Unit – 3 – PHYSICAL, COGNITIVE AND LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT

MOTOR DEVELOPMENT:

Motor development is the process by which a person learns how to use and manipulate the
muscles to move the body in the desired way. It is a development that begins with simple
movements as an infant, which build upon one another and progress through childhood and
adolescence. While each individual develops at a different rate, children should generally
master specific skills around the same age. By adulthood, a person should have full control
over their muscles, understand their body in relation to their surroundings, and be able to
manipulate their environment.
Proper motor development is not just important for a child's physical growth, but it is key to
other areas of childhood development. Physical movement allows children to explore their
environment, which leads to cognitive development. Generally speaking, motor development
is tracked by the skills children master by a certain age. For each age group, there are specific
gross and fine motor skills that should be mastered by the child. Children will naturally
progress through four stages of motor development.

First is the reflexive stage, where children develop reflexes that help them orient their bodies
and complete simple movements. The second stage is the rudimentary movement phase.
During this time children develop basic motor skills like grasping, sitting, standing, and
walking. The third stage is the fundamental movement phase, during which children develop
basic movement and manipulation skills, like bending, twisting, running and jumping, and
throwing and catching a ball. Once these skills are mastered, children move into the
specialized movement phase, where they master more precise movements and skills related
to specific tasks. Major milestones in motor development that occur as children progress
through these stages include holding their head up, rolling over, sitting, standing, and walking.
Adequate motor development is important to a child's overall development as it is tied to
mental development.

REFLEXES
Newborns are equipped with a number of reflexes which are involuntary movements in
response to stimulation. The newborn is not completely helpless. Among other things, it has
some basic reflexes. For example, when submerged in water, the newborn automatically holds
its breath and contracts its throat to keep water out.

Reflexes are built-in reactions to stimuli; they govern the newborn’s movements, which are
automatic and beyond the newborn’s control. Reflexes are genetically carried survival
mechanisms. They allow infants to respond adaptively to their environment before they have
had the opportunity to learn. The rooting and sucking reflexes are important examples. Both
have survival value for newborn mammals, who must find a mother’s breast to obtain
nourishment.

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The rooting reflex occurs when the infant’s cheek is stroked or the side of the mouth is
touched. In response, the infant turns its head toward the side that was touched in an
apparent effort to find something to suck. This helps the baby find the breast or bottle to start
feeding. This reflex lasts about 4 months.
The sucking reflex occurs when newborns automatically suck an object placed in their mouth.
This reflex enables newborns to get nourishment before they have associated a nipple with
food and also serves as a self-soothing or self-regulating mechanism. Rooting helps the baby
get ready to suck. When the roof of the baby's mouth is touched, the baby will start to suck.
This reflex doesn't start until about the 32nd week of pregnancy and is not fully developed
until about 36 weeks. Premature babies may have a weak or immature sucking ability because
of this. Because babies also have a hand-to-mouth reflex that goes with rooting and sucking,
they may suck on their fingers or hands.
Another example is the Moro reflex, is often called a startle reflex which occurs in response
to a sudden, intense noise, or movement. When startled, the newborn arches its back, throws
back its head, and flings out its arms and legs. Then the newborn rapidly draws in its arms and
legs. The Moro reflex is believed to be a way of grabbing for support while falling; it would
have had survival value for our primate ancestors.
Tonic neck reflex. When a baby's head is turned to one side, the arm on that side stretches
out and the opposite arm bends up at the elbow. This is often called the fencing position. This
reflex lasts until the baby is about 5 to 7 months old.

Grasp reflex. Stroking the palm of a baby's hand causes the baby to close his or her fingers in
a grasp. The grasp reflex lasts until the baby is about 5 to 6 months old. A similar reflex in the
toes lasts until 9 to 12 months.
Stepping reflex. This reflex is also called the walking or dance reflex because a baby appears
to take steps or dance when held upright with his or her feet touching a solid surface. This
reflex lasts about 2 months.
The Babinski reflex in the newborn is a reaction in their foot. When stroked the bottom of the
baby’s foot from their heel to their toes, their big toe should move upward. The rest of their
toes should fan out.
Some reflexes – Coughing, sneezing, blinking, shivering, and yawning, for example – persist
throughout life. They are as important for the adult as they are for the infant. Other reflexes
though disappear several months following birth, as the infant's brain matures and voluntary
control over many behaviors develops. The rooting and Moro reflexes, for example, tend to
disappear when the infant is three to four months old.
The movements of some reflexes eventually become incorporated into more complex,
voluntary actions. One important example is the grasping reflex, which occurs when
something touches infant’s palms. The infant responds by grasping tightly. By the end of the
third month, the grasping reflex diminishes and the infant shows a more voluntary grasp. As
its motor coordination becomes smoother, the infant will grasp objects, carefully manipulate
them, and explore their qualities.

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Within the first few months of life these reflexes disappear, while other reflexes, such as the
eye-blink, swallowing, sneezing, gagging, and withdrawal reflex stay with us as they continue
to serve important functions. Reflexes offer pediatricians insight into the maturation and
health of the nervous system. Reflexes that persist longer than they should can impede normal
development. In preterm infants and those with neurological impairments, some of these
reflexes may be absent at birth. Once present, they may persist longer than in a neurologically
healthy infant.

The old view of reflexes is that they were exclusively genetic, built-in mechanisms that
governed the infant’s movements. The new perspective on infant reflexes is that they are not
automatic or completely beyond the infant’s control. For example, infants can alternate the
movement of their legs to make a mobile Jiggle or change their sucking rate to listen to a
recording.

SOME NEWBORN REFLEXES: SLEEPING, CRYING

A newborn typically sleeps approximately 16.5 hours per 24-hour period. This is usually
polyphasic sleep in that the infant is accumulating the 16.5 hours over several sleep periods
throughout the day. The infant is averaging 15 hours per 24-hour period by one month, and
14 hours by 6 months. By the time children turn two, they are averaging closer to 10 hours
per 24 hours.
Crying is the “mother” of all baby safety reflexes! Triggered by any sudden distress, it’s
perfectly tuned to launch the nervous system and get the heart—and feet—racing to help.
Infants have a cry reflex that is a normal response to stimuli, such as pain or hunger. Premature
infants may not have a cry reflex. Therefore, they must be monitored closely for signs of
hunger and pain.

A cry is the infant's first verbal communication. It is a message of urgency or distress. The
sound is nature's way of ensuring that adults attend to the baby as quickly as possible. It is
very hard for most people to listen to a crying baby.
Almost everyone recognizes that infants cry for many reasons and that crying is a normal
response. However, parents may feel a high amount of stress and anxiety when a baby cries
frequently. The sound is perceived as an alarm. Parents are often frustrated at not being able
to determine the cause of the crying and soothe the baby. First time parents often question
their parenting abilities if a baby cannot be comforted.
At times, infants cry for no apparent reason. However, most crying is in response to something.
It may be hard to figure out what is bothering the infant at the time. Some possible reasons
include:
• Hunger. Newborns want to eat day and night, often every 2 to 3 hours.
• Pain caused by gas or intestinal spasms after feedings. The pain develops if the baby
has been fed too much or not burped enough. Foods that a breastfeeding mother eats
may cause gas or pain in her child.

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 • Colic. Many infants ages 3 weeks to 3 months develop a crying pattern associated with
colic. Colic is a normal part of development that may be triggered by many factors. It
usually occurs in the late afternoon or evening hours.
• Discomfort, such as from a wet diaper.
• Feeling too hot or too cold. Babies may also cry from feeling too wrapped up in their
blanket, or from wanting to be bundled up tightly.
• Too much noise, light, or activity. These can slowly or suddenly overwhelm your baby.

Crying is probably part of the normal development of the central nervous system. Many
parents say they can hear a difference in tone between a cry for feeding and a cry caused by
pain.

MOTOR DEVELOPMENT IN INFANCY

When babies are born, movement is usually the result of reflexes. Reflexes are unplanned
automatic responses to environmental stimuli. For example, if a baby is cold, he or she might
shiver. This is a reflex because the baby did not have to think about shivering; it took place
automatically.
As the brains of babies develop, reflexive behaviors begin to subside and motor development
increases. For example, an older baby might cover himself or herself with a blanket if cold.
Motor development would allow the baby to reach out for the blanket.

Gross motor development happens before fine motor development. Both occur from brain
maturation. In short, as the brain develops, connections are made that increase coordination
and balance. For example, as gross motor development occurs, babies begin to hold up their
own heads without support. A bit later, they may be able to roll over and scoot around.
Eventually they'll crawl, walk, and run. This is the typical pattern of gross motor development
in infancy.
Fine motor development takes a bit more time for infants. It usually begins with babies placing
their fingers or toes in their mouths. Next, they may reach out for something like a rattle or
bottle. Eventually, they can use their fingers to complete simple puzzles or turn the pages of
a book. As fine motor development progresses from infancy to childhood, both gross and fine
motor development become more refined.

SEQUENCE OF MOTOR DEVELOPMENT

Motor development occurs in an orderly sequence as infants move from reflexive reactions
(e.g., sucking and rooting) to more advanced motor functioning. Development occurs
according to the Cephalocaudal (from head to tail) and Proximodistal (from the midline
outward) principles. For instance, babies first learn to hold their heads up, then to sit with
assistance, then to sit unassisted, followed later by crawling, pulling up, and then walking. As
motor skills develop, there are certain developmental milestones that young children should

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achieve. For each milestone there is an average age, as well as a range of ages in which the
milestone should be reached. An example of a developmental milestone is a baby holding up
its head. Babies on average are able to hold up their head at 6 weeks old, and 90% of babies
achieve this between 3 weeks and 4 months old. If a baby is not holding up his head by 4
months old, he is showing a delay. On average, most babies sit alone at 7 months old. Sitting
involves both coordination and muscle strength, and 90% of babies achieve this milestone
between 5 and 9 months old. If the child is displaying delays on several milestones, that is
reason for concern, and the parent or caregiver should discuss this with the child’s
pediatrician. Some developmental delays can be identified and addressed through early
intervention.

GROSS MOTOR DEVELOPMENT

Ask any parents about their baby, and sooner or later you are likely to hear about one or more
motor milestones, such as "Cassandra just learned to crawl," "Jesse is finally sitting alone," or
"Angela took her first step last week." Parents proudly announce such milestones as their
children transform themselves from babies unable to lift their heads to toddlers who grab
things of the grocery store shelf, chase a cat, and participate actively in the family's social life.
These milestones are examples of gross motor skills, which involve large-muscle activities such
as moving one's arms and walking.
The Development of Posture. How do gross motor skills develop? As a foundation, these skills
require postural control. For example, to track moving objects, one must be able to control
the movement of their head in order to stabilise their gaze; before they can walk, they must
be able to balance on one leg.
Posture is more than just holding still and straight. Posture is a dynamic process that is linked
with sensory information in the skin, joints, and muscles, which tell us where we are in space;
in vestibular organs in the inner ear that regulate balance and equilibrium; and in vision and
hearing.
Newborn infants cannot voluntarily control their posture. Within a few weeks, though, they
can hold their heads erect, and soon they can lift their heads while prone. By 2 months of age,
babies can sit while supported on a lap or an infant seat, but they cannot sit independently
until they are 6 or 7 months of age. Standing also develops gradually during the first year of
life. By about 8 to 9 months of age, infants usually learn to pull themselves up and hold on to
a chair, and they often can stand alone by about 10 to 12 months of age.

Gross motor skills focus on large muscle groups that control our head, torso, arms and legs
and involve larger movements (e.g., balancing, running, and jumping). These skills begin to
develop first. Examples include moving to bring the chin up when lying on the stomach,
moving the chest up, and rocking back and forth on hands and knees. But it also includes
exploring an object with one’s feet as many babies do as early as 8 weeks of age if seated in a
carrier or other device that frees the hips. This may be easier than reaching for an object with
the hands, which requires much more practice. Sometimes an infant will try to move toward

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an object while crawling and surprisingly move backward because of the greater amount of
strength in the arms than in the legs.

FINE MOTOR DEVELOPMENT

Motor Skills refer to our ability to move our bodies and manipulate objects. Fine motor skills
focus on the muscles in our fingers, toes, and eyes, and enable coordination of small actions
(e.g., grasping a toy, writing with a pencil, and using a spoon). Newborns cannot grasp objects
voluntarily but do wave their arms toward objects of interest. At about 4 months of age, the
infant is able to reach for an object, first with both arms and within a few weeks, with only
one arm. At this age grasping an object involves the use of the fingers and palm, but no
thumbs. This is known as the Palmer Grasp. The use of the thumb comes at about 9 months
of age when the infant is able to grasp an object using the forefinger and thumb. Now the
infant uses a Pincer Grasp, and this ability greatly enhances the ability to control and
manipulate an object and infants take great delight in this newfound ability. They may spend
hours picking up small objects from the floor and placing them in containers. By 9 months, an
infant can also watch a moving object, reach for it as it approaches, and grab it.

PERCEPTUAL DEVELOPMENT
Throughout much of history, the newborn was considered a passive, disorganised being who
possessed minimal abilities. William James, an early psychologist, had described the
newborn’s world as “a blooming, buzzing confusion,”. However, current research techniques
have demonstrated just how developed the newborn is with especially organised sensory and
perceptual abilities.
Perceptual development refers to the development of all five senses: hearing, sight, taste,
touch, and smell. Habituation occurs when an infant is less responsive to a stimulus following
repeated or recurrent exposure. For example, habituation occurs when an infant reacts
differently when exposed to a new toy. While infants may like an old toy, they will spend more
time with the new toy because they have become habituated to the older toy. At one time,
infants were thought to be blind at birth, but studies of perceptual development in infants
have shown that this is not the case. In fact, newborns can see objects a few inches away.
Their other senses are beginning to develop as well, as evidenced by the fact that infants can
distinguish between the smell of breast milk and formula. In addition, newborns can recognize
familiar voices. Perceptual development is important for gaining knowledge that lays the
foundation for additional learning as the child matures.

TOUCH
Touch and Pain: Immediately after birth, a newborn is sensitive to touch and temperature, and
is also highly sensitive to pain, responding with crying and cardiovascular responses.
Throughout development, perception and action are linked. Infants learn about the

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environment through touching or mouthing surrounding objects. Oral exploration of objects
is dominant until about four-months-of-age, when infants begin to gain control of the
movements of their limbs. These movements may be crucial to infants’ learning to perceive
aspects of the world such as depth, movement, and to improve acuity. This bidirectional
influence has been substantiated through research on infants’ guided action and reaching
behaviors, which suggests that perceptual development helps to guide actions, and this, in
turn, supports further perceptual development.

TASTE
Taste and Smell: Studies of taste and smell demonstrate that babies respond with different
facial expressions, suggesting that certain preferences are innate. Newborns can distinguish
between sour, bitter, sweet, and salty flavors and show a preference for sweet flavors.
Newborns also prefer the smell of their mothers. An infant only 6 days old is significantly more
likely to turn toward its own mother’s breast pad than to the breast pad of another baby’s
mother, and within hours of birth an infant also shows a preference for the face of its own
mother.

Infants seem to be born with the ability to perceive the world in an intermodal way; that is,
through stimulation from more than one sensory modality. For example, infants who sucked
on a pacifier with either a smooth or textured surface preferred to look at a corresponding
(smooth or textured) visual model of the pacifier.

SMELL
They say the nose knows. That couldn’t be truer for the newborn. Baby’s sense of smell is not
just incredibly strong, but it helps them learn about people and places, and guides the
development of their other senses.
The brain's olfactory (smell) center forms very early in fetal development. Studies have found
that newborns have a keen sense of smell. From the time of birth, an infant can distinguish
his mother's scent. He can even tell the difference between his mother's breast milk and
formula or another mother's breast milk. In the first week of life, he will learn the differences
in smells and start to prefer pleasant scents to unpleasant ones.

HEARING
The infant’s sense of hearing is very keen at birth, and the ability to hear is evidenced as soon
as the 7th month of prenatal development. In fact, an infant can distinguish between very
similar sounds as early as one month after birth and can distinguish between a familiar and
non-familiar voice even earlier. Infants are especially sensitive to the frequencies of sounds in
human speech and prefer the exaggeration of infant-directed speech. Additionally, infants are
innately ready to respond to the sounds of any language, but some of this ability will be lost

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by 7 or 8 months as the infant becomes familiar with the sounds of a particular language and
less sensitive to sounds that are part of an unfamiliar language.
An infant can hear and react to sound, even before he is born! In the uterus, an unborn child
hears familiar voices, its mother's heartbeat, and other internal sounds. These familiar sounds
often comfort them once they are born. Have you ever seen a baby become calm at the sound
of its mother's voice or ocean sounds?
This may be because these sounds are already familiar to them. The child may startle at
sudden, loud noises as well. Sounds like this are less familiar to the infant. Differentiation
between unfamiliar and familiar sounds will eventually assist with the process of learning
verbal language.

VISION
The womb is a dark environment void of visual stimulation. Consequently, vision is the most
poorly developed sense at birth and time is needed to build those neural pathways between
the eye and the brain. Newborns typically cannot see further than 8 to 16 inches away from
their faces, and their visual acuity is about 20/400, which means that an infant can see
something at 20 feet that an adult with normal vision could see at 400 feet. Thus, the world
probably looks blurry to young infants. Because of their poor visual acuity, they look longer at
checkerboards with fewer large squares than with many small squares. Infants’ thresholds for
seeing a visual pattern are higher than adults’. Thus, toys for infants are sometimes
manufactured with black and white patterns rather than pastel colors because the higher
contrast between black and white makes the pattern more visible to the immature visual
system. By about 6 months, infants’ visual acuity improves and approximates adult 20/25
acuity.

When viewing a person’s face, newborns do not look at the eyes the way adults do; rather,
they tend to look at the chin a less detailed part of the face. However, by 2 or 3 months, they
will seek more detail when exploring an object visually and begin showing preferences for
unusual images over familiar ones, for patterns over solids, for faces over patterns, and for
three-dimensional objects over flat images. Newborns have difficulty distinguishing between
colors, but within a few months they are able to discriminate between colors as well as adults.
Sensitivity to binocular depth cues, which require inputs from both eyes, is evident by about
3 months and continues to develop during the first 6 months. By 6 months, the infant can
perceive depth perception in pictures as well. Infants who have experience crawling and
exploring will pay greater attention to visual cues of depth and modify their actions
accordingly.
A newborn prefers contrasting dark and light color patterns or shiny, slow-moving objects. If
an object catches the newborn's attention, he can track its movement in an arc above his
head. This is a far cry from the myth that babies cannot see at birth!

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COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT
Cognitive development refers to how a child grows and evolves in the areas of their lives,
including thinking, exploring, and reasoning. For babies, this cognitive development lays the
crucial groundwork for their development later on.
An eight-month-old is curious about everything, but also has a short attention span. They will
move rapidly from one activity to the next. Two to three minutes is the most they'll spend
with a single toy, and then they'll turn to something new. By 12 months, they may be willing
to sit for as long as 15 minutes with a plaything, but they'll mostly be a body in motion.
Your tiny scientist
At this age, the baby will never tire of dropping, rolling, throwing, submerging or waving
objects to find out how they behave. This may look like random play, but it's the child's way
of finding out how the world works.
Like any good scientist, they're observing the properties of objects. From their observations,
they'll develop ideas about shapes (some things roll, and others don't), textures (things can
be scratchy, soft, or smooth) and sizes (some things fit inside each other). They'll even begin
to understand that some things are edible, and others aren't, although they'll still put
everything into their mouth just to be sure. (Again, make sure there's nothing dangerous lying
around that he can put in their mouth.) Their observations during these months also will help
them understand that objects exist even when out of sight. This is a concept is called object
permanence.

At eight months, when hid a toy under a scarf, they'll pick up the scarf and search for the toy
underneath—a response that wouldn't have occurred three months earlier. And if hidden the
toy under the scarf and then remove it when they're not looking, they'll be puzzled. By 10
months, they'll be so certain that the toy still exists that they'll continue looking for it.

To help the baby learn object permanence, play peekaboo with them. By switching from one
variation of this game to another, and maintain their interest almost indefinitely.
Discovering the familiar & unfamiliar
The baby will be especially interested in things that differ slightly from what they already
know. So, if they're bored with the oatmeal box they've been playing with, renew their interest
by putting a ball inside. Small changes like this will help them learn to detect small differences
between the familiar and the unfamiliar. Also, when choosing playthings, remember that
objects too much like what they've seen before will get a quick once-over and dismissed. At
the same time, things that are too foreign may be confusing or frightening.

Instead, look for objects and toys that gradually help them expand their horizons. Pots and
pans can be noisy but an inexpensive way to entertain your child. In fact, the "toys" that
fascinate children most at this age are ordinary household objects like wooden spoons, egg
cartons and plastic containers of all shapes and sizes.

Often the baby won't need the help to discover objects that fall into this middle ground of
newness. They'll rummage through the drawers, empty out wastebaskets, ransack kitchen

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cabinets and conduct elaborate experiments on everything they find. (Make sure that any
drawers or cabinets with potential hazards are secured with child safety locks.)
Learning what different objects are for
As they approach their first birthday, the child will become increasingly conscious that things
have names and also have particular functions. This new awareness weave itself into their play
as a very early form of fantasy.
For example, instead of treating a toy telephone as an interesting object to be chewed, poked
and banged, they'll put the receiver to their ear just as they've seen the adults do. Adults can
encourage important developmental activities like this by offering them props—a hairbrush,
toothbrush, cup or spoon—and by being an enthusiastic audience for their performances.

PIAGET’S THEORY OF COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT

Schema, Assimilation and Accommodation: Piaget believed that we are continuously trying to
maintain cognitive equilibrium, or a balance, in what we see and what we know.
Children have much more of a challenge in maintaining this balance because they are
constantly being confronted with new situations, new words, new objects, etc. All this new
information needs to be organised, and a framework for organizing information is referred to
as a Schema. Children develop schemata through the processes of assimilation and
accommodation.
When faced with something new, a child may demonstrate Assimilation, which is fitting the
new information into an existing schema, such as calling all animals with four legs “doggies”
because he or she knows the word doggie. Instead of assimilating the information, the child
may demonstrate.
Accommodation, which is expanding the framework of knowledge to accommodate the new
situation and thus learning a new word to more accurately name the animal. For example,
recognizing that a horse is different than a zebra means the child has accommodated, and
now the child has both a zebra schema and a horse schema. Even as adults we continue to try
and “make sense” of new situations by determining whether they fit into our old way of
thinking (assimilation) or whether we need to modify our thoughts (accommodation).
According to the Piagetian perspective, infants learn about the world primarily through their
senses and motor abilities. These basic motor and sensory abilities provide the foundation for
the cognitive skills that will emerge during the subsequent stages of cognitive development.
The first stage of cognitive development is referred to as the Sensorimotor Period and it occurs
through six substages.
Substage 1: Reflexes. Newborns learn about their world through the use of their reflexes, such
as when sucking, reaching, and grasping. Eventually the use of these reflexes becomes more
deliberate and purposeful.

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Substage 2: Primary Circular Reactions. During these next 3 months, the infant begins to
actively involve his or her own body in some form of repeated activity. An infant may
accidentally engage in a behavior and find it interesting such as making a vocalisation. This
interest motivates trying to do it again and helps the infant learn a new behavior that originally
occurred by chance. The behavior is identified as circular and primary because it centres on
the infant’s own body.
Substage 3: Secondary Circular Reactions. The infant begins to interact with objects in the
environment. At first the infant interacts with objects (e.g., a crib mobile) accidentally, but
then these contacts with the objects are deliberate and become a repeated activity. The infant
becomes more and more actively engaged in the outside world and takes delight in being able
to make things happen. Repeated motion brings particular interest as, for example, the infant
is able to bang two lids together from the cupboard when seated on the kitchen floor.
Substage 4: Coordination of Secondary Circular Reactions. The infant combines these basic
reflexes and uses planning and coordination to achieve a specific goal. Now the infant can
engage in behaviors that others perform and anticipate upcoming events. Perhaps because of
continued maturation of the prefrontal cortex, the infant become capable of having a thought
and carrying out a planned, goal-directed activity. For example, an infant sees a toy car under
the kitchen table and then crawls, reaches, and grabs the toy. The infant is coordinating both
internal and external activities to achieve a planned goal.
Substage 5: Tertiary Circular Reactions. The toddler is considered a “little scientist” and begins
exploring the world in a trial-and-error manner, using both motor skills and planning abilities.
For example, the child might throw her ball down the stairs to see what happens. The toddler’s
active engagement in experimentation helps them learn about their world.
Substage 6: Beginning of Representational Thought. The sensorimotor period ends with the
appearance of symbolic or representational thought. The toddler now has a basic
understanding that objects can be used as symbols. Additionally, the child is able to solve
problems using mental strategies, to remember something heard days before and repeat it,
and to engage in pretend play. This initial movement from a “hands-on” approach to knowing
about the world to the more mental world of substage six marks the transition to
preoperational thought.
Development of Object Permanence: A critical milestone during the sensorimotor period is
the development of object permanence. Object permanence is the understanding that even
if something is out of sight, it still exists. According to Piaget, young infants do not remember
an object after it has been removed from sight. Piaget studied infants’ reactions when a toy
was first shown to an infant and then hidden under a blanket. Infants who had already
developed object permanence would reach for the hidden toy, indicating that they knew it
still existed, whereas infants who had not developed object permanence would appear
confused. Piaget emphasises this construct because it was an objective way for children to
demonstrate that they can mentally represent their world. Children have typically acquired
this milestone by 8 months. Once toddlers have mastered object permanence, they enjoy
games like hide and seek, and they realize that when someone leaves the room they will come

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back. Toddlers also point to pictures in books and look in appropriate places when you ask
them to find objects.
In Piaget’s view, around the same time children develop object permanence, they also begin
to exhibit Stranger Anxiety, which is a fear of unfamiliar people (Crain, 2005). Babies may
demonstrate this by crying and turning away from a stranger, by clinging to a caregiver, or by
attempting to reach their arms toward familiar faces such as parents. Stranger anxiety results
when a child is unable to assimilate the stranger into an existing schema; therefore, she can’t
predict what her experience with that stranger will be like, which results in a fear response.

VYGOTSKY THEORY OF COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT ZONE OF PROXIMAL DEVELOPMENT AND

SCAFFOLDING.
Lev Vygotsky (1896-1934) was a Russian psychologist and teacher who developed a theory
about how our social interactions influence our cognitive development. This is known as Lev
Vygotsky's Sociocultural Theory of Cognitive Development.
Vygotsky's social development theory asserts that a child's cognitive development and
learning ability can be guided and mediated by their social interactions. His theory (also called
Vygotsky's Sociocultural theory) states that learning is a crucially social process as opposed to
an independent journey of discovery. He expands on this by stating that a child's learning
benefitted greatly from being guided by a more knowledgeable member of the community -
such as a parent or teacher.

Vygotsky's sociocultural theory also suggested that children internalise and learn from the
beliefs and attitudes that they witness around them. He believed that culture played an
important role in shaping cognitive development and therefore that this development varied
across cultures. Vygotsky also stressed the importance of language as the root of all learning.

Vygotsky's Concept of More Knowledgeable Other (MKO)

Lev Vygotsky's theory places importance on guiding children's learning through their
interaction with a more knowledgeable other (MKO). The more knowledgeable other could
be anyone with a greater understanding of the task or concept that the child is trying to
complete or learn. Most often, this would be a parent, caregiver or teacher, but it could also
be a peer or mentor.
This theory is not limited to academic or educational learning, it can also be applied to
recreational learning such as playing games or using technology. In these circumstances, a
peer or older child is more likely to be the more knowledgeable other. The MKO could also be
an electronic tutor, in cases where a program is set up to guide learning using voice prompts
or videos.
Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)
The concept of the zone of proximal development, also known as the zone of potential
development, is used to explain a child's potential for cognitive development and ability when
they are guided through a task, rather than asked to do it in isolation.

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If a child is presented with a task that is slightly above their ability level, the zone of proximal
development (ZPD) refers to their ability to do it with the assistance of a more knowledgeable
person. This theory explains why some skills present themselves in a more social context when
the child is unable to display them by themselves.
The zone of proximal development can be described as the distance between the actual
developmental level when assessed independently and the level of potential development
when assessed in collaboration with peers or mentors or under the guidance of a teacher.

Zone of Proximal Development Stages

The ZPD can be broken down into three distinct stages in terms of a learner's skillset. In order
to improve the ability of the learner the more knowledgeable person must understand what
stage they are in.
• Tasks a learner can accomplish without assistance
This refers to tasks that the learner can perform independently. If the learner has
reached this stage, the teacher or mentor will need to increase the level of difficulty
of the task in order to facilitate further learning.
• Tasks a learner can accomplish with assistance
This is referred to as their zone of proximal development. In this stage, the learner
needs the guidance of a more knowledgeable other to help them complete the task.
• Tasks a learner cannot accomplish with assistance
This refers to tasks that the learner cannot do, even with the guidance of a more
knowledgeable person. If the learner's ability falls within this range, the level of
difficulty may need to be decreased to accommodate their skillset.
Vygotsky and Instructional Scaffolding
Scaffolding consists of the activities provided by the educator, or more competent peer, to
support the student as he or she is led through the zone of proximal development.
Support is tapered off (i.e., withdrawn) as it becomes unnecessary, much as a scaffold is
removed from a building during construction. The student will then be able to complete the
task again independently.
Wood et al. define scaffolding as a process “that enables a child or novice to solve a task or
achieve a goal that would be beyond his unassisted efforts.”

As they note, scaffolds require the adult to “controlling those elements of the task that are
initially beyond the learner’s capability, thus permitting him to concentrate upon and
complete only those elements that are within his range of competence”.
It is important to note that the terms cooperative learning, scaffolding and guided learning all
have the same meaning within the literature.

LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT
Language is a form of communication-whether spoken, written, or signed-that is based on a
system of symbols. Language consists of the words used by a community and the rules for

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varying and combining them. Think how important language is in our everyday lives. We need
language to speak with others, listen to others, read, and write. Our language enables us to
describe past events in detail and to plan for the future. Language lets us pass down
information from one generation to the next and create a rich cultural heritage. Language
learning involves comprehending a sound system (or sign system for individuals who are deaf),
the world of objects, actions, and events, and how units such as words and grammar connect
sound and world.

All human languages have some common characteristics. These include infinite generativity
and organisational rules. Infinite generativity is the ability to produce and comprehend an
endless number of meaningful sentences using a finite set of words and rules. Rules describe
the way language works.

Our vast intelligence also allows us to have Language, a system of communication that uses
symbols in a regular way to create meaning. Language gives us the ability to communicate our
intelligence to others by talking, reading, and writing. Although other species have at least
some ability to communicate, none of them have language. There are many components of
language that will now be reviewed.

COMPONENTS OF LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT

Language is highly ordered and organised. The organisation involves 5 systems of rules:
phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, and pragmatics.

Phoneme: A phoneme is the smallest unit of sound that makes a meaningful difference in a
language. The word “bit” has three phonemes. In spoken languages, phonemes are produced
by the positions and movements of the vocal tract, including our lips, teeth, tongue, vocal
cords, and throat, whereas in sign languages phonemes are defined by the shapes and
movement of the hands. Phonology is the sound production in all languages and the patterns
that occur among these sounds.
Morpheme: The smallest unit of meaning. For example, the word ‘mat’ has one morpheme.
The word ‘mats’ has two morphemes. Morpheme can have more than one phonemes or more
than one syllable. For example, water → 1 morpheme, 2 syllables, Farmer → 2 morphemes.
A morpheme is a string of one or more phonemes that makes up the smallest units of meaning
in a language. The study of words how they are formed, and how they interact with one
another in a language is called morphology. For example, un-bear-able. Such morphemes have
prefixes and suffixes used to modify other words. Another example, the syllable “re-” as in
“rewrite” or “repay” means “to do again,” and the suffix “-est” as in “happiest” or “coolest”
means “to the maximum.”
Semantics: Semantics refers to the set of rules we use to obtain meaning from morphemes.
For example, adding “ed” to the end of a verb makes it past tense.

Syntax: Syntax is the set of rules of a language by which we construct sentences. Each
language has a different syntax. The syntax of the English language requires that each

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sentence have a noun and a verb, each of which may be modified by adjectives and adverbs.
Some syntaxes make use of the order in which words appear. For example, in English “The
man bites the dog” is different from “The dog bites the man.”

Pragmatics: The social side of language is expressed through pragmatics, or how we

communicate effectively and appropriately with others. Examples of pragmatics include turn-
taking, staying on topic, volume and tone of voice, and appropriate eye contact.
Lastly, words do not possess fixed meanings but change their interpretation as a function of
the context in which they are spoken. We use contextual information, the information
surrounding language, to help us interpret it. Examples of contextual information include our
knowledge and nonverbal expressions such as facial expressions, postures, and gestures.
Misunderstandings can easily arise if people are not attentive to contextual information or if
some of it is missing, such as it may be in newspaper headlines or in text messages.

PRE LINGUISTIC DEVELOPMENT – RECEPTIVITY TO LANGUAGE, FIRST SPEECH SOUNDS.

An important aspect of cognitive development is language acquisition. The order in which
children learn language structures is consistent across children and cultures. Starting before
birth, babies begin to develop language and communication skills. At birth, babies recognise
their mother’s voice and can discriminate between the language(s) spoken by their mothers
and foreign languages, and they show preferences for faces that are moving in synchrony with
audible language.

Even though children do not produce their first words until they are approximately 12 months
old, the ability to produce speech sounds starts to develop at a much younger age.
Do newborns communicate? Of course they do. They do not, however, communicate with the
use of oral language. Instead, they communicate their thoughts and needs with body posture
(being relaxed or still), gestures, cries, and facial expressions. A person who spends adequate
time with an infant can learn which cries indicate pain and which ones indicate hunger,
discomfort, or frustration.
0-6 weeks: Reflexive vocalisations
These earliest vocalisations include crying and vegetative sounds such as breathing, sucking
or sneezing. For these vegetative sounds, infants’ vocal cords vibrate and air passes through
their vocal apparatus, thus familiarizing infants with processes involved in later speech
production.
4 months
Infant-directed Speech: Why is a horse a “horsie”? Have you ever wondered why adults tend
to use “baby talk” or that sing-song type of intonation and exaggeration used when talking to
children? This represents a universal tendency and is known as Infant-directed Speech. It
involves exaggerating the vowel and consonant sounds, using a high-pitched voice, and
delivering the phrase with great facial expression. Why is this done? Infants are frequently
more attuned to the tone of voice of the person speaking than to the content of the words

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themselves, and are aware of the target of speech. Werker, Pegg, and McLeod found that
infants listened longer to a woman who was speaking to a baby than to a woman who was
speaking to another adult. It may be in order to clearly articulate the sounds of a word so that
the child can hear the sounds involved. It may also be because when this type of speech is
used, the infant pays more attention to the speaker and this sets up a pattern of interaction
in which the speaker and listener are in tune with one another.
5 months
Babies prefer to hear their own name to similar-sounding words. It is possible that they have
associated the meaning “me” with their name, although it is also possible that they simply
recognize the form because of its high frequency.
6 – 16 weeks
Intentional Vocalisations: In terms of producing spoken language, babies begin to coo almost
immediately. Cooing is a one-syllable combination of a consonant and a vowel sound (e.g.,
coo or ba). Interestingly, babies replicate sounds from their own languages. A baby whose
parents speak French will coo in a different tone than a baby whose parents speak Spanish or
Urdu. These gurgling, musical vocalisations can serve as a source of entertainment to an infant
who has been laid down for a nap or seated in a carrier on a car ride. Cooing serves as practice
for vocalisation, as well as the infant hears the sound of his or her own voice and tries to
repeat sounds that are entertaining. Infants also begin to learn the pace and pause of
conversation as they alternate their vocalisation with that of someone else and then take their
turn again when the other person’s vocalisation has stopped.
At about four to six months of age, infants begin making even more elaborate vocalizations
that include the sounds required for any language. Guttural sounds, clicks, consonants, and
vowel sounds stand ready to equip the child with the ability to repeat whatever sounds are
characteristic of the language heard. Eventually, these sounds will no longer be used as the
infant grows more accustomed to a particular language.
At about 7 months, infants begin Babbling, engaging in intentional vocalizations that lack
specific meaning and comprise a consonant-vowel repeated sequence, such as ma-ma-ma,
da-da- da. Children babble as practice in creating specific sounds, and by the time they are 1
year old, the babbling uses primarily the sounds of the language that they are learning. These
vocalisations have a conversational tone that sounds meaningful even though it isn’t. Babbling
also helps children understand the social, communicative function of language. Children who
are exposed to sign language babble in sign by making hand movements that represent real
language.
8 months
While children generally don't understand the meaning of most single words yet, they
understand the meaning of certain phrases they hear a lot, such as “Stop it,” or “Come here.”

Gesturing: Children communicate information through gesturing long before they speak, and
there is some evidence that gesture usage predicts subsequent language development. Deaf
babies also use gestures to communicate wants, reactions, and feelings. Because gesturing
seems to be easier than vocalisation for some toddlers, sign language is sometimes taught to

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enhance one’s ability to communicate by making use of the ease of gesturing. The rhythm and
pattern of language is used when deaf babies sign just as it is when hearing babies babble.
Understanding: At around ten months of age, the infant can understand more than he or she
can say, which is referred to as receptive language. One may have experienced this
phenomenon as well if they have ever tried to learn a second language. They may have been
able to follow a conversation more easily than contribute to it. One of the first words that
children understand is their own name, usually by about 6 months, followed by commonly
used words like “bottle,” “mama,” and “doggie” by 10 to 12 months.
Infants shake their head “no” around 6–9 months, and they respond to verbal requests to do
things like “wave bye-bye” or “blow a kiss” around 9–12 months. Children also use contextual
information, particularly the cues that parents provide, to help them learn language. Children
learn that people are usually referring to things that they are looking at when they are
speaking and that that the speaker’s emotional expressions are related to the content of their
speech.
Holophrasic Speech: Children begin using their first words at about 12 or 13 months of age
and may use partial words to convey thoughts at even younger ages. These one word
expressions are referred to as Holophrasic Speech. For example, the child may say “ju” for the
word “juice” and use this sound when referring to a bottle. The listener must interpret the
meaning of the holophrase, and when this is someone who has spent time with the child,
interpretation is not too difficult. But, someone who has not been around the child will have
trouble knowing what is meant. Imagine the parent who to a friend exclaims, “Ezra’s talking
all the time now!” The friend hears only “ju da ga” to which the parent explains means, “I
want some milk when I go with Daddy.”
Language Errors: The early utterances of children contain many errors, for instance, confusing
/b/ and /d/, or /c/ and /z/. The words children create are often simplified, in part because they
are not yet able to make the more complex sounds of the real language (Dobrich &
Scarborough, 1992). Children may say “keekee” for kitty, “nana” for banana, and “vesketti” for
spaghetti because it is easier. Often these early words are accompanied by gestures that may
also be easier to produce than the words themselves. Children’s pronunciations become
increasingly accurate between 1 and 3 years, but some problems may persist until school age.
A child who learns that a word stands for an object may initially think that the word can be
used for only that particular object, which is referred to as Under-extension. Only the family’s
Irish Setter is a “doggie”, for example. More often, however, a child may think that a label
applies to all objects that are similar to the original object, which is called Overextension. For
example, all animals become “doggies”.
First words and cultural influences: First words if the child is using English tend to be nouns.
The child labels objects such as cup, ball, or other items that they regularly interact with. In a
verb-friendly language such as Chinese, however, children may learn more verbs. This may
also be due to the different emphasis given to objects based on culture. Chinese children may
be taught to notice action and relationships between objects, while children from the United
States may be taught to name an object and its qualities (color, texture, size, etc.). These

17
differences can be seen when comparing interpretations of art by older students from China
and the United States.
Two word sentences and telegraphic (text message) speech: By the time they become
toddlers, children have a vocabulary of about 50-200 words and begin putting those words
together in telegraphic speech, such as “baby bye-bye” or “doggie pretty”. Words needed to
convey messages are used, but the articles and other parts of speech necessary for
grammatical correctness are not yet used. These expressions sound like a telegraph, or
perhaps a better analogy today would be that they read like a text message. Telegraphic
Speech/Text Message Speech occurs when unnecessary words are not used. “Give baby ball”
is used rather than “Give the baby the ball.”

PHONOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT
One practical way of describing infant vocalisations is to create a classification system, stages
of development, tied to certain age limits. The first stage could be considered as a reflexive
sound stage. During this stage, the infant produces a number of sounds that result from
muscular contractions of the vocal apparatus during respiration. The second stage, during
which the infant is said to engage in cooing, has its onset near the second month of life and
consists chiefly of vowel productions. Cooing is followed near the fourth month by a third
stage, babbling, typified by the addition of several consonants and syllabic duplications. After
the sixth month, the infant uses some vocal sounds to express meaning. This is followed by a
word approximation stage, when the infant shows indications of using a few words. This
process may begin as early as 8 to 10 months of age.
Phonology refers to the systematic organisation of sounds into language. Researchers in the
field of phonology examine different languages to understand how children learn to acquire
the skills needed when talking. This is referred to as phonological development. Phonological
development can be considered in terms of both perception and production of speech sounds.
Historically, the development of speech sounds has been characterised in terms of the
development of articulation abilities, with recent attention being paid to the notion that a
larger set of rules and linguistic representations may also govern how individuals acquire
speech sounds.
Research has demonstrated that infants are aware of speech sounds long before they are able
to produce them. For example, infants at 1 month of age are able to discriminate speech
sound categories such as the difference between phonemes /p/ and /b/ (i.e., categorical
perception.

SEMANTIC DEVELOPMENT
According to Bolinger, this is the fastest stage in increasing the vocabulary with many new
additions; there is no babbling at all; the utterances have communicative intent. There is a

18
great variation among children, that seems to understand everything said within hearing and
directed to them.
Semantics is defined by Fromkin as the study of the linguistic meaning of words, phrases, and
sentences. Children's early utterances, consisting primarily of single words, were once
considered to carry the meaning of whole sentences. They were labeled holophrastic.
Gleason also said that the processes of concepts learning and lexicalisation, or attachment of
words and meaning, may occur at varying rates and overlapping in time. At times children's
concepts right match those of adult, but the children might use imperfect and only partially
appropriate words because they lack better words to express themselves. Words are produced
from the age of about 1 year. New words are added slowly in the first year, so that by the age
of 18–24 months the child has a vocabulary of about 50 words. Nelson examined the first 10
words produced by children and found that the categories most commonly referred to were
important person names, animals, food, and toys. Greenfield and Smith found that early
words may refer to many different roles, not just objects, and further proposed that the first
utterances may always name roles. Clark, argued that in the very earliest stages of
development, the child must start with two assumptions about the purpose of language:
language is for communication, and language makes sense in context.
The average child masters about fifty words by the age of eighteen months. These might
include words such as, milk, water, juice and apple (noun-like words). Afterwards they acquire
12 to 16 words a day. By the age of six, they master about 13 to 14 thousand words.

The most frequent words include adjective-like expressions for displeasure and rejection such
as 'no'. They also include social interaction words, such as "please" and "bye".
Children usually make correct meaning associations with the words that the adults say.
However, sometimes they make semantic errors.

According to Phillip there are a few types of semantic errors:

Overextension: When a child says or hears a word, they might associate what they see or hear
as more generalised concept than the real meaning of the word. For example, if they say "cat",
they might overextend it to other animals with same features.

Underextension: It involves the use of lexical items in an overly restrictive fashion. In other
words, the child focuses on core members of a certain category. For example: 'cat' may only
refer to the family cat and no other cat, or 'dog' may refer to certain kinds of dogs that the
child is exposed to.
Verb meaning: when a pre-school child hears the verb 'fill', he understands it as the action
'pour' rather than the result, which is 'make full'.
Dimensional terms: the first dimensional adjectives acquired are big and small because they
belong to the size category. The size category is the most general one. Later children acquire
the single dimension adjectives, such as, tall-short, long-short, high-low. Eventually they
acquire the adjectives that describe the secondary dimension, such as thick-thin, wide narrow
and deep-shallow.

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From birth to one year, comprehension (the language we understand) develops before
production (the language we use). There is about a 5-month lag in between the two. Babies
have an innate preference to listen to their mother's voice. Babies can recognize familiar
words and use preverbal gestures.
Within the first 12–18 months semantic roles are expressed in one word speech including
agent, object, location, possession, nonexistence and denial. Words are understood outside
of routine games but the child still needs contextual support for lexical comprehension.

18–24 months Prevalent relations are expressed such as agent-action, agent-object, action-
location. Also, there is a vocabulary spurt between 18–24 months, which includes fast
mapping. Fast mapping is the babies' ability to learn a lot of new things quickly. The majority
of the babies' new vocabulary consists of object words (nouns) and action words (verbs).

30–36 months The child is able to use and understand why question and basic spatial terms
such as in, on or under.
36–42 months There is an understanding of basic color words and kinship terms. Also, the
child has an understanding of the semantic relationship between adjacent and conjoined
sentences, including casual and contrastive.

42–48 months When and how questions are comprehended as well as basic shape words such
as circle, square and triangle.
48–60 months Knowledge of letter names and sounds emerges, as well as numbers.
By 3–5 years, children usually have difficulty using words correctly. Children experience many
problems such as underextensions, taking a general word and applying it specifically (for
example, 'cartoons' specifically for 'Mickey Mouse') and overextensions, taking a specific word
and applying it too generally (example, 'ant' for any insect). However, children coin words to
fill in for words not yet learned (for example, someone is a cooker rather than a chef because
a child may not know what a chef is). Children can also understand metaphors.
From 6–10 years, children can understand meanings of words based on their definitions. They
also are able to appreciate the multiple meanings of words and use words precisely through
metaphors and puns. Fast mapping continues. Within these years, children are now able to
acquire new information from written texts and can explain relationships between multiple
meaning words. Common idioms are also understood.

GRAMMATICAL DEVELOPMENT
Language is a system of communication that uses symbols in a regular way to create meaning.
Language gives us the ability to communicate our intelligence to others by talking, reading,
and writing. Although other species have at least some ability to communicate, none of them
have language.

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If ever tried to learn a new language, we know it’s not easy. There are new rules of grammar
that come with many exceptions, new sounds that are hard to make, endless lists of
vocabulary to commit to memory and so on. And yet, we managed to learn the basics of the
very first language around the time we were two years old; no textbooks in sight.
Not only are children able to absorb the complicated rules of grammar without formal
teaching, they do so from a limited vocabulary. Regardless of how much a child is spoken to,
they will not hear every possible word and sentence by the time they begin speaking. Yet
when they do start to talk, children begin to follow grammatical rules and apply them to form
new, innovative phrases. This level of information processing is incredibly impressive in
anyone, much less someone still figuring out counting and skipping!
Given the remarkable complexity of a language, one might expect that mastering a language
would be an especially arduous task; indeed, for those of us trying to learn a second language
as adults, this might seem to be true. However, young children master language very quickly
with relative ease. B. F. Skinner proposed that language is learned through reinforcement.
Noam Chomsky criticised this behaviorist approach, asserting instead that the mechanisms
underlying language acquisition are biologically determined. The use of language develops in
the absence of formal instruction and appears to follow a very similar pattern in children from
vastly different cultures and backgrounds. It would seem, therefore, that we are born with a
biological predisposition to acquire a language. Moreover, it appears that there is a critical
period for language acquisition, such that this proficiency at acquiring language is maximal
early in life; generally, as people age, the ease with which they acquire and master new
languages diminishes
Mandy's worried about her son, Joey. He's in first grade, and when he writes, he always makes
grammar and punctuation errors. Mandy wonders if there's something wrong with Joey or if
the mistakes he makes are just part of being a kid. Grammar development is the way that
children learn how to use language correctly. It also includes punctuation development, or the
ability to correctly punctuate written sentences.
When children learn to express themselves with language, their grammar development
evolves. Grammar development includes spoken and written forms, and it is divided into
various stages. The stages for spoken and written development coincide, as the child learns to
speak and write correctly.
Spoken language development is a slow process that happens over years of a child's life. In
terms of grammar, there are several distinct stages that children go through.

Stage one is the beginning of spoken language, during which children speak in one or two-
word sentences. These sentences are ungrammatical, meaning that they do not follow normal
rules of grammar. For example, when he was younger, Joey would say things like 'milk,' or
'want milk,' instead of 'I want milk.' He was still in stage one and was learning how to speak,
but still speaking only one or two words at a time.
By about age three or four, and up to the first couple of years of elementary school, most
children begin creating full sentences with little understanding of grammar, which is stage two

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of spoken grammar development. In this stage, it's common for children to make mistakes in
verb tenses and other grammatical concepts.
It's probably not surprising that written grammar development is closely linked to spoken
grammar development. After all, we wouldn't expect someone in stage two of spoken
development, like Joey, to be able to write complex, grammatically-correct sentences. He can't
even speak in complex sentences yet!
As students learn how to speak correctly, they are also better able to write their ideas
correctly. Once Joey learns that Carlene 'brought' the candy, he can use the correct verb tense
in his writing, too.

PRAGMATIC DEVELOPMENT

Children use language to express their needs and wants, negotiate disagreements, participate
in games, and engage in other communicative interactions with peers and adults. Basic
pragmatic skills develop at a fairly early age but are refined and developed during
preadolescence and adolescence, so that over time the child is able to participate in more
social activities and become a full member of culture and society. Children’s pragmatic
competence—their ability to use language effectively—is developed and refined through
participation in family, peer, and school interactions that serve as a means and motivation for
efficient and strategic language use. By examining both universal and culturally specific
features of children’s interactional skills, studies of pragmatic development aim to describe
and detail how children learn to use language as an effective tool for social interaction.
One of the basic rights of children is to have a family that takes care of their basic needs and
provides them with affection and social support. Pragmatics is a process of social development
in which the knowledge necessary for successful interaction with others is acquired through
language. This ability is not acquired suddenly; the child must develop skills such as the ability
to process information from different sources, appropriate linguistic development, and the
ability to respond to social demands.
When children learn a language, they need to learn more than phonology, semantics, and
syntax. A proficient language user knows how to use language appropriately and strategically
in social situations. Children need to learn pragmatic skills, also known as communicative
competence. They need to learn how to use language in interactions with peers, families,
teachers, and others. Children need to learn how to ask questions, make requests, give orders,
agree or disagree, apologise, refuse, joke, praise, and tell stories. They need to learn routines
such as “trick or treat” and “happy birthday”; polite expressions such as “please” and “thank
you”, “hello” and “goodbye”, and “excuse me”; and how to address others. They need to learn
how to start, maintain, and end conversations; when to speak or remain silent; how to take
turns; how to give and respond effectively to feedback; and how to stay on topic. They need
to know and use the right volume and tone of voice. They need to learn how the meaning of
terms such as “I” and “you” or “here” and “there” changes depending on who is speaking and

22
who is listening. They need to learn what style of speech to use, when to use jargon, and when
and whether to talk about certain topics.
Between 9 and 18 months of age, the first milestones of PLD are reached, such as
understanding the communicative intent of the speaker and the onset of joint attentional
behavior. Toward the end of the second year of life, infants become more adept at identifying
what others want, intend, and perceive.
At age 2, children appear to be able to answer simple questions whose responses require only
a single element, whereas, at age 3, children are able to make comments and give responses
that include both the predicate and the direct object. In addition, an increasing ability to use
complex contextual information is observed, which is reflected in 3-year-old children’s ability
to answer and formulate questions and comments. “Where” and “what” questions are easier
for children to answer than “why” questions; however, it is not uncommon for children to use
a particular question form in one context but not in another. It is possible that this discrepancy
is not due to difficulties with the linguistic form, but rather situational and pragmatic cues that
may play a larger role in children’s performance.
As toddlers and pre-schoolers progress, pragmatic skills continue to develop, and children gain
more advanced conversational skills and become socially competent speakers. Four-year-olds
are able to adapt their own language to take into account the age, gender, and status of the
listener. Thus, pre-schoolers start to formulate less polite and more direct requests when
interacting with higher-status speakers (e.g., parents and teachers) and more polite and
indirect requests when interacting with lower-status speakers (e.g., friends). They develop
very detailed expectations about what terms can be used to talk about a particular situation.
Specifically, in terms of developing reference choice, pre-schoolers prefer optimally
informative referential terms to both under-informative and over-informative equivalents.

BILINGUALISM
Bilingual language development occurs when a young child is learning to speak two languages.
This can mean 2 languages in one home, or one language at home and another language in
another setting such as school or their parent’s work. If a child is learning more than two
languages, it would be considered multilingual language development.
Cognitive development refers to the process by which children acquire and improve upon
their thinking, problem-solving, and learning abilities. Bilingualism has been found to have a
positive impact on cognitive development in children. Research studies have shown that
bilingual children have improved cognitive flexibility, which allows them to switch between
tasks and perspectives more easily. Bilingual children also tend to have a better working
memory, which allows them to hold and process information more efficiently. Additionally,
bilingualism has been linked to improved attention and inhibitory control, which are
important skills for academic success. These findings suggest that bilingualism in early
childhood education can have significant benefits for cognitive development in children.
Improved Language Skills Bilingualism has been found to improve language skills in children.

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Research studies have shown that bilingual children have better language proficiency in both
of their languages compared to monolingual children. Bilingual children have also been found
to have a larger vocabulary and better grammar than monolingual children. Furthermore,
exposure to two languages from an early age has been linked to better reading and writing
skills in children.
These findings suggest that bilingualism in early childhood education can have significant
benefits for language development in children, which can improve their academic success and
communication skills in the future. Bilingualism improves language skills in children in several
ways.
• First, when children are exposed to two languages from an early age, they are better
able to distinguish between different sounds and recognise patterns in language,
which improves their phonological awareness. This can lead to better pronunciation
and articulation of words.
• Second, learning two languages simultaneously requires children to use different
language systems and cognitive processes, which can strengthen their executive
function and working memory . Executive function refers to a set of mental processes
that are responsible for planning, organising, and regulating behaviour, and working
memory involve the ability to hold and manipulate information in the mind. Both of
these skills are important for language learning and academic success.
• Finally, bilingualism can also lead to a deeper understanding and appreciation of
language and culture. When children learn two languages, they are exposed to
different cultural norms, traditions, and beliefs, which can broaden their perspectives
and enhance their ability to communicate and connect with people from diverse
backgrounds. Overall, exposure to two languages in early childhood education can
have a positive impact on language skills, cognitive development, and cultural
awareness in children. Several research studies have provided evidence for the
benefits of bilingualism on language development in children.
These studies suggest that bilingualism in early childhood education can have significant
benefits for language development in children, including better vocabulary, grammar, and
reading skills.

Cultural Awareness
Bilingualism has also been found to increase cultural awareness in children. When children
learn a second language, they are also exposed to different cultures, traditions, and ways of
life. This exposure can broaden their perspectives and help them appreciate and understand
different cultures.
Research studies have shown that bilingualism can increase cross-cultural understanding and
communication. Bilingual individuals are often more sensitive to cultural differences and
more open-minded towards different perspectives, which can help them communicate and
connect with people from diverse backgrounds. Furthermore, bilingualism can also promote
positive attitudes towards language and culture. Bilingual children are often proud of their
ability to speak multiple languages and are more likely to have positive attitudes towards their
heritage culture and the culture of others. This can lead to a greater appreciation for cultural

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diversity and an increased sense of belonging in multicultural communities. Overall, exposure
to different languages and cultures in early childhood education through bilingualism can
have a positive impact on cultural awareness in children, which can help them become more
empathetic, accepting, and respectful towards others.

Increased Job Opportunities

In addition to the cognitive and linguistic benefits, bilingualism can also increase
job opportunities for individuals in the future. In today's global economy, companies
and organisations often seek employees who are fluent in more than one language to help
them connect with diverse customers, clients, and partners. Research studies have shown
that bilingualism can increase earning potential and career opportunities.

Therefore, exposure to different languages and cultures in early childhood education through
bilingualism can provide children with a valuable skill set that can help them succeed in their
careers and increase their earning potential in the future.
Enhanced Executive Functioning
Bilingualism has also been found to enhance executive functioning in children. Executive
functioning refers to a set of cognitive processes that are responsible for planning, organising,
and regulating behaviour. These skills are critical for academic success and are linked to
better outcomes in adulthood, such as higher income and better health. Research studies
have shown that bilingualism can improve executive functioning in children, such as
attention control, inhibition, and working memory. Bilingual children have been found to
have better attention control, which means they are better able to focus on relevant
information and ignore distractions. They also have better inhibition skills, which
means they are better able to control their impulses and delay gratification. Finally,
bilingual children have been found to have a better working memory, which means they are
better able to hold and manipulate information in their minds.
These improvements in executive functioning are thought to be the result of the cognitive
demands required by bilingualism. When children learn two languages simultaneously, they
must constantly switch between languages and inhibit the influence of one language while
using the other. This constant mental juggling requires them to use their executive
functioning skills, which can enhance these skills over time. Therefore, bilingualism in early
childhood education can provide children with a valuable cognitive advantage that can help
them succeed in school and life.

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