Week 4 - Toddlerhood (1 > 3 years)

Question 1

describe the physical growth and changes in years 2 and 3

Answer 1

Growth slower from 1 year onwards.
Loose baby fat
Developing countries - toddlers in lowest 5% of size due to lack of protein.

Brain -
Synaptic connections increase (frontal lobes mainly)
After this there is a long phase of synaptic pruning.

Sleep -
Declines to 12-13 hrs/day
More of a day night pattern
Teething and routine changes can affect sleep.

Gross Motor development -
11mths walk without support
18 months learning to run.
24 months kicking with more dexterity

Fine Motor Skills -
holding cups, blocks, feeding themselves

Toilet training/weaning begins in this stage.

Boys average taller and heavier than girls in developed countries.

Question 2

apply Piaget and Vygotsky’s theories of cognitive development in toddlerhood

Answer 2

Piaget - Cognitive
Deferred imitation - Piaget suggest this ability develops around 18 months - give a child an instruction but they carry it out at a later time.

Categorisation - grouping of objects, events and characteristics on a basis of common properties.
Concept - ideas about what categories represent.

Mental representations - a toddler considers all options and selects best one. Big cognitive development.

Vygotsky - Social and cultural
Zone of proximal development (ZPD) - range of skills a toddler can complete but not unaided.
Scaffolding - degree of assistance provided.
Guided participation - interaction between 2 people while learning.
Private speech - comments children make to themselves to direct and guide themselves as they learn the ZPD.

Question 3

explain language development, the biological and evolutionary bases of language, language milestones and learning language in a social and cultural context

Answer 3

Toddlerhood has the most rapid language development during life span.
Begin to combine words and syntax to create infinite sentence combinations.

12-18 months - slow expansion, holo-phrases (1 word to suggest whole sentence), over extensions (Daddy to all men), under extensions (dog to the family dog, not its name)
18-24 months - naming explosion, fast mapping (remembering after 1 input), telegraphic speech (2 word phrases that strip away connecters)
2-3 years - language now more adept, show understanding of grammar.

Research suggests that parental input and affirmation in language yields higher income word comparison.

Question 4

explain emotional and social development in toddlerhood, including identity, attachment theory and the social world.

Answer 4

Emotional regulation - develops in 4 ways

1: behaviour development
2: Use of language
3: External requirement (rules that must be followed)
4: Sociomoral emotions (guilt, shame, embarrassment encourage toddler to avoid these behaviours)

Identity - The birth of ‘self’ -
self awareness - reflects an understanding of the distinction between self and the external world.
Self recognition occurs in toddlerhood.
Self reflection begins.
Understanding of gender and status within social world develops.

Attachment theory -
Bowlby: attachment based on protection, not feeding
Ainsworth:
Secure attachment: mother is secure base
Insecure-avoidant: no interaction with mother
Insecure-resistant: child shows distress upon separation but ambivalence upon return.
Disorganised-disoriented: unusual behaviour, dazed when mother leaves, fear upon return.