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The sensory-motor stage is the first stage of development, according to Jean Piaget's theory of cognitive development, and is characterized by the gradual emergence of new cognitive abilities.

Substage 5 occurs between 12 and 18 months and is marked by the development of a goal-directed behavior. Children in this stage learn to coordinate their actions in order to achieve a desired outcome, such as reaching for a toy that is out of reach.

Substage 6 occurs between 18 and 24 months and is marked by the development of mental representation. Children in this stage can now form mental images of objects and events, allowing them to think about things that are not immediately present.

These new abilities in Substages 5 and 6 allow children to interact with their environment in more complex and flexible ways. They can now engage in problem-solving and use trial-and-error to achieve their goals.

The development of mental representation in Substage 6 is a key milestone in cognitive development, as it allows children to engage in symbolic thought and language development.

However...Piaget's theory has been criticized for its limited attention to cultural and contextual factors in cognitive development. Researchers have found that children's cognitive development is influenced by a range of cultural and social factors, including language, social interaction, and educational experiences.
Olivia J

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The Toddlers Attachment to Caregivers: A toddler needs a secure base from which to explore and to return to when he/she feels as though they are in danger.
2.1 What leads to attachments patterns?
There is a variety of attachment patterns in caregiving. Some are more sensitive, some are less sensitive, and others are inconsistent. Sensitivity is defined as encouraging autonomy in the child. The level of sensitivity ranges widely across cultures. Research says that a toddler is capable of forming secure relationships with multiple caregivers.

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Affordances refer to the possibilities for action that objects and environments offer to individuals.

The concept of affordances was introduced by psychologist James Gibson, who argued that perception is not just about the interpretation of sensory information, but is instead a direct and immediate response to the environment.

Affordances are perceived in relation to an individual's abilities and intentions, meaning that what is perceived as an affordance for one person may not be perceived as such for another.

They can be influenced by cultural factors, such as the specific tasks that are valued within a culture or the tools and technologies that are available.

Affordances can also be shaped by individual experiences and development, as individuals learn to perceive and interact with their environment in different ways over time.
Olivia J

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7.2.1.2 What are the Consequences of Attachment Patterns?

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7.2.1.2 What are the Consequences of Attachment Patterns?

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The consequences of attachment for the toddler proved needed protection and at the same time, opportunities for learning. It is said that "Cultural learning begins with the attachment relationship" (205). Researchers have found that early attachments patterns predict romantic relationships in adolescence and young adulthood.

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Research shows that toddlers show secure attachment in the same way everywhere but that insecure attachment takes different forms in different cultures. Autonomy is not a universal goal in parenting, sometimes, interdependence is encouraged. In some cultures, closeness is more important than autonomy. Due to these cultural differences and the lack of considering this in the current attachment theory, one must reconceptualize attachment theory to consider the ways of cultures and the different pathways through child development.

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7.2.1.4 Psychosocial Acceleration: Plasticity & Programming

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7.2.1.4 Psychosocial Acceleration: Plasticity & Programming

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Psychological Acceleration Theory predicts that the character of the environment in early childhood influences the timing of puberty of adolescence and other "reproductive strategy" in adolescence and adulthood. For example, young women from families with an absent father tend to act as though in their romantic relationships, the men will not last. This is displayed in a way that the women act promiscuously, become sexually active younger, move from partner to partner, and have more children when compared to young families where the father was present.

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7.2.2 Caregiving as Guided Participation

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7.2.2 Caregiving as Guided Participation

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Guided Participation: the structuring of children's participation in activities and the bridging between their understanding and that of their caregivers.
"Leading by hand" is a metaphor for guided participation. A toddler can walk, but use a parent's hand to help provide necessary support for the child to walk. Their united hands provide communication in both directions; between the child and the parent. Together, they form a system that has its own logic.

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Weaning, by definition, is the replacement of breastfeeding with other sources of food. When and how to wean is a choice based upon the needs of the toddler and the needs of the mother. Weaning involves changes in behavior and relationship, as well as, the loss of an important source of nutrition. Weaning generally happens while the child is a toddler. The World Health Organization recommends exclusively breastfeeding for the first six months and complementary feeding up to two years of age or beyond. After weaning, toddlers still need assistance eating for several more years. Weaning is not the end of biological dependence. When the mother is no longer the only source of nutrition, it is more common to see more alloparenting.

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Toddlers use a "mentalistic interpretational system to represent an agent's action as intentional without actually attributing a mental representation of the future goal state to the agent's mind".  - Gyorgy Gergely

Toddlers begin to understand how others are using tools for a purpose and are able to copy it.

Karen

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Transition from babbling to single and 2-3 word utterances-JM

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Phase 1: Single-word utterances, each has a single function.
Phase 2: Combining words enables combining of functions.
Phase 3: structure emerges, enabling every utterance to combine both ideational and interpersonal metafunction.

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Pragmatic - talking as action (doing)
Mathetic- talking as learning (understanding)

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As the child transitions into phase II of speech, they learn to name things with the help of adults. This is an explicit process. This video shows how to support toddler in naming objects and connecting meaning to the new words.-JM

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Helping Children Learn the Names of Objects

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Example of toddler using pivot open pattern language: "More food!"

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The pivot-open pattern is a simple structural rule that includes: 1 standard word+empty slot that can take many other words. The "pivot word" can be in first or second position.

1st position: Me play, me hurt, me eat

2nd position: Shoe off, water off, light off-JM

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Michael Tomasello suggests that toddlers begin to recognize not only other's actions, but the intentions behind the actions. By 14 months, toddlers recognize intentions behind actions and, therefore, enter the intentional stance. However, research suggests that toddlers are unable to set goals.  The autoher suggests that toddlers engage in "collaboration" with others, which is indicative of "intention-in-action".  It is not evidence that they recognize the goals of others.

Karen

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8.2 How language changes the world of the toddler

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8.2 How language changes the world of the toddler

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As the toddler expands her vocabulary and begins to engage in dialogue with others, her world is further constructed and categorized. Ultimately, "learning to talk changes the way a toddler sees." As we have learned, learning to talk is highly influenced by culture, and we will explore the various ways in which different cultures affect the child's internal categorization of objects and understanding of the world.

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8.2 Cultural categories and generalizations

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8.2 Cultural categories and generalizations

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There are different ways that different cultures categorize objects - differences that we often miss because our own culture is so ingrained in our minds and in our language, that we believe it to be the 'natural' or 'normal' way so to speak. The book highlights this great example:

"English speakers tend to talk about the future as in front of them. But the indigenous community of the Aymara in South America talk about the past as in front and the future as behind – after all, we can see what happened in the past, while future events are out of sight, as though behind our back. There is one community in which people always gesture in whichever direction is downhill when they speak of the past, and uphill when they speak about the future"

Based on these differences, children learn to engage in something called structure-mapping, in which they are actively creating categories of objects based on features (e.g. based on shape, color, size, etc.), which is influenced by their culture (e.g. if it is shape-biased, color-biased, directionally-biased, etc.).

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There are two ways in which toddlers begin to form their understanding of shape - and thus start to categorize objects based on shape, as opposed to color, size, or material. The first is shape bias:

"Why do toddlers start to pay attention to the shapes of objects? It turns out that words draw their attention to the shape…The word “cup” will tend to be applied to objects with the same shape, even when they are different in color and size, or made of different material."

The second way they learn to describe shape is through their frames of reference, or the way in which their language spatially positions objects that are next to each other. There are 3 frames of reference:

Relative (or egocentric) reference frame: the spoon is to the right of the fork.

Absolute (using fixed bearings): the spoon is to the west of the fork.

Intrinsic (or object-centered): the spoon is near the handle of the fork.

Ultimately, the way in which the toddler learns to describe shape and space is the way in which he will see the world. It is fascinating to see how, due to cultural differences, children learn to quite literally see the world differently.

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As the toddler's vocabulary expands and becomes more complex, she finds that words and language provide a new medium through which the she can understand the world. She is no longer bound to the concreteness of the object, but can now categorize it, reflect on it, and communicate her needs regarding it – thus unlocking a new level of understanding and self-control. The author highlights:

"Words, in particular, provide something concrete that she can focus on, and offer her a fulcrum to be better able to control her own actions…Focusing on the words and other signs that stand for objects, she no longer responds simply to the objects’ natural features, she responds to these as members of customary cultural categories."

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Language is a material system of representation, it is a social fact, it exists in the talk that we are all part of. Language represents objects, events, actions, situations. Toddlers start to discover that words can be used to share information.

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Toddlers show a growing understanding that pictures, models, and toys serve as representations of other things. When a toddler creates a drawing, it is an extremely conventional representation of the real thing. They will draw "canonical" objects, meaning the typical example of that object. Piaget called this phenomenon "intellectual realism", children draw what they know.

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During their second year, toddlers start to engage in creative activities in which one action or object stands for another. They will start making pretend actions as early as 12 months. At first, they can only talk about what they see or what they can point.
Toddlers learn how to do a perfect imitation of mom, dad, and even a teacher. Pretend play helps the child understand the power of language. In addition, by pretend playing with others, he learns that words give him the means to reenact a story or organize play.

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By 2 years old, toddlers begin to recognize what actions earn them rewards or punishment, and begin working towards the rewards. Toddlers are now not only learning what they are and are not able to do, they are also "learning what [they] may and may not do". At this age, they will comfort and help others. They begin noticing gender roles. They are beginning to understand and participate in family norms and patterns of conduct.

Toddlers at this age have adopted the customary stance, which is "the ability to focus on the customary means that people use to accomplish goals using material artifacts.

Karen

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In the first 30 months the white matter in the child brain increases in volume and becomes more myelinated,

The left hemisphere develops more rapidly than the right hemisphere,

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Difference between girls' and boys' growth 7.4

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Difference between girls' and boys' growth 7.4

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A girl will be on average between 34.5 and 36.5 inches in height and 27 to 31 pounds in weight, while a boy will be between 35 and 37 inches in height and 28 to 32 pounds in weight.

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According to Piaget, the semiotic function is a representational ability that emerges when the child is about 18 months old. It is a unified capacity that enables the child to represent an object or an event that is not present (a signified) by means of another object that is present (a signifier).  "Play is a primacy of assimilation, imitation is a primacy of accommodation".

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body and brain continue to change rapidly

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The ability to recognize one's own physical features is not present in other animal species. The toddler discovers a new aspect of her own existence and discovers that she is visible to other people.

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Toddlers start a discovery of a new self-consciousness at the end of toddlerhood that begins with them using self-referenced terms such as their name or a personal pronoun ("I"). Piaget believed that, "toddlers and young children assume that everyone sees the world around them as they do. He called this egocentrism." (269)

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Another indication that a toddler is feeling new kinds of emotions begin as they try to regulate these new feelings. Primary emotions can be described as, "a complex, organized response disposition to engage in certain classes of biologically adaptive behaviors." These include joy, fear, anger, surprise, sadness, and disgust. These new secondary emotions reflect the toddler's increased ability to recognize, talk about, and think about herself in relation to other people.

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The toddler's trunk and limbs grow longer, stomach gets tighter, and appearance is less chubby.
Muscles become stronger and bones harden.
Competitive elimination of synapses continues as well as dendrites and axons.