushing her away when she attempts to comfort or pick them up. Disorganised-disorientated: They may seem dazed and detached when the mother leaves the room, but with outbursts of anger, and when the mother returns, they may seem fearful. Some freeze their movements suddenly in odd postures. This kind of attachment is especially shown by toddlers who show other signs of serious problems, such as autism spectrum disorder or Down syndrome, and also by those who have suffered severe abuse or neglect.

Answer 26

Response to being approached, held or even smiled at by people they do not recognise and trust. Stranger anxiety exists in a wide range of cultures beginning at about age 6 months and grows stronger in the months that follow. Evolutionary for protection when toddlers start to explore the environment.

Answer 27

Ainsworth’s early research indicated that about two-thirds of toddlers had secure attachments to their mothers, with the remaining one-third either insecure–avoidant or insecure–resistant. The quality of attachment was based mainly on how sensitive and responsive the mother was. According to attachment theory, based on the degree of their mothers’ sensitive and responsive behaviour over the first year of life, children develop an internal working model of what to expect about her availability and supportiveness during times of need.

Answer 28

The internal working model of the primary caregiver formed in infancy and toddlerhood is later applied to other relationships. Securely attached children can love and trust others because they could love and trust their primary caregiver in their early years. Insecurely attached children display hostility, indifference or overdependence on others in later relationships because they find it difficult to believe others will be worthy of their love and trust. Only disorganised–disoriented attachment is highly predictive of later problems. Other attachments are not strong predictors of outcomes and expectations that may then be modified by later experiences in childhood, adolescence and beyond.

Answer 29

The ‘child effect’ is one of the most common critiques of attachment theory and claims the theory overstates the mother’s influence—and understates the child’s influence—on quality of attachment (temperament and relations are reciprocal or bidirectional). Cultural bias

Answer 30

In China, the father’s traditional role is that of provider and disciplinarian. In Latin America, the tradition is that the father provides for the family and has unquestioned authority over his children, although in many Latin American cultures this role coexists with warm, affectionate relationships with his children. Many cultures in Africa have a tradition of polygyny, meaning that men often have more than one wife. Households are composed of each wife and her children, with the father either living separately or rotating among them. Here, too, his role is that of provider and disciplinarian, and the children are not usually emotionally close to him. Manus people of New Guinea once the child enters toddlerhood and begins to walk, the father takes over most child care. The toddler sleeps with the father, plays with him, rides on his back and goes along on his daily fishing expeditions. Warlpiri fathers in the Northern Territory of Australia are very affectionate with their daughters and sons from birth, but become more involved during toddlerhood.

Answer 31

Across developed countries, fathers interact less with their infants and toddlers than mothers do. When fathers do interact with their infants and toddlers, it tends to be in play rather than care, especially in physical, highly stimulating, rough-and-tumble play. Father engagement positively influences children’s social, behavioural and psychological outcomes.

Answer 32

Older siblings provide emotional comfort and security of an attachment figure. Secondary attachment. Older siblings attachment may become less secure when a new infant receives most of the attention. Studies indicate that if mothers pay special attention to the toddler before the new baby arrives and explain the feelings and needs of the baby after the birth, toddlers respond more positively to their new sibling.

Answer 33

solitary play all by themselves parallel play, in which they would take part in the same activity but without acknowledging each other simple social play, where they talk to each other, smile and give and receive toys cooperative pretend play, involving a shared fantasy such as pretending to be animals

Answer 34

Usually, the diagnosis of autism or ASD is made during toddlerhood, at 2–3 years. Some of the early signs of ASD can be avoiding eye contact, displaying little interest in other children or caregivers, limited language skills and the child being upset at changes in routine. Repetitive behaviour and abnormal language development. Some people prefer person-first language, such as ‘person with autism’. However, some autistic adults object to this term and prefer identity-first language; that is ‘autistic person’. Intelligence does vary significantly in autistic children, with around half having an IQ within the normal range or above. Everyone is different. Exceptional metal skills are rare. In Australia, approximately 2.5% of children fit the diagnostic criteria for ASD. Consistent across Asia, North America and Europe. Increasing prevalance, unknown why. It is believed to have a genetic basis, as evidence of abnormal brain development is present in the unusually large brains of children who will later develop ASD. The amygdala, especially, is abnormally large.

Answer 35

Time spent with screens is time not spent doing other activities such as reading or playing with other children.

Answer 36

On a typical day, 81% of 2-year-olds in New Zealand watch television or a DVD for a total average of 96 minutes. In Australia, children aged 0–4 watch television on average almost 2 hours per day. Children under 2 and those aged between 2 and 5 spend an average of 14.2 hours per week and 25.9 hours per week, respectively, engaged with technology. Excessive screen time has been found to impact on children’s physical health due the sedentary nature of watching a screen leading to an increased risk of obesity and sleep-related issues. Recommended that children under 18 months should not use screen media other than for video chatting, parents should choose high-quality programs and apps and should view or play them with their children, and children 2–5 years should be limited to no more than 1 hour of screen time per day.