Eighteen to Twenty-Four Months

1. Eighteen to Twenty-FourMonths Fogel Chapter 10 Created by Ilse DeKoeyer-Laros, Ph.D.

2. Overview Chapter 10 Motor & Cognitive Development Emotional Development Social and Language Development Family and Society • Experiential Exercises

3. Between 18 and 24 months, toddlers • walk & start to run • feed themselves • start to dress themselves • are likely to start toilet learning (between 18 & 36 months) • still nap in the afternoon; it is not uncommon for them to wake occasionally at night Picture from: http://jackandjillnursery.co.uk/wb/pages/oxton-nursery.php

4. Motor & Cognitive DevelopmentCognitive Development Sensorimotor Stage VI (18 to 24 months) –the invention of new means through mental combinations children can think about the possible paths to a goal, eliminate the most improbable ones, and only then act they now have clear object permanence

5. Motor & Cognitive DevelopmentCognitive Development: Symbolic Play Symbol – a representation of a thing or event that is conventionally shared among the members of a community • in Stage VI, the symbol becomes detached from its original context • it becomes something that can be manipulated and explored

6. Motor & Cognitive DevelopmentCognitive Development: Symbolic Play Between 18 and 24 months, toddlers develop the ability to execute complex play sequences that require multiple symbols & advance planning Pictures from: www.dalianmitmita.com

7. Motor & Cognitive DevelopmentThe Ability to Categorize Objects By 18 months, infants learn to categorize by sequential order, or by cause and effect they remember better if items & events are organized into a sequence e.g., a teddy bear is undressed, put into the tub, washed, and then dried they can remember sequences up to 2 weeks later (whether familiar or unfamiliar)

8. Motor & Cognitive DevelopmentThe Ability to Categorize Objects Script – an organization of concepts and memories in terms of how the events are related to each other in time • become increasingly important to represent reality & remember action sequences • 2-year-olds cannot memorize long lists of new words or concepts, but they can execute complex sequences of related actions

9. Motor & Cognitive DevelopmentFavorite Toys Between 18 and 24 months, children love pegboards in which they can fit objects of different shapes in the corresponding holes containers (and putting things in them) nesting-cup toys, in which smaller cups are placed inside successively larger cups Pictures from: http://mae12.wordpress.com/ simplebounty.wordpress.com/2008/01/

10. Motor & Cognitive DevelopmentSmart Toys, TV, & the Internet Between 18 and 24 months, infants become more interested in TV and ‘smart toys’ • about 40% of 3-month-olds in the US regularly watch TV, DVDs, or videos • babies under age 1 watch on average 1 hr/day; at age 2, this is 1.5 hours per day • about 75% of parents report that their infants under age 2 watches TV; 1 in 5 watches at least 2 hrs/day • reasons for using these media: • entertainment, babysitting, and education

11. Motor & Cognitive DevelopmentSmart Toys, TV, & the Internet One study showed that smart toys are neither beneficial nor harmful • if infants engage with the world at their own level, it makes little difference what kind of toy is available so long as it is interesting • parents can encourage development with inexpensive low-tech toys as easily as with expensive ones

12. Motor & Cognitive DevelopmentSmart Toys, TV, & the Internet TV, DVD, and video viewing has been shown to have harmful effects on cognition and brain development for children under the age of 3 Picture from: parentzing.wordpress.com

13. Motor & Cognitive DevelopmentSmart Toys, TV, & the Internet Regardless of other risk factors, more hours of TV, DVD or video at ages 1 and 3 were related to more aggression at age 4 attention & hyperactivity at age 7 For every hour of TV watched per day, 2-year-olds knew 6-8 fewer words

14. Motor & Cognitive DevelopmentSmart Toys, TV, & the Internet Parents should carefully monitor children’s TV viewing & limit the amount of time children are allowed to watch (max. 15-30 minutes per day) • infants learn best by acting and not by simply observing • pots and pans will make a baby just as smart as an expensive toy

15. Motor & Cognitive DevelopmentSmart Toys, TV, & the Internet In the US, children spend an average of only 30 minutes of unstructured outdoor time per week outdoor play and other nature experiences have been shown to lower depression, improve attention and concentration, and increase self-discipline

16. Emotional Development Between 18 and 24 months, emotional expressions continue to become more complex & more related to communicative situations Picture from: camdennguyen.blogspot.com/

17. Emotional DevelopmentPositive Emotions After 18 months, infants are more likely • to smile during joint activity & attention with their mothers • to smile when they experience periods of affective sharing • to initiate positive emotions in their communications with the parent

18. Emotional DevelopmentPositive Emotions In the 2nd year, laughter takes on specific meaning within the mother-infant communication system serves to get attention mother-infant dyads develop their own styles of laughing together one mother would frame an opportunity for infant laughter by providing all the facial features of a laugh, and waiting until the infant provided the actual laugh before she laughed in unison

19. Emotional DevelopmentSymbolic Thought & Emotional Experience After 18 months, fear can be evoked by a symbolic mental image children develop fears of the dark and of things that might lurk behind doors, refrigerators, and other unseen places Dreams can also be a source of fears but nightmares do not appear until after the second birthday

20. Emotional DevelopmentSymbolic Thought & Emotional Experience By 20 months, about one-third of all children will talk about one or more of the following states: • sleep/fatigue (“tired”) • pain (“ouch”) • distress (“sad”) • disgust (“yuck”) • affection (“love Mommy”) • value (“good,” “bad”)

21. Emotional DevelopmentSymbolic Thought & Emotional Experience By 24 months, toddlers engage in conversations about their feelings talk about the causes of their feelings play games with siblings in which they pretend to have certain kinds of feelings The verbal expression of internal experience is one of the major characteristics of the existential self

22. Emotional DevelopmentSelf-Conscious Emotions • Toddlers recognize themselves in a mirror & tend to show embarrassment when they do • embarrassment (or shame) is a self-conscious emotion • one has to realize that others are different from the self & that the self is exposed, separate, and likely to be evaluated by others • Other self-conscious emotions emerge around the 2nd birthday • guilt, jealousy, and pride Picture from: raisingchildren.net.au/.../context/752

23. Emotional DevelopmentSelf-Conscious Emotions Pride • the result of meeting their own standards • awareness of having accomplished a personal goal in the eyes of another person

24. Emotional DevelopmentSelf-Conscious Emotions Pride & shame develop within the context of communication about success or failure in meeting standards, rules, & achievements in one study, children were more likely to show guilt, when their parents responded more positively to the child’s achievements Picture from: http://thankgoodnesschildcare.com/Toddlers.html

25. Emotional DevelopmentSelf-Conscious Emotions Feelings related to anger • defiance, negativism, and aggression, due to • a growing sense of independence • a feeling that the self is separate from others • Erik Erikson: • two emotional poles of this phase are autonomy (pride, defiance) & shame (doubt, disappointment)

26. Emotional DevelopmentCoping with Stress toddlers can become attached to these objects: they constantly want them close & show signs of anxiety & distress when separated from them • Teddy bears & favorite blankets are used to self-comfort in stressful situations & when parents are not around Picture from: reviews.ebay.com

27. Emotional DevelopmentCoping with Stress A blanket seems to be an effective substitute for the mother, at least for brief periods blankets are soft and cuddly they carry familiar smells that may remind the child of home & impart an sense of security Attachment objects have been called transitional objects seem to serve as a bridge between a child’s total reliance on the mother & the development of individuation

28. Emotional DevelopmentCoping with Stress There seems to be little need for transitional objects when children have continued access to physical contact • 4.9% of rural Italian children had transitional objects, vs. 31.1% of children in Rome • only 38% of Japanese infants had an object attachment compared to 62% of US infants Picture from: www.abibitumikasa.com

29. Emotional DevelopmentCoping with Stress In one study, infants were exposed to a variety of frustrating situations some children showed distress by screaming, hitting, kicking, or banging more distressed children were less able to self-comfort (e.g., distracting themselves) Mothers of more distressed children were more likely to try to help rather than letting the children solve the problem themselves

30. Emotional DevelopmentCoping with Stress Parents play a crucial role in the development of emotion regulation skills children are better regulated if mothers have talked with them about children’s feelings Picture from: http://www.parents-in-a-pickle.com

31. Emotional DevelopmentCoping with Stress Early deficits in neurological development that may also play a role in emotion regulation children whose mothers smoked prenatally are more disruptive & less able to self-calm than other infants Emotion regulation difficulties were more likely by the end of the 2nd year if infants had been less able to establish joint attention with parents in the 1st year

32. Emotional DevelopmentCoping with Stress Children adopt the emotional regulation styles found in their families • For example, • 2-year-olds tended to seek comfort & assistance from preschool caregivers with a family history similar to that of their mothers • Adults typically choose partners who have similar family histories & attachment styles

33. Emotional DevelopmentCoping with Stress Children develop internal working models – expectations for particular kinds of attachment styles • they continue to replicate those even when it is not in their best interest • breaking out of the cycle of difficult interpersonal relationships often requires individual, couple, or family psychotherapy Picture from: www.bostonmarriagetherapy.com/

34. Emotional DevelopmentCoping with Stress In sum, • the parent-infant relationship & the active role of adults are crucial for emotion regulation • transitional objects are useful but can’t replace an adult • even though toddlers begin to acquire language, most emotion regulation is nonverbal • this may help explain the lasting effect on the formation of later interpersonal relationships

35. Emotional DevelopmentSeparations from Primary Caregivers By the end of the 2nd year, toddlers understand that parents will return after a separation In one study (in a public park), boys left parents more often than girls, but they did not wander off further or longer

36. Emotional DevelopmentSeparations from Primary Caregivers Infants separate more easily • if the parent prepares the child & gives instructions for what to do during separation • if dropped off at a familiar setting • if the caregiver stays at a distances shortly before departure • if dropped of by father rather than mother (mothers took longer to leave the children)

37. Social & Language Development Important changes in language between 18 and 24 months: a dramatic increase in vocabulary the beginning of multiword sentences Picture from: http://amazingtrips.blogspot.com/2007_02_01_archive.html

38. Social & Language DevelopmentThe Vocabulary Spurt Vocabulary spurt: rapid increase in vocabulary around 18 months • children begin to acquire 5 or more words per week (primarily object names) • it is as if they discover that objects have names and become obsessed with naming things & asking for object names – the naming insight

39. Social & Language DevelopmentThe Vocabulary Spurt From 2 to 18 years, children learn 9-10 words per day: most language is acquired after the infancy period

40. Social & Language DevelopmentThe Vocabulary Spurt • Nouns predominate in all languages • Toddlers of this age also acquire: • verbs (play, kiss) • adjectives (hot, yucky) • adverbs (up, more) • They can use words to make comments • on objects (gone, dirty) • on their own actions and feelings (uh-oh, tired)

41. Social & Language DevelopmentThe Vocabulary Spurt Just before the acquisition of multiword speech, infants use single words in more complex ways that suggest a subject and a predicate • after 18 months, infants may point to a shoe and say “dirty” or “Mommy” • this could be interpreted as “the shoe is dirty” or “this is Mommy’s shoe”

42. Social & Language DevelopmentMultiword Speech Around 20 months, sentences emerge & children begin to • pursue objects after multiple hidings • use tools in deliberate ways • engage in symbolic play

43. Social & Language DevelopmentMultiword Speech Cognitive abilities guide language learning • Children • combine symbolic objects & gestures in novel ways • classify objects by sorting • solve complex problems mentally without trial-and-error behavior Picture from: compassionatesolutions.ca

44. Social & Language DevelopmentMultiword Speech • Prior to using 2-word sentences, children may combine a gesture & a word • seeing a sleeping bird, the child might point at the bird and say “nap” • a month later, the child can say “bird nap” to mean the same thing: the bird is taking a nap • Toddlers discover they can create new meanings simply by changing the word order • The first 2-word combinations are idiosyncratic usages that only later become conventional

45. Social & Language DevelopmentMultiword Speech • Toddlers discover they can create new meanings simply by changing the word order • The first 2-word combinations are idiosyncratic usages that only later become conventional • this is similar to the early idiosyncratic use of communication gestures that gradually develops into conventional communication signs

46. Social & Language DevelopmentMultiword Speech Telegraphic speech leaves out small words such as prepositions and word endings such as -ing, -s sounds, and -ed, • these add additional refinements to the meaning of words and sentences • simpler endings such as -ing, the plural -s, and the possessive -’s are acquired first • next, the more difficult use of the verb “to be” with all its tenses, auxiliaries, and contractions

47. Social & Language DevelopmentTwo Types of Speech Style Young children show two distinct styles of vocabulary acquisition • referential speech • expressive speech

48. Social & Language DevelopmentTwo Types of Speech Style Table 10.8

49. Social & Language DevelopmentTwo Types of Speech Style These styles of language acquisition • are used by most children in different contexts • may reflect the speech spoken to them • if a caregiver clearly labels objects, the child may focus more on individual words (referential) • if the caregiver uses social language like “D’ya wanna go out” or “I dunno where it is,” the child is likely to hear these as whole phrases (expressive)

50. Social & Language DevelopmentLanguage & the Social Environment • Adults increasingly rely on verbal suggestions and commands • requests: asking for information through “what” and “where” questions (“Where’s the doggie?”) • comments are responses to the children’s utterances or attempts to initiate a conversation (“Yes, that’s an apple”; “This is the same car we saw the other day”) • After children’s mispronunciation, mothers simply repeated the correct pronunciation