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Chapter 12
Intellectual Development from One to Three
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Chapter Objectives
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Summarize how heredity and the environment shape
intelligence
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Describe 4 methods of learning used by young children
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List the 7 areas of intellectual activity
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List 11 ways to help guide a child’s learning
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Identify 4 parts of language that children have an inborn
ability to decipher
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Summarize how to evaluate toys for young children
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12.1
Brain Development from
One to Three
Intellectual Development from One to Three
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Brain Development
Discussion Starter
Why can a 3-year old perform more
tasks than a 1-year old?
New Term: Neuroscience
Is the modern study of the brain
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The Role of Intelligence
 Intelligence
is the ability to interpret and
understand everyday situations and to use prior
experiences when faced with new situations or
problems
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The ability to learn
Shaped by heredity and environment
 Toddlers
and preschoolers form attitudes about
learning that can last a lifetime
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Given many opportunities, children will develop positive
attitudes toward learning
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Concept Development
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Concepts are general categories of objects and information
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Young children often over-apply labels:
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EX: all round objects are balls OR all animals are dogs
First categorize things by shape, color, and size
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Balls are round, so are cookies and plates
Grass and leaves are green
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Relationship between big and little may not be realized until 18 months

Concepts regarding what is alive and what is not wont be developed
until later (clouds, toys, cartoon characters, etc.)
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Concepts of time improve during these years
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Show more patience
“Soon” now has meaning
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Methods of Learning
Piaget’s Four Periods of Learning
Age
Characteristics
Sensorimotor
Children learn through their senses and own
actions
Preoperational
(2-7 Years)
Children think in terms of their own activities
and what they perceive at the moment
Concrete
Operations
Children can think logically but still learn best
through experiences
Formal
Operations
People are capable of abstract thinking
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Methods of Learning
Incidental Learning
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Incidental learning is unplanned learning
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Example:
Five month old Evan pushes a button on a musical toy and
discovers that this action causes music to play.
After this happens a few times, Evan learns a cause-and-effect
situation.
Then he pushes the button on purpose to hear music
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Methods of Learning
Trial-and-Error Learning

Trial-and-Error learning is learning that takes place when a
child tries several solutions to find one that works

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At about 12-18 months this is seen as experimenting
More advanced for a 3 year old
Example:
Krista is a 3 year old and wants to play with the robot her brother
is playing with.
First, Krista grabs the robot, her brother cries and mom makes her
give it back
Next, Krista asks if he wants to go play in the sandbox, he says no.
Finally, she offers up one of her favorite toys and her brother
hands over his robot.
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Methods of Learning
Imitation

Imitation is learning by watching and
copying others

Older children become annoyed when a
younger sibling copies everything they do
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The younger child uses the older child as a
model for behavior of all kinds
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Both skills and attitudes can be imitated
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EXAMPLE:
A toddler watches an adult on the telephone
and picks up an inanimate object and
pretends it’s a phone
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Methods of Learning
Directed Learning

Directed learning results from being taught, often by parents,
or other caregivers, teachers, or older siblings
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Occurs in schools or other areas of formal instruction like the
home

Direct learning involves an older person purposely teaching
a specific skill

EXAMPLE:
Joel’s kindergarten teaching helps him learn the letters of the
alphabet by showing pictures of items that begin with the
same letter
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Intellectual Activity Areas
Attention
To adults, in order to complete tasks, we have to focus our
attention on one thing; blocking out much of the extra sensory
information. Infants and young children cannot do this.
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Young children and infants attention bounces back from one
sensory bit of information to another rapidly as they try to make
sense of all the messages
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EXAMPLE: while putting a child’s shirt on and reaching for their
pants, they have wondered out the door to see what was going
on in the next room
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The more a child can block out extra sensory information, the
better they can learn and focus their attention skills
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Intellectual Activity Areas
Memory
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Older children and adults have long-term and short-term memory
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Short-term memory is brief and allows people the accomplish many every day
tasks without making the brain store that information
 EX: remembering a phone number long enough to call
Long-term memory is for more important data
 First it enters short term memory
 Second it is judged on its importance
 Last it is stored in long-term memory
Babies demonstrate memory early
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A 1-year old who was frightened by a dog may be afraid of all animals for a
time
A 3-year old will remember the specific dog and compare it to others
 3-year olds can also recall a celebration and look forward to the next one
 Develop long-term memory skills at age 3
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Intellectual Activity Areas
Perception
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Perception is the information received through the senses
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Caregivers play a key role in the development of perception
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Simply talking about what you and the child are doing can help
perception
Use descriptive observations that a child can understand and
expand on
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Reinforced as connects with established parts in the brain
EX: “ Look at the blue block. Your shirt is blue too. Let’s build a tower
using only blue blocks.”
2 and 3 year olds seem to always ask questions “why?” “What’s
that?”
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Responding to the questions will help further perception
Always answer a question, if left unanswered a child’s perception of
asking questions has been damaged
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Intellectual Activity Areas
Reasoning
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Necessary to solve problems and make decisions
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Making decisions involves choosing from different
alternatives
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Recognize relationships and form concepts
Children learn through practice to make good choices
First, let the child choose between two options (both not
causing harm)
 A 1-year old can choose between two books at bedtime
 A 3-year old can choose between two different shirts
Caregivers need to take note about asking questions that
can elicit (bring about) negative responses
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EX: Instead of asking “Would you like to have fish for dinner?”
ask “Would you like peas or corn with your fish for dinner?”
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Intellectual Activity Areas
Imagination
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Very prominent about 2 years of age
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Active imaginations improves learning because it allows the
child to try new things
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Child can act out a variety of roles
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Children use imagination to convey what they see and hear
themselves
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Important to respect and respond carefully to a child’s
imagination
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They may use imagination as a tool for controlling their fears
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EX: throwing a monster out the window
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Intellectual Activity Areas
Creativity
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Creativity is a mental ability that involves using the
imagination to produce original ideas
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Often displayed through objects for others to see
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May also be in daydreams, dramatic play, or silly stories
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Mostly developed during early childhood and lasts a lifetime
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Promotes self-esteem and confidence
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How to encourage creativity?
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Allow the child free time or uninstructed play
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Intellectual Activity Areas
Curiosity
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Curiosity helps develop the brain and learning
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Curiosity is what makes children want to know more about the world
around them
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Parents can accidentally stifle curiosity by overprotecting the child
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Toddlers are extremely curious about the world around them
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They get into everything; peeking around every corner
They become very curious about their parents and caregivers activities
Encourage curiosity whenever possible
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If a child wants to stop during a walk and watch a snail, its stimulating to their
brain development
Let’s Review!
1.
1. Why is it vital that young
children have a stimulating
environment?
+ 2. 2. Describe how trial-and-error
learning supports Piaget’s
description of the Sensorimotor
period
3.
3. Why is curiosity important?
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12.2
Encouraging Learning
from One to Three
Intellectual Development from One to Three
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Brainstorm
What might be some interesting daily routines that would be
excellent learning opportunities for this age group?
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Guiding for Learning
Reading Readiness
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Depends on a large part of the caregivers environment they create
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Reading to a toddler should be a well-established daily routine
Interact with young children while reading
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Have them predict the story
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Reading Readiness means learning the skills necessary for reading,
including letter recognition and the understanding that letters from the
alphabet combine to form words on a page
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Before age 3, reading readiness focuses on exciting a child about
reading
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Last stage of reading readiness is letter recognition
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Understanding that letters from the alphabet combine to form words
Encourage children to guess each letter and praise when they guess correct
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Reading Readiness
Bedtime Accomplishes More Than You Think!
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Children learn how to handle books and turn pages
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They begin to associate written words that appear on the
page with words being read aloud
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Finishing a book creates a sense of accomplishment
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Especially when the child can read some of the text.
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Readiness for Learning
Math Readiness
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Math readiness is the level of knowledge of basic math concepts
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Number recognition is a large concept
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Like reading, caregivers need to make learning math enjoyable
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Explore sizes, shapes, amounts, and proportions long before they enter
a formal classroom
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Counting and number recognition can be taught by making game for
finding numbers
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“Are there two bananas left this morning or only one?”
How quickly can a child find the number 3 in a grocery store
Blocks and puzzles also help shape recognition
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Also help in learning shape names
Sorting is a good mathematical skill
 Sort items by color, shape, and size
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Readiness for Learning
Guide for Learning
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Suggestions to guide learning
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2.
3.
4.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Give your time and attention
Allow time for thinking
Give only as much help as the child needs
Encourage children to draw their own
conclusions
Demonstrate how to solve problems
Model problem solving
Maintain a positive attitude
Keep explanations simple
Allow children to explore and discover
Help children understand the world and how it works
Take frequent breaks
1. Children need unconstructed play time
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Language Abilities
Speech Development
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Between a child’s 1st and 2nd birthdays,
children work at learning new words
At 12 months a child may speak 2 to 8 words
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By age 2, it jumps to 50 words
 At this time, children will use 1-2 words
versus an entire sentence to express
themselves
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Encourage language development by
talking to young children about their lives
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At age 2, children should start developing
small sentences
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“Doggie bark”
At 2-1/2 years of age, children begin to learn
basic grammar rules
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Children will add an “s” onto words to make
them plural
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Most 3-year olds can:
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Say their name and age
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Make all vowel sounds and
say all consonants
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Speak without repeating a
word or syllable
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Use sentences of at least 4
words
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Be understood by others
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Answer what and where
questions
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Understand what is meant by
words like us, in, or under
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Follow simple commands
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Speech Development
Sign Language
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Baby sign language is a way to teach infants how to
communicate using hand gestures
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Hand gestures are easier for a child to communicate using hand
movements versus their vocal cords (Fine vs Gross motor skills)
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Studies have shown that children that use sign language to
communicate are about 1 full year ahead in other areas of
language and speech development
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Baby Sign Language.com
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Language Abilities
Speech Difficulties
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A child that does not seem to understand what is said, does
not speak at all, or speaks very little should be thoroughly
examined
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Most public school districts provide hearing tests
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CAREER:
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A speech-language pathologist is a specialist who is trained to
detect and help correct speech problems
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Some difficulties can be treated as early as 3 years of age
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Hearing problems, learning disabilities, and mood disorders
can affect speech development
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Speech Difficulties
Articulation
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Articulation refers to the ability to use clear, distinct speech
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Its normal for children to have trouble articulating words until
at least age 4
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Skip syllables or leave off endings of words
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Most problems correct themselves over time
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Instead of correcting pronunciation of words, set a good
example by saying words correctly
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Instead of saying “ba-ba” say “bottle”
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Speech Problems
Stuttering
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Stuttering is when a person speaks with a sporadic repetition or
prolonged sound
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Some parents mistake hesitations in speech for stuttering
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True stuttering can be identified by the rhythm, pitch, and speed of
speech
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It is rapid, forced, short, and sharp in sound
“I c-c-c-can’t g-g-g-go outside”
Causes are not completely understood
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“ Johnny…Johnny….Johnny. He….he…he hit Zoe!”
 In this case the child’s language development is still immature
Some overcome with speech therapy
Some outgrow it
Never finish a child’s words, children need time to finish on their own
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Playtime!
Toy Selection
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One-Two Years
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Two-Three Years
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Motor control
 Large muscle
Exploration
 Metal pans, wooden spoons, etc.
Coordination is key
 Child-size vacuum cleaner or lawn mower, telephone, plastic or wooden tools
 Crayons, play dough, books
Three-Four Years
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Improved motor skills
IMAGINATION
 Dolls, construction sets, dress up clothes
Music
Puzzles
Large gross motor skills