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Cognitive development is essential for several things such as problem solving, language acquisition, focus, analytical skills, understanding of cause and effect, and much more.

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Piaget's Theory of Cognitive Development

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Piaget's Theory of Cognitive Development

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Jean Piaget is a well known Swiss psychologist and theorist. He is a a major figure in developmental psychology of the 20th century. This video explains his theory of cognitive development that is widely known and used to inform modern day instruction in classrooms and inside the home.

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Piaget's Theory of Cognitive Development

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Vygotsky's Theory of Cognitive Development

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Vygotsky's Theory of Cognitive Development

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Lev Vygotsky was a Russian psychologist that also made in impact on cognitive development and child development. He believed cognitive development was socially influenced and constructed. This video highlights his theory and how it differs from Piaget's theory.

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Vygotsky's Theory of Cognitive Development in Social Relationships

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Piaget and Vygotsky: Same, Same, but Different?

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Piaget and Vygotsky: Same, Same, but Different?

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This blog post describes how Piaget and Vygotsky's theories are different, yet how they cane be used together in the classroom to improve cognitive development and learning in young children.

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When I was doing my initial teacher training, Jean Piaget’s theories of learning were a major focus of my required Ed Psych class.  I didn’t know it at the time, but Piaget’s theories had already been in decline for some years.  He was in our textbook, however, and textbooks are expensive, so we all studied Piaget and absorbed his ideas about how and why and when learning occurred.  In its simplest form, Piaget’s theories assert that cognitive and physiological development must occur before learning, and in some instances this is true. The human eye has to reach a stage of physiological development before a child can move from larger to smaller text and that development is not at the same point for all children. Thus, the teacher is sometimes waiting on the development of the child.

While Piaget’s theories were waning in importance, those of Russian psychologist Lev Vygotsky began to receive more attention.  Vygotsky died young before his theories could be completely fleshed out (and some of his work has not yet been fully translated from Russian) but they provide fascinating insight into how children learn.  Vygotsky argued that social learning preceded cognitive development.  In other words, culture affects cognitive development.  Whereas Piaget asserted that all children pass through a number of universal stages of cognitive development, Vygotsky believed that cognitive development varied across cultures. According to Vygotsky’s theory, cognitive functions – social and individual – are then affected by the beliefs, values, and tools for intellectual adaptation of the culture in which a person develops. This makes sense when we consider that cultures have varying tools for intellectual adaptation. We teach children how to take notes to remember things, but pre-literate cultures use other methods to insure the reliable preservation of information, such as call and response, poetry, knots on a string, rote memorization, etc.

For Piaget, thought preceded language.  A child learned to think first, and then from that thought, speak.  Vygotsky believed that thought and speech were separate, intact processes that merged around age three. He also believed – and this is key – that cognitive development occurred as language was internalized.  It appears that the language referred to here is not just what the child can produce, but also what the community of adults around the child is using.  The socio-cultural environment shapes the child’s cognitive development, the way he or she understands the world. This dovetails nicely with what we understand now about the critical nature of vocabulary in predicting a child’s academic success.

Arguably Vygotsky’s greatest theory was the Zone of Proximal Development.  Piaget asserted that cognitive development had to occur before learning, and learning had to be initiated by the child; this became the basis for Discovery Learning.  Vygotsky believed that children developed cognitively when they were assisted by a More Knowledgeable Other (MKO: parent, teacher, older sibling, peer) to learn and practice new skills in a supported environment as a precursor to using them independently.  Even a brief reflection of basic parenting activities supports this practice: children often lack skills which parents model for them and help them practice.  Riding a bike, putting away toys, learning how to hold a book, doing a jigsaw puzzle — all fall into this category. Even the classic tea party could be viewed as a supported practice of table manners for some children.  Children have learned important skills at the knees of their parents and tutors since forever – skills they could not have easily developed without adult guidance and support. What those skills were was determined by the child’s culture. Cloth weaving, playing the zither, memorization of lists of battles, use of the abacus, interpretation of law, cheese making, surveying, calligraphy, metal working; whatever the culture deemed important.  A child would be moved incrementally along a continuum of skills by a MKO, who would support the child’s development until he or she could use the skills independently.

I often hear teachers, administrators, and laypeople say that kids can’t do higher order thinking until they “get the basics.” While not precisely Piagetian, this idea certainly borrows from the idea that learning cannot occur without some other event or development happening first.  What is exciting about the Zone of Proximal Development is that children don’t have to “get the basics” prior to developing cognitive skills. They need only have a reliable, skilled MKO who can work with them in that area just above their own skill level, and support them as they practice new skills to the point of independence.

This feels like a good place to point out that “the basics” are mostly not necessary for higher order thinking.  Reading is an important skill, and the primary vehicle through which (in our culture) information is disseminated. But reading is not actually necessary for learning to think critically and analytically.  Children can listen to a story, prior to knowing how to read, and be guided through the process of evaluating and analyzing events, characters, motives, themes, etc.  They do not need to spend hours on worksheets practicing word families and consonant blends or basic comprehension questions before they can hear, enjoy, and discuss a story critically if they have sufficient guidance and support from a MKO.  Unfortunately, children from impoverished backgrounds and English Language Learners are often condemned to worksheet purgatory instead of being assisted to develop the higher order thinking skills they need to be successful in school. Additionally, this relegates them to the least engaging aspects of education rather than provide them with hands-on, engaging activities that stimulate still more learning.

Vygotsky’s theories form an important part of our Cognitively Challenging Instruction training – using the Zone of Proximal Development to move children toward greater rigor. Vygotsky’s theories of the importance of socio-cultural factors in learning also provide support to another area of great concern: Culturally Responsive Instruction.  Our next journal post will discuss the links among all three of these areas.

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Vygotsky vs. Piaget: A Paradigm Shift | Curriculum Management Solutions, Inc.

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When I was doing my initial teacher training, Jean Piaget’s theories of learning were a major focus of my required Ed Psych class. I didn’t know it at the time, but Piaget’s theories had already been in decline for some years. He was in our textbook, however, and textbooks are expensive, so we all…

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Each family's culture has a set of beliefs and expectations. These beliefs and expectations are learned by your child from their families. Not every culture has the same values, beliefs or expectations. Children have to learn how to adapt to other people outside of their community.

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Parent Involvement Makes a Difference to School Kids

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Nature VS. Nurture

Nature is when development happens because of genetic influence.

Nurture is when development happens because of environmental influence.
Example
If a person has academic success is it because they are genetically inclined to have success or is it because they are in an environment that has inclined them towards that success?

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0:00 / 3:25•Watch full video

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Family/Community Engagement: Consider Families and Communities as Experts on their Children (1)

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Nature vs Nurture | Genetics | Biology | FuseSchool

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Biological development is continuous and goes between biology and environment. There are critical periods, this is when the developing brain is responding to early experiences.  some children are more responsive to to their social environment and are affected by both the negative and positive environmental factors.

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Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University

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When children are born they have their own genetic ways that influence their characteristics at birth and through the years of growth. Depending on how these stages of development are experienced and influenced will determine who the child develops to be.

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Intelligence is defined as the ability to apply past knowledge and experiences flexibly to accomplish challenging tasks - all children have a capacity for learning. Further, intelligence develops with age and is adaptive, meaning you can help make the most out of your child's capacity for learning.

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Help your child put what they learn into action!

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Working Memory for Kids: An Executive Function Skill

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Curiosity and inquisitiveness is a natural instinct and the basis of how children come to learn about the world about them. Learn more about how to build on your child's curiosity and provide them with meaningful answers to their questions.

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Cody, a 9-month-old in Ms. Angela's infant room, crawls over to an interesting object: it is silver, made of metal wires, and easy to grasp. He tries to put it in his mouth. It doesn't fit but the metal feels cool against his lips. He holds this strange object out to Ms. Angela, catching her attention. He opens his eyes wide and shakes the silver object. Ms. Angela smiles and nods. "Yes, I see it," she says. "It's called a whisk. You can mix ingredients with a whisk." Cody shakes it again and tries once more to put it in his mouth.

In the toddler room across the hall, the children are excited about a visitor coming today. Their teacher, Mr. Geoff, will be bringing his pet rabbit, Sherman. Their other teacher, Ms. Amy, is asking the children what they already know about rabbits: "Soft!," "Eat carrots!," and "They have ears!" Then she asks the children what they want to know about rabbits: "Have babies?," "Do they bite?," and "What do they play?" Ms. Amy writes down all their questions and then takes out a book that she said will help them find answers before Sherman arrives. She starts to read.

Curiosity is the desire for knowledge (Markey & Loewenstein 2014). The opening vignettes highlight how curiosity drives children's learning (von Stumm, Hell, & Chamorro-Premuzic 2011). But what does curiosity look like before a child can talk?

In babies, we might observe

expressions of wondering or questioning (raised eyebrows, for example);

steady gazes between what's being observed and a trusted information source (parent, teacher, or older child);

vocalizations (of excitement, or rising, questioning intonation);

or pointing (as if to say, "What is that?" or "What is happening here?").

To express curiosity, toddlers may

ask a question or repeat an action over and over again;

take your hand and show you what they are curious about;

or persist in trying different ways of gathering information about an object or activity.

Tips for Nurturing Curiosity in Your Early Childhood Classroom

Think About It

When was the last time you felt curious about something? What did you do in response to your feelings of curiosity?

How did your family, friends, or teachers support your curiosity (or not) as you were growing up?

How did your family respond when you asked questions as a child? How do you respond when children ask you questions in the early childhood classroom?

What activities already occur in your classroom that encourage children's curiosity? What materials do you have available that can foster wondering?

How do you identify and document children's wonderings in your daily practices?

Try It

Document children's curiosity in different formats. Snap photos of the way infants gaze at and grasp seashells that you have offered for exploration, and laminate and post the photos at their height. Try taking a video of how toddlers adjust the height of a ramp to see whether the ball will roll farther or faster-watch this video together later in the day and talk about what children discovered. You can also refer to these recordings later for your own inspiration and ideas for how to build on children's knowledge and curiosities.

Share with the children stories that focus on the power of curiosity. For babies, consider the board books Gossie Plays Hide and Seek, by Olivier Dunrea or Press Here, by Hervé Tullet. For toddlers, try stories like Windows, by Julia Denos, The Thingamabob, by Il Sung Na, and What's Next, by Timothy Knapman. You can use these books as a jumping off point for activities that nurture curiosity. In The Thingamabob, a curious elephant spends much of the book wondering about what a funny red object is (it's an umbrella). Following reading the story, you might introduce an unusual object to the children-like a cake decorating tool-and allow them to explore it and wonder what it might be or do, before you demonstrate its function.

As you plan activities, identify three "I wonder . . . " or "I'm curious about . . . " statements you might use with children each day. For example, if you are planning an exploration with flashlights you might consider asking questions like, "I wonder what will happen if I put my hand in front of the light? I'm holding the flashlight in my hand, but I wonder where the light is shining? Where did my shadow go?" It is a good habit to share and model your own curiosity with the children in your group.

There are several different kinds of curiosity (Berlyne 1978). Curiosity can be motivated by a desire for knowledge or information-wondering how a door opens on a busy box or why some objects float and others sink. There is also the curiosity that is driven by a desire to entertain ourselves-like wondering what will happen if we pour water into sand. Still another type of curiosity is driven by the pleasure of that comes from mastery-imagine watching a child patiently stacking unevenly shaped rocks into a tower, sometimes failing and sometimes succeeding but all while maintaining curiosity.

Think of curiosity as being prompted by an essential knowledge gap between what we currently know and what we wish to know; we feel intensely motivated to fill this gap with desired knowledge (Loewenstein 1994). When individuals feel curious, they "engage in persistent information-seeking behavior" (Shin & Kim 2019, 854), and all children are curious. Perhaps this is why emerging research shows a connection between higher curiosity in children and higher reading and math scores at kindergarten (Shah et al. 2018).

Promoting curiosity in the classroom

Each type of curiosity can be nurtured in the early childhood classroom, and each curiosity can foster a child's early learning. Here are some key practices that early childhood educators can try to build on a child's natural desire to explore and learn. (Also see "Tips for Nurturing Curiosity in Your Early Childhood Classroom" above for reflection questions and suggested activities.)

Practice the 5 Ws of wondering. Look for opportunities to model asking questions and wondering together by asking who, where, when, why and how questions. Toddlers are able to ask what questions at about 24 months, then where (26-32 months), who (36-40 months) and finally when, why, and how questions (42-49 months).

Use "I wonder . . . " statements. Find ways to incorporate "I wonder" statements into your discussions and activities: "I wonder what will happen next in this story," "I wonder why the ball rolled farther on that ramp," "I wonder how he's feeling," and "I wonder where they'll pour the cement." By modeling "I wonder" statements, you are showing your own curiosity and encouraging children to engage with you in finding a solution. You may find children begin to share their own wonderings with you-which create important opportunities to implement an emergent curriculum driven by their curiosity. Imagine a group of three toddlers running up to show you a cicada casing (empty shell) that they found on a tree trunk. You might use this as a learning opportunity in the classroom. You can introduce new vocabulary, such as cicada, casing, and life cycle, and teach them about the distinctive loud buzzing sound cicadas make. You may also follow up on this conversation with some age-appropriate books on insects to continue the children's wonderings.

Document children's wonderings. For toddlers (ages 2 years and up), make it a practice to ask children what they are curious about when you introduce a new material, object, or experience. Document their questions and wonderings on a flipchart and find answers to their questions during this planned exploration. For younger toddlers and babies, use the "sportscasting," or play-by-play technique, to describe what babies seem to be asking or curious about: "You're wondering how that top pops up. Watch how I turn the handle-here, you can help me try."

Point out changes. Identifying changes and patterns in the world around us sparks a child's desire to "figure out" how things work. "Do you see how this leaf looks different than this leaf over here? What do you see that's different? Would you like to touch them both?"

Allow children to try and fail. Rather than offering a solution to every problem, share an observation and ask a question: "The block tower keeps falling down. Why do you think that happens? What can we do to make it stay up?" Of course, the teacher knows that putting the giant rectangle block on the very top of the block tower means it will come crashing down. But toddlers do not yet understand balance and weight distribution. Letting children experiment in this way builds their problem-solving skills and grows knowledge about the physical world by harnessing their curiosity about the event.

Follow the children's lead. Every child is different, and what sparks curiosity will vary from child to child. See what captivates a child's or group's interest and suggest, "Let's learn about this together!" One class, after hearing an informational text about bats, became fascinated by these flying mammals. Their teacher created a "bat cave" out of a child-sized table covered by a blanket. The children would "fly" around the classroom and then return to the cave where they would pretend to hang upside-down.

Curiosity can be a source of motivation, learning, and joy for all of us-not just children. In fact, the inborn drive to be curious and seek out knowledge has been shown to activate the reward center of an adult's brain-seeking knowledge to satisfy our curiosity feels good (Kang et al. 2009). By creating classrooms that celebrate curiosity, we can nurture children's internal pursuit of knowledge, their pleasure in discovery, and their emerging understanding of the world around them. Most of all, by sharing in their curiosity, we build stronger relationships with children-the kind of relationships where they can better grow and thrive.

Rocking & Rolling is written by infant and toddler specialists and contributed by ZERO TO THREE, a nonprofit organization working to promote the health and development of infants and toddlers by translating research and knowledge into a range of practical tools and resources for use by the adults who influence the lives of young children.

References

Berlyne, D.E. 1978. "Curiosity and Learning." Motivation and Emotion 2 (2): 97-175.

Kang, M.J., M. Hsu, I.M. Krajbich, G. Loewenstein, S.M. McClure, J.T.Y. Wang, & C.F. Camerer. 2009. "The Wick in the Candle of Learning: Epistemic Curiosity Activates Reward Circuitry and Enhances Memory." Psychological Science 20 (8): 963-73.

Markey, A., & G. Loewenstein. 2014. "Curiosity." In International Handbook of Emotions in Education, eds. R. Pekrun & L. Linnenbrink-Garcia, 246-264. London and New York: Routledge.

Shah, P.E., H.M. Weeks, B. Richards, & N. Kaciroti 2018. "Early Childhood Curiosity and Kindergarten Reading and Math Academic Achievement." Pediatric Research 84 (30): 380-86.

Shin, D.D., S. Kim. 2019. "Homo Curious: Curious or Interested?" Education Psychology Review 31: 853-74.

Von Stumm, S., B. Hell, & T. Chamorro-Premuzic. 2011. "The Hungry Mind." Perspectives on Psychological Science 6 (6): 574-88.

Copyright © 2020 by the National Association for the Education of Young Children. See Permissions and Reprints online at NAEYC.org/resources/permissions.

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Rocking and Rolling. Fostering Curiosity in Infants and Toddlers

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Cody, a 9-month-old in Ms. Angela's infant room, crawls over to an interesting object: it is silver, made of metal wires, and easy to grasp. He tries to put it in his mouth. It doesn't fit but the metal feels cool against his lips. He holds this strange object out to Ms. Angela, catching her attention.

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Intellectual ability is not the only form of intelligence - follow this link to learn more about the 8 intelligences and how they apply to your child.

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Every Child is Intelligent. What are Multiple Intelligences?

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In this article, education professionals discuss the potential drawbacks of IQ testing.

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CELESTE HEADLEE, HOST:

This is TELL ME MORE from NPR News. I'm Celeste Headlee. Michel Martin is away. And it's time for our weekly parenting roundtable. Every week we check in with a diverse group of parents to get a little common sense and some savvy advice. Today, we're talking about labeling school children according to their abilities, their strengths and their weaknesses. Schools have long used IQ tests and standardized tests of many varieties to group kids and teach each kid according to his or her abilities.

Sounds like a good idea in theory but sometimes the label is wrong, and that tag of gifted or disabled can follow students until they graduate high school. Here to talk more about this is Jessica Lahey. She's a middle school teacher and a mom of two. She recently wrote a story about IQ testing for The Atlantic. Scott Barry Kaufman is a psychologist and author of "Ungifted: Intelligence Redefined." And Isaura Gonzalez is a psychologist who treats public school children and a mom of four. Welcome to all of you.

SCOTT BARRY KAUFMAN: Thank you for having us.

ISAURA GONZALEZ: Thank you.

JESSICA LAHEY: Thank you.

HEADLEE: Jessica, how soon do we start labeling kids? What age are these kids?

LAHEY: Well, it depends on whether you're talking about labels that we give them outright or the labels that they perceive we give them. It really does start as early as kindergarten and sometimes even preschool. And in some of the more aggressive markets for preschool and kindergarten, it's happening at the minute they start testing in.

HEADLEE: I can't imagine that the school started out saying, hey, we're going to slap a label on kids, ha-ha-ha-ha, right. I mean, the intention is to do something constructive and helpful for the kids.

LAHEY: Absolutely, and it makes it easier for teachers if you put kids in reading groups based on ability, it makes it so that all the other kids have the appropriate level of challenge. The problem comes when we start gauging our expectations based on those classifications. As I'm sure Scott is going to get to, those expectations can have a huge effect on the ability that the kid has to strive for something more.

HEADLEE: And Scott, as Jessica just mentioned, you're a good example of when this does go wrong. You have a Ph.D. from Yale but in elementary school you were labeled seriously learning disabled. How did that happen?

KAUFMAN: I don't know if that was the official label.

HEADLEE: Oh, did we add the seriously?

KAUFMAN: No, I mean, people have said that to me, you know, informally, you know. And that's certainly how I felt in terms of expectations. I always was asked to sit in - I had an auditory learning disability, which was like a - it was called central auditory processing disorder 'cause I had lots of fluid in my ears the first couple of years of my life, and it was hard for me to process information. So they always made me sit at the front of the classroom and they would talk really slowly to me, and it was very clear what they expected out of me. It really affected my performance in school.

HEADLEE: But, as Jessica mentioned, did that effect their expectations of you as well?

KAUFMAN: It absolutely did. I mean, the teachers have these labels, they know which students in their class are part of the gifted program, which students are part of special education. Teachers have that information and there's research showing that they really do - that it really does influence the way they teach students.

HEADLEE: Well, let me take this to you then, Isaura, because you treat a lot of students who're flagged by public schools as being academically gifted or maybe having behavioral issues. How does that work? How does the labeling actually occur?

GONZALEZ: There's a different process that occurs when a child is flagged. So either the referral comes from parent-oriented or parent-initiated. So the parent says, you know, I see my son or my daughter struggling and they go to the school or they come to a psychologist such as myself - I'm actually a clinical psychologist and Dr. Kaufman is a cognitive psychologist, so we do things a little differently. And what happens is that we're asked to evaluate the situation.

You know, why is this child falling behind or bored? And a lot of times the referrals that I get, you know, interestingly enough, I'll get - there's behavioral problems. And there's behavioral problems for both the gifted and the special learners. So sometimes, you will get referrals like that and what begins to happen then is the child study team becomes involved, where there is a team of professionals - a social worker, a psychologist, an academic learner or an educational specialist - sometimes it's a teacher - occupational therapists, speech therapists are all part of this team.

And their role in the school system is to evaluate. I'm not sure if Dr. Kaufman - that's what he had originally gone through, but that's the role of the team and the team is to figure out, how can we service this child so that they do not fall behind, so that they are getting the best services and the best academic help that they can possibly get.

HEADLEE: However, as I understand, you've done some research that has shown that black and Latino students have a particular problem, sometimes, with being mislabeled.

GONZALEZ: The research that I did was my dissertation and it was actually measuring intelligence in Spanish-speaking individuals, Spanish-speaking bilinguals to be more specific. And you do see that there is a need for not only cultural sensitivity, but also linguistic sensitivity. And if you begin to look at just our country in general, in the public school system and all different types of educational formats, you begin to realize that not every one person learns the same, as Dr. Kaufman was saying. I see a lot of children with central auditory processing disorder myself, and individuals don't know what it looks like. Teachers don't know what it looks like.

And unfortunately, I think some psychologists don't even know what it looks like, because unless you've had that experience, unless you've seen a child with a speech impediment or even a mild speech delay, you can't pick that up. And then instantly what's told is that they're inferior to the other children. So a lot of African-American, as well as Latino children, are labeled as inferior when sometimes it's that, at home, they don't have any more of the language - the English language - that they're getting in the school system.

HEADLEE: Right. If you're just joining us, we're talking about using intelligence tests to group kids. I'm joined by psychologist Isaura Gonzalez, who you just heard. Also educator Scott Barry Kaufman and writer Jessica Lahey. Jessica, there are reasons to do these tests though. I mean, I'm thinking particularly of my son. I insisted that he be tested. He's gifted. Many people think gifted means intelligent, but there's a whole lot of social problems that go along with being gifted as well.

And as far as my kid was concerned, I wanted him to be tested, I wanted the school to recognize that he needed special learning and special attention. Aren't there ways in which this labeling - maybe the labeling itself can be a good thing but it's implemented badly?

LAHEY: It absolutely can be a good thing. The advances that we've made in being able to classify children in terms of what their needs are is incredibly helpful. As a teacher, I teach middle school, as a teacher, that has been a great gift. The problem has been that when I get a lot of information that my expectations should be low of this student coming in, it's really hard to roll that back as I'm teaching that student.

These expectations get kind of, you know, communicated to teachers before they ever get their hands on the student. My preference tends to be to get information about how to help them move forward, but inevitably, teachers tend to get information about what they can't do. I'd rather know what the kid can do and help move that forward. And kids know when we don't expect much of them, and there's a lot of research that shows that when you put the bar higher, the kids will rise to that level.

And I think because we're so concerned with kids' self-esteem, we're so concerned with making sure that kids don't feel bad about their performance, that we don't set the bar high enough because we don't want them to get sad, we don't want them to go home and feel like they can't accomplish anything. So there's this incredibly delicate dance that teachers do between having high expectations and helping the kids that sincerely need help to rise up to the level that they can - you know, where they can really operate at their highest level.

HEADLEE: Well, Scott, this is an issue that you understand on multiple levels. And I hate to bring this back - I hate to, in any way, imply that this is about teachers not doing what they're supposed to. That's not really what the problem here - is it?

KAUFMAN: You know, the issue is more systemic than that - than just a teachers thing. I think it's a schoolwide culture issue and the way that we treat all these labels as separate, mutually exclusive categories. You know, you have special education over here, you have gifted education over here, I mean, there's lots of concepts that - you know, such like twice exceptional learners and individuals who may have a learning disability, but I think everyone in the system, you know, educator from every part of this - and parents, educators, the students themselves need to recognize that it's not mutually exclusive. You can have a specific learning disability and still be extraordinarily bright.

HEADLEE: Isaura, should a parent be worried? I mean, if a parent gets a notice from their teacher or principle that their kid is going to be tested, what can that parent do to prevent something from going wrong, to prevent the kid from being mislabeled or labeled and then have low expectations of their student?

GONZALEZ: Well, I think the first thing that I try to teach all parents that come through my office is education. Educating yourself and knowing everything that there is to know about what the services are. They cannot test your child without your permission. So that's important for any parent to know. They can't just pull your child out because they think they need special services or they're gifted or that the academic placement isn't correct for them. So they must have your permission.

If you feel that you don't have enough knowledge, then my recommendation is find individuals such as myself, such as Dr. Kaufman, who've had experience, who can guide you through the process. So one of the things that I would know is, what are we looking for? What are the deficits? Are they just going to test psychologically, because I believe with Dr. Kaufman in the book, and the article that Jessica had written, was based just on IQ. But there are also achievement tests. What is it exactly that they're going to be looking for? I think that's crucial.

HEADLEE: Well, you are a mother of four, are you not?

GONZALEZ: Correct.

HEADLEE: Would you ever prevent the school system from testing your kids?

GONZALEZ: Celeste, it's interesting, because I had my four children, as well, tested and mine all, ironically we're having this discussion, were tested all gifted. And, you know, there's a lot of difficulties that begin to occur when you begin to have, kind of, in front of you, where do we go from here. So I would not stop my child - I'm a psychologist and I know that it's important for educational as well as self-improvement and moving forward for the child academically, as well as psychologically, to be able to have an idea.

What I don't think is correct, and Dr. Kaufman and I had this conversation before we went on air, is how this is then transmitted onto the child. It's not the child's issue. It should be the adults and the professionals and educators - everyone together to be putting a picture so that they can help the child. The child doesn't necessarily - my children don't know they're gifted, I don't give them that label.

HEADLEE: Well, what about you, Jessica, you have two kids, right?

LAHEY: Yes.

HEADLEE: Would you ever prevent them from being tested?

LAHEY: Well, we just actually had this conversation as well. You know, my kids have their own way, and both of them are - they're very different from each other and the expectations that we tend to have of kids tend to be shaped by the academic environment that we're in. And there's this classic image of the smart kid, and it happens that particular image comes from the sort of typical kid, and the kid that we're looking for to get all A's and the kid that we're looking for to go to an Ivy League school. And there's all kind of intelligences and that's what's so great about Scott's book, "Ungifted," is that he talks about the different kinds of intelligences, and this certainly isn't a new topic.

I just don't - I wouldn't hesitate to have my kids tested if I felt like there was a problem going on, but I think there's a lot of information that is - sometimes having a lot of information is great as a teacher, but as a parent sometimes I'd like to just trust in the fact that the kids are going to find their way in the world a little bit more than we allow them to.

HEADLEE: You know, Scott, often - again, I'm only speaking as a mother, I think, often the problem is is that people don't really understand what those labels are. Maybe school systems don't always entirely understand what those labels mean or are able to interpret test results.

For example, we keep mentioning gifted, which is just one of the many ways in which a kid can be labeled, but gifted doesn't necessarily mean smart. It also comes with a whole host, as I said, of social issues and specific learning challenges as well. Maybe the problem is how we interpret these test results.

KAUFMAN: I think that's a pretty good point, and I think it's also important that we recognize that giftedness - that's a label. We, as a society, choose what cognitive skills, what human characteristics we want to put under that label of giftedness. Different cultures might define giftedness and intelligence, and they do, in different ways. You know, some cultures define it as lifelong learning and persevering amongst obstacles. We live in a society where we're obsessed with standardized test performance.

HEADLEE: Yeah.

KAUFMAN: So those who are good at standardized test performance, those are the gifted kids. But there's no objective, you know, 10 Commandments from above saying this shall be what we call gifted - the gifted mind and this is the ungifted mind, you know.

HEADLEE: To a certain extent, Scott, I have to ask you, even though you were labeled at some point as having learning issues, even though, as you say, there were low expectations of you, you're a psychologist - I mean, you went to Yale. You have a Ph.D. from Yale. I mean, it all turned out OK for you.

KAUFMAN: Yeah, and I think - so part of the issue is I've had to go through the back door over and over and over again because I'm just not good at standardized tests. And I sort of feel like I've, just like, climbed this huge mountain and gone to the other side and see all of these people on the other side of the mountain that are being blocked by this arbitrary system where we're limiting their potential based on these test scores, opposed to using those scores to help them. And it really frustrates me.

HEADLEE: Isaura, would your - I mean, I asked you if you had a problem with testing your kids, you said they all tested as gifted, would you have had a different view of testing if they'd come back as learning disabled?

GONZALEZ: No. I mean, you know, if you look - I'm a psychologist and I'm a clinician and I do testing all the time and I think the point that you've also been speaking about is interpreting. And I think you have to interpret. You can't interpret just the score, you have to interpret what do you see. A lot of times, if you're a good clinician, you will easily pick up central auditory processing disorder. You will pick up attention deficit disorder. So you will see intra-scatter amongst the subtests that you see. So it's not just about the score, it's also about their performance.

HEADLEE: Yeah.

GONZALEZ: Also children fatigue easily, you know. Some of these testings take three to four hours. I don't know about you, but sometimes I have trouble sitting for three or four minutes, you know...

HEADLEE: ...Yeah. And there's also the issue - I'm sorry to interrupt you - but before we go, Jessica, there's also the issue that if you tested a certain way in first and second grade you may be a completely different student by the time you reach high school.

KAUFMAN: Yeah.

LAHEY: Oh, absolutely. Every time we meet to talk about a student and we realize the testing we're looking at is three years old, we kind of, you know, discount it a little bit. I did want to mention one quick thing and I'm really glad Isaura has decided not to tell her children about their giftedness simply because, as Scott knows, attaching any label to a kid, including the label of gifted, has the tendency to get them into, what Carol Dweck calls, this fixed mindset and sets the kid up to not want to mess with that label.

So they're going to be a lot less likely to try things that are hard for them because they don't want to bust that label. So God forbid they fail at something because then they're not going to be called gifted anymore. I think it's best to just let kids - praise kids for their efforts, not praise kids for their inherent talents and intelligences.

HEADLEE: That's Jessica Lahey, writer and mom of two. She joined us from member station KUER in Salt Lake City. Also we spoke with Isaura Gonzalez, a psychologist in private practice and mother of four. Scott Barry Kaufman is a psychologist and author of the book "Ungifted: Intelligence Redefined." Both of them joined us from our New York studios. Thanks to all three of you.

KAUFMAN: Thank you.

LAHEY: Thank you.

GONZALEZ: Thank you.

HEADLEE: That is our program for today. I'm Celeste Headlee. You have been listening to TELL ME MORE from NPR News, and we will talk more tomorrow.

Copyright © 2013 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR's programming is the audio record.

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Is It Time To Get Rid of IQ Tests In Schools?

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Schools have long used IQ tests to group students. But some experts say labels like 'gifted' or 'disabled' are following students throughout their education - for better and worse. Guest host Celeste Headlee finds out more.

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Language development supports cognitive, social, and literacy development. It starts with sounds and gestures and develops into words and sentences.

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Main Theories of Language Development Takeaways:

Language development is a slow process that starts during early childhood.

The most significant human invention is arguably language.

The nativist linguistic theory postulates that every human being is born with innate language ability

BF Skinner suggested that learning a language is like learning any new skill.

Although there are several language development theories, they mostly focus on nature vs. nurture.

Any language boils down to a set of symbols representing sounds and grammar governing the system. But contrary to what you might believe, you don't need to know grammar by heart to learn a language.

Grammar is the conventionalization system of a language, often wrongly distilled into a single word, " rules." The word "rules" suggests a language should have a set of rules first, then people can speak it.

However, languages do not work this way. As a matter of fact, it's the other way around. People collectively create the language, then come to the rules that describe it and conventionalize it.

Language is like a living creature. It grows, evolves, and changes over time. Grammar rules simply reflect the usage of language at a particular time.

Maybe no other person has manipulated the English language like William Shakespeare. But reading the Bard of Avon's plays, you can come across many gross grammatical errors that average people don't make.

Giving Shakespeare a break, there was no such thing as grammar back then in the way we think of it today. If you go back to the 16th century, you could hardly make sense of the English you hear.

Indeed, by learning grammar, you can develop an understanding of a language. But grammar can't explain language development as a cognitive, social, and cultural phenomenon.

What is Language Development?

Language development is a slow process that starts during early childhood, allowing children to grasp the spoken word and communicate.

The emergence of language in human children comes after a period of significant development of the brain. This term also applies to the origin of languages and why humans developed language as a communication tool in the first place.

Language development is a vast field with contributions from various disciplines. These include linguists, anthropologists, archaeologists, geneticists, neurologists, and computer scientists, to name a few.

The most significant human invention is arguably language.

Today, the world is bustling with thousands of spoken languages. There are 7,111 to be exact and this number is constantly changing.

With less than living 1,000 speakers, 40% of languages ( 2,895) are considered "endangered".

Thanks to language development, we can convey deep meanings. We can communicate complex ideas that help us construct the world around us.

Without language, civilization might not exist. There may not be science or art. Or, we may never have technologies or the Internet or Google!

Language Acquisition in Children

Usually, it's an exciting event for parents when their child utters her or his first words.

Although we can't know for sure when exactly the baby's babbling turns into words with meaning. Soon, the baby turns into a chatterbox, starting to make sense of sounds and picking up new words used haphazardly.

Then, syllable by syllable and word by word, a substantial vocabulary accumulates, and a functioning language is readily accessible. It is also possible to master a second language and a third.

There might be no roof for the human brain in this regard.

Speaking of which, there is a lot of work to do regarding the understanding of the systematic mechanism of language development in the brain. That's because we don't know a lot about how the brain works in the first place.

But, what scientists do know is that a system of brain regions work together when acquiring and using language.

The angular gyrus, Wernicke's area, the insular cortex, the basal ganglia, and the cerebellum are all involved in the language acquisition process. But it doesn't stop here.

To read a word, you have to see it first, through the optic nerve and the visual cortex. When reading in Braille, for example, it's the sensory cortex that gets involved. You can't listen to someone speaking without the auditory cortex.

Most of us take the ability to acquire and utilize a language for granted. Yet, language is actually quite an amazing human faculty. It takes a good deal of neuronal and muscular activity to articulate or write a single word.

Five Theories of Language Development

There's no right place to start from when discussing the theories of language development. Many schools of thought have developed and influenced the history of language acquisition as an academic discipline.

Let's get into five main theories and approaches that give us insights into the language phenomenon.

1. Daniel Everett's Theory: Language Scratches the Communicative Itch

Picking up and using a language is something, inventing it from scratch is a whole another thing. Here come the homo Erectus!

The language phenomenon may not have started with us, homo sapiens.

According to linguist Daniel Everett, nearly two million years have passed since "homo Erectus" first started uttering meaningful sounds.

Homo erectus is considered the first human species, which also includes homo sapiens and Neanderthals.

These early hominins had big brains, walked upright, and were the first gatherer-hunters. They traveled in groups across the islands, and the ocean couldn't get in their way.

The Erectus needed language because they had to communicate more complex ideas than just pointing to a mammoth to alert the hunting party.

"You need communication with symbols, not just grunts," says Everett. "They accomplished too much for this to simply be the sort of communication that we see in other species without symbols."

Settlement evidence found on the island of Flores, in Indonesia, suggests that the Erectus came together in groups - on rafts.

They crossed strong currents surrounding the island. For that, they had to paddle together and know when to stop. Homo erectus needed "words" to give commands and instructions.

Homo erectus had a vocal apparatus similar to gorillas, so they couldn't make all the sounds we can make. Their linguistic capabilities were just enough to make them one of the most successful species to ever walked the Earth.

They roamed the face of the planet for over 2 million years. For as many as 350,000 years, we haven't lived but about a sixth of the time.

2. Chomsky's Nativist Linguistic Theory: Universal Grammar

Evertt's work suggests that a language is a social tool that humans developed to communicate and share knowledge to solve problems. Linguist Noam Chomsky, however, thinks language is innate.

What is grammar?

It is "The whole system and structure of a language or of languages in general, usually taken as consisting of syntax and morphology (including inflections) and sometimes also phonology and semantics."

For Chomsky, who formulated the concept of universal grammar, language has a genetic component to it.

The nativist linguistic theory postulates that every human being is born with innate language ability. Pioneered by Chomsky, this theory suggests that a human baby's brain comes to the world pre-equipped with language-learning systems.

Chomsky thinks there could be a single master language that served as the origin of all other languages.

A child comes to the world with the prerequisites for language learning. Namely, a built-in tool Chomsky calls the Language Acquisition Device ( LAD).

This brain device allows the child to acquire linguistic abilities rapidly. Worth noting, Chomsky's LAD is a hypothetical concept. There's no brain region recognized as such by neuroscientists.

3. B.F. Skinner Behaviorist Theory

The innatist, or nativist theory, attributes the emergence of language as a neural mutation that occurred way back in a single individual. Everett thinks it was born from a more social necessity, slowly shaped by many individuals.

This means there's no universal grammar shared between all languages and from which they take their linguistic cues. The notion of universal grammar and the innateness of the language faculty is also opposed to the behaviorist concept of language.

It's American behaviorist and psychologist B.F. Skinner who developed the behaviorist theory of language acquisition.

This theory suggests that learning a language is much like learning any new skill through observation, imitation, repetition, errors, rewards, and punishments. Or what Skinner calls Operant Conditioning.

Behavior theorists posit that language development is a learned behavior. When babies first speak, they are trying to imitate the behavior of their parents and adults around them.

A language would develop as responses to stimuli from the environment. Hugging the baby for his or her first word is a reward that pushes them further on the learning curve.

Kids in school could get either rewarded or punished for their language learning acquisition process.

However, Chomsky isn't a fan of the behaviorist theory because he claims it doesn't address syntactic acquisition.

4. Vygotsky's Social Interactionist Theory

The social interactionist theory is based on the work of Soviet psychologist Lev Vygotsky.

The basic notion of this theory is that language has a social origin. In that regard, it has some similarities with Everett's model.

This concept suggests that the child, from birth, is continually engaging in social interactions, which allows him to develop higher cognitive functions, namely language, and thought.

According to Vygotsky's social development model, socio-cultural interactions come first, then cognition and language development.

5. Piaget's Constructivist Theory

For Jean Piaget, a Swiss psychologist, language is not only due to genetic predisposition or imitation

Piaget's constructivist theory argues that language is constructed by following cognitive development. In other words, people develop their language skills and construct overall knowledge based on their own experience.

Beyond just language development, Piaget's theory focuses on understanding the nature of intelligence itself. He defines four stages that cognitive development goes through:

Sensorimotor stage: birth to 2 years

Preoperational stage: 2 to 7 years

Concrete operational stage: 7 to 11 years

Formal operational stage: 12 and up

We have barely scratched the surface here. There are several other theories, each with its unique approach. Like languages themselves, thoughts on them may overlap and cross-fertilize.

What is the Maturation Theory of Language Development?

An American pediatrician, Dr. Arnold Gesell, introduced the Maturation Theory of Child Development in 1925. His theory focuses on how genetics influences development and other behavior.

Gesell believed that human skills - adaptive, motor, and language - develop and unfold naturally based on our biological makeup.

Be that as it may, he didn't disregard environmental factors' influences on a child's development. However, the clinical psychologist was convinced that they were less influential than genetics.

So, Gesell focused his investigation on children's physiological development - which he called maturation.

According to the pediatrician, the rate at which children develop depends primarily on their nervous system's growth. And that includes the brain, spinal cord, and a complicated web of nerve fibers.

Gesell's language acquisition theories about maturation propose that language development milestones occur between ages 40 weeks and five years.

0-50 weeks: A child produces meaningful sounds.

1 - 2 old: The child uses longer phrases and straightforward sentences.

2 - 3 old: The child begins to communicate in complete sentences.

3 - 4 old: The child uses language as a tool to expand their knowledge of the world.

4 - 5 old: The child has a basic mastery of the language.

Gesell also pointed out that children under the age of 10 are emotionally predisposed to learn a second or third language. And that's because they still perceive language as fun at that stage of development.

How are the Theories of Language Development Similar and Different?

The psychological theories of language development have one thing in common. And that's the focus on how genetics and the environment may have influenced language development. Indeed, researchers believe that language acquisition is partly inborn and partially learned through interaction. However, each language development theory places a varying degree of importance on nature and nurture.

For example, BF Skinner's behaviorist theory focuses on how the environment influences language acquisition. Similarly, Vygotsky's social interactionist theory highlights the impact of nurture on language development.

Daniel Everett's theory, on the other hand, explores the genetic disposition of language development.

With that said, most theories of language development believe that language acquisition is a blend of nature and nurture.

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Theories of Language Development: How Languages Came to be

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Main Theories of Language Development Takeaways: Language development is a slow process that starts during early childhood. The most significant human invention is arguably language. The nativist linguistic theory postulates that every human being is born with innate language ability BF Skinner suggested that learning a language is like learning any new skill.

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The Language Tree - Child Language Development

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Language: The First 5 Years of Life of Learning

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You can support language development by communicating and responding to your child, reading books and sharing stories. If you are worried about language development, there are resources you can use and also talk with your child's physician.

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What is Speech Blubs?

A speech learning app that will help your kid speak better, sooner, and more confidently!

Who is it for?

It helps kids over 12 months, including those with Down syndrome, articulation issues, or kids with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

How does it work?

Kid "experts" teach first sounds, words, and sentences so your child speaks with ease.

What is Speech Blubs?

A speech learning app that will help your kid speak better, sooner, and more confidently!

Who is it for?

It helps kids over 12 months, including those with Down syndrome, articulation issues, or kids with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

How does it work?

Kid "experts" teach first sounds, words, and sentences so your child speaks with ease.

Check the mind-blowing progress of Harper, one of our awesome kids!

“Within the first 7 days, we noticed a huge improvement! Things she was trying to tell us in the weeks before, that we couldn’t understand, were now being pronounced so clearly!”

“I never thought she’d learn this much, this quickly! After a month, she was counting to 10 and knew all her shapes and colors! Her vocabulary is growing every week, and it feels just like fun play to her.”

“The beauty of Speech Blubs is in the many different topics. She would never hear the word ‘Velociraptor’ in our daily conversations, but ‘Dinorawrs’ is one of her favorite topics in the app!! It also shows her how to sound words out.”

How your child masters speech:

1. Watch and repeat

Kids first watch other kids act as teachers and role models, and are motivated to copy and repeat after them.

2. Role-play

Take pictures with fun face filters that are designed so kids can become the word they practice. Build a fun photo book along the way. Save and share the memories!

3. Listen to their progress

Each word your kid practices is followed by a clever video that gives context for that word, and makes it easier to remember. Be amazed by how fast they learn!

Approved by children and speech therapists

Speech Blubs was made with the help of our network of 1000+ speech therapists (SLPs) who make sure the app is equipped with the necessary tools to improve your little one’s speech. Kids test it to make sure it’s fun, too!

"It's fun, creative, multi-sensory, bilingual and a great use of technology. I highly recommend this app for professionals and parents to use with kids!"

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There are different types of screen time.

So, experts talk about PASSIVE (screen time that is physically and cognitively sedentary, like watching cartoons or music videos) vs. ACTIVE (cognitively, educationally, or physically engaging activities). Most agree that passive screen time doesn’t usually help with physical or emotional development, but that active smart screen time can.

Smart screen time can work for your child!

Instead of passively watching cartoons, with Speech Blubs your kid will be engaged in active smart screen time that can teach new things, get kids moving, and can help kids’ future success.

Over 1,500 fun activities that will help get your child ready for school & life.

Take your little one on a journey toward speech milestones!

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Frequently asked questions

What is Speech Blubs?

Speech Blubs is a speech learning app that offers a variety of fun, engaging, and educational activities that will boost your child’s speech while providing great fun for the whole family.

Can I try it for free?

Yes, you can! Speech Blubs has a 7-day FREE trial, giving you the option to explore the activities and see for yourself if it is something that might benefit your child!

How much does it cost?

As mentioned, the first seven days are on us! After that, there is a small fee (a fraction of one speech therapy session). We have monthly, annual, and even a lifetime plan with prices starting as low as US$4.99/month.

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Activate your child's language with fun speech therapist-approved activities: Video modeling, face filters, speech recognition, stickers, and loads more!

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There are many ways you can help your child learn to understand and use words. See a speech-language pathologist if you have concerns.

Birth to 2 Years

Say sound like "ma," "da," and "ba." Try to get your baby to say them back to you.

Look at your baby when they make sounds. Talk back to them, and say what they say. Pretend to have a conversation.

Respond when your baby laughs or makes faces. Make the same faces back to them.

Teach your baby to do what you do, like clapping your hands and playing peek-a-boo.

Talk to your baby as you give them a bath, feed them, and get them dressed. Talk about what you are doing and where you are going. Tell them who or what you will see.

Point out colors and shapes.

Count what you see.

Use gestures, like waving and pointing.

Talk about animal sounds. This helps your baby connect the sound and the animal. Use words like "The dog says woof-woof."

Add on to what your baby says. When your baby says, "Mama," say, "Here is Mama. Mama loves you. Where is baby? Here is baby."

Read to your child. You don't have to read every word, but talk about the pictures. Choose books that are sturdy and have large colorful pictures. Ask your child, "What's this?" and try to get them to point to or name objects.

2 to 4 Years

Speak clearly to your child. Model good speech.

Repeat what your child says to show that you understand. Add on to what they say. Use words like, "Want juice? I have juice. I have apple juice. Do you want apple juice?"

It's okay to use baby talk sometimes. Be sure to use the adult word too. For example, "It is time for din-din. We will have dinner now."

Cut out pictures of favorite or familiar things. Put them into categories, like things to ride on, things to eat, and things to play with. Make silly pictures by mixing and matching pictures. Glue a picture of a dog behind the wheel of a car. Talk about what is wrong with the picture and ways to "fix" it.

Help your child understand and ask questions. Play the yes-no game. Ask questions such as, "Are you Marty?" and "Can a pig fly?" Have your child make up questions and try to fool you.

Ask questions that include a choice. "Do you want an apple or an orange?" "Do you want to wear your red shirt or your blue shirt?"

Help your child learn new words. Name body parts, and talk about what you do with them. "This is my nose. I can smell flowers, brownies, and soap."

Sing simple songs, and say nursery rhymes. This helps your child learn the rhythm of speech.

Place familiar objects in a box. Have your child take one out and tell you its name and how to use it. "This is my ball. I bounce it. I play with it."

Show pictures of familiar people and places. Talk about who they are and what happened. Try making up new stories.

4 to 6 Years

Pay attention when your child talks to you.

Get your child's attention before you talk.

Praise your child when they tell you something. Show that you understand their words.

Pause after speaking. This gives your child a chance to respond.

Keep helping your child learn new words. Say a new word, and tell them what it means, or use it in a way that helps him understand. For example, you can use the word "vehicle" instead of "car." You can say, "I think I will drive the vehicle to the store. I am too tired to walk."

Talk about where things are, using words like "first," "middle," and "last" or "right" and "left." Talk about opposites like "up" and "down" or "on" and "off."

Have your child guess what you describe. Say, "We use it to sweep the floor," and have them find the broom. Say, "It is cold, sweet, and good for dessert. I like strawberry" so they can guess "ice cream."

Work on groups of items, or categories. Find the thing that does not belong in a group. For example, "A shoe does not go with an apple and an orange because you can't eat it. It is not round. It is not a fruit."

Help your child follow two- and three-step directions. Use words like, "Go to your room, and bring me your book."

Ask your child to give directions. Follow their directions as they tell you how to build a tower of blocks.

Play games with your child such as "house." Let them be the parent, and you pretend to be the child. Talk about the different rooms and furniture in the house.

Watch movies together on TV or a tablet. Talk about what your child is watching. Have them guess what might happen next. Talk about the characters. Are they happy or sad? Ask them to tell you what happened in the story. Act out a scene together, or make up a different ending.

Use everyday tasks to learn language. For example, talk about the foods on the menu and their color, texture, and taste when in the kitchen. Talk about where to put things. Ask them to put the napkin on the table, in your lap, or under the spoon. Talk about who the napkin belongs to. Say, "It is my napkin." "It is Daddy's." "It is Tamara's."

Go grocery shopping together. Talk about what you will buy, how many things you need, and what you will make. Talk about sizes, shapes, and weight.

To find a speech-language pathologist near you, visit ProFind.

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Activities to Encourage Speech and Language Development

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There are many ways you can help your child learn to understand and use words. See a speech-language pathologist if you have concerns.

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Time: 10 - 15 minutes

Materials: An imagination chair. A chair decorated with bows, cushions or topic related materials.

Activity: Once a week have your child sit in the imagination chair and describe what they would do if they were a certain person or object.

Suggested Script: If I were a queen, I would... If I were a tree, I would...

Other Activities: This can be done while in the car. Take turns. Use story book characters and watch the story change.

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Time: 10 - 15 minutes Materials: An imagination chair. A chair decorated with bows, cushions or topic related materials. Activity: Once a week have your child sit in the imagination chair and describe what they would do if they were a certain person or object. Suggested Script: If I were a queen, I would...

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0:00 / 3:10•Watch full video

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4 ways to help primary children with language development | Learn English with Cambridge

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Development milestones 0-72 months for typically developing children

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Development milestones 0-72 months for typically developing children

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Use this chart to check or track the development of children between 0-72 months. You can use this chart to identify concerns or create specific goals.

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Finger foods are great for strengthening those hand muscles!

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The in's and out's of motor skills; and why your child needs them!

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The in's and out's of motor skills; and why your child needs them!

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Physical development is a key component to a child's overall development. Your infant will need engaged activities that promote both gross and fine motor skill mastery. Many people do't realize the importance of such skills. Fine motor skills in a toddler, for instace, will look as easy as them picking up finger foods to feed themselves. They are using their pincher fingers, thus demonstrating a key fine motor skill. That small step evolves into lacing, buttoning, connecting legos, connecting bristle blocks, finger painting and ultimately writing. All skills that show mastery in fine motor skills. Gross motor skills are just as important! Below, you will find articles and videos that will help you understand the importance of physical development for your child. You will also find a wonderful guide that lists the benchmarks for a child's developmental standards from ages birth to kindergarten. It is a great tool to have when wondering what else your child could be learning to master for their age group.

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This website is an incredible tool for families. Explore the site for wonderful tips and resources. When you're ready, click on the parents drop down menu and check out the Early Learning & Developmental Standards tab. You will find the developmental domains for your childs age group.

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About Us

Part of the Florida Department of Education, the Division of Early Learning dedicates its people, time and energy to ensuring access, affordability and quality of early learning services for the state’s children and families. We support children, their families and the child care providers who serve them by partnering with 30 early learning coalitions and Redlands Christian Migrant Association to deliver three programs: School Readiness, Voluntary Prekindergarten (VPK) and Child Care Resource and Referral.

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The Florida Office of Early Learning dedicates its people, time and energy to ensuring quality of early learning services for the state's children and families.

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This is a quick printable version of the Florida Early Learning Developmental Standards. Always great to have a resource like this handy!

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Holly shows how you can use simple everyday things, in limited space, to work on goals for gross motor skills with your infants and toddlers.

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Check these easy activities out and follow her link for more activity examples!

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This article expands on gross motor and fine motor mastery, but also on other parts of physical development a child needs.

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PD is the growth and development of both brain and body and involves developing control of muscles and physical coordination. This control is used in a whole range of skills of daily functioning and encompasses children's ability to do a range of different tasks, such as speaking, making friends and understanding the world around them.

Progression towards this control is not defined by the child's chronological age, but by the opportunity to acquire skills. A child with delayed PD may catch up, especially with an appropriate intervention, but young children need to be given regular opportunities and encouragement to practice and refine their physical skills through being active.

Vital foundations for good physical development

Primary (movement) senses

1. The vestibular (balance) system deals with the sensation of gravity and movement.

2. The proprioceptive system processes information from muscles and joints and enables us to know where the different parts of our body are, how they are moving, and how much strength our muscles need to use. It makes you aware of your posture, movement and body position.

3. The tactile (touch) system - discriminates sensations to the skin including pressure, temperature and pain.

Secondary senses

1. - processes information taken in by the eyes and includes control of eye movement to fix on, and track, objects.

2. - locates and processes sound information to the ears.

3. - processes our sense of smell.

4. - processes our sense of taste.

All seven sensory systems need to be fully developed in early childhood and integrated so they work as one unified system. The healthy functioning of our sensory systems can be taken for granted - we only tend to notice problems when they don't work and we tend to be unaware of the role they play in everyday life.

How do the sensory systems impact on daily activities?

Efficient and seamless processing of sensory information enables a child to 'make sense' of the world around them and respond appropriately.

For example:

A well-developed vestibular system enables a child to be alert, feel safe or 'grounded', control their eye muscles, move safely in the environment or sit still. In contrast, a poorly developed vestibular system has been linked to poor attention span and fidgeting in children.

A well-developed proprioceptive system helps a child move safely, get dressed and use tools. It underpins understanding important ideas like 'left and right', the use of prepositions in English such as 'over and under', 'towards 'or 'away', and concepts of maths and science such as size, weight and force.

Being aware of these systems can help us to nurture PD in children.

Keep reading

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PD is the growth and development of both brain and body and involves developing control of muscles and physical coordination. This control is used in a whole range of skills of daily functioning and encompasses children's ability to do a range of different tasks, such as speaking, making friends and understanding the world around them.