Intellectual Development
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The Role of Intelligence
• Intelligence- the ability to interpret or understand everyday
situations and to use that experience when faced with new
situations or problems
– Shaped by heredity and environment
• An environment that promotes learning includes:
– interactions with family members
– Availability of playthings
– Encouragement
Methods of Learning
• Incidental learning- unplanned learning
– Repetition of cause and effect
• Trial and Error learning- when a child tries several solutions
before finding one that works
• Imitation- learning by watching and copying others
• Directed learning- learning that results from being taught
Identify the method used to learn the
following:
• A dog wags its tail when scratched
• Licorice ice cream tastes terrible, but peanut
butter sandwiches taste good
• New dance moves
• How to make pasta
Concept Development
• As children learn to think they organize the information and
start to form concepts
– Concepts- general categories of objects and information
• Children learn concepts by using three principles:
– Think that labels are for whole objects, not parts
– Believe that labels apply to the group to which the
individual objects belong, not the particular object
– Believe that any object can only have one label
• hard for them to understand pronouns
Concept Development
• As a child matures, concepts become more accurate
– Ex: understands difference between “mama” and
“woman”
• Learn to categorize objects by shape, color, and size
• Concepts of life are not learned until later
– Ex: think that everything that moves or works is alive
• Concept of time improves during the second and third year
Discussion
• Today• Tomorrow• Yesterday-
The Mind at Work
• Intellectual activity is broken down into 7
areas that have remarkable development
during one to three:
– Attention, memory, perception, reasoning,
imagination, creativity, and curiosity
Attention
• As children mature, they gradually develop the ability
to ignore most of the information their senses
provide and to concentrate on one item of interest;
learning is more focused on a particular topic
• One to three year olds have short attention spans,
but a three year old has an attention span longer
than a one year old
Memory
• Without memory there would be no learning
• As children develop they become able to react
to a situation by remembering similar
experiences in the past
• Toddler has a fairly good memory by age 2
Perception
• Gradually the brain organizes itself for increasingly complex
learning through perceptions
• Perceptions- information received through the senses
• The best way to help develop perceptions is for caregivers to
talk about what they and the children are doing
• 2 and 3 years olds ask questions constantly that help improve
their perceptions such as:
– Why?
– What is that?
– How does it work?
Reasoning
• Reasoning- the ability to solve problems and make decisions
– also important in recognizing relationships and forming concepts
• Simple problem solving skills at 4-6 months
• More sophisticated reasoning skills develop as age progresses
• Children answer the following questions when solving problems:
– What is the problem?
– What do I already know about it?
– What are the possible solutions?
– Which is the best solution?
– Did I make the right choice?
Imagination
• Becomes apparent at about 2 years of age
• Enhances learning because it allows the child
to try new things and to be different people
• Until age 5, children are not sure where reality
ends and imagination begins
Creativity
• Creativity- where imagination is used to
produce something
– usually an object is produced but not always
– ex: object- using clay
– ex: non object- day dream
• creativity is mostly developed in early
childhood
Curiosity
• Curiosity causes children to wonder why or try
new activities
• Parents can overprotect the child or home
which can limit curiosity
Encouraging Learning
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Readiness for Learning
• Children can learn a new skill only when they
are physically and intellectually ready
• Avoid delaying skills that children are ready to
learn
– Sometimes helping can cause a delay in learning
Guiding and Learning
• Give your time and attention
• Take advantage of simple learning
opportunities
• Allow time for thinking
– Need time to consider choices and make decisions
• Give only as much help as the child needs to
succeed
– Can help in the final step of a task
Guiding and Learning
• Encourage children to draw their own conclusions
– Seeing and doing helps reinforce learning
• Show how to solve problems
– Can also model by talking out loud to solve problems
• Maintain a positive attitude
• Keep explanations simple and on the child’s level
• Allow children to explore and discover
• Help children understand the world and how it works
• Take frequent breaks
Evaluating Toys
• Is the toy safe?
– No small parts, no sharp edges, non-flammable- easily
burned
• Is it well made and durable?
– Withstand use
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Will it be easy to care for?
Will it encourage the use of imagination?
Is it colorful?
Will it be easy for the child to handle?
Age Appropriate Toys
• One to two years
– Toys that let a child practice body control and
learn through exploration
– Anything that allows the child to use large muscles
– Examples: metal pans, wooden spoons, plastic
storage containers
2-3 Years
• Toys that let a child develop coordination and
understanding
• Like toys that allow them to imitate such as
small shovel, plastic tools, play dishes, empty
food containers
3-4 Years
• Toys that require small motor skills and
increased imagination
• Examples: clay, color, paint, books, swings,
slides
Speech Development
• The first three years of life are a window of
opportunity for learning words
• By age two a child speaks about 200 words
• A child’s language development is influenced
by how other caregivers and older children
speak to them
• Encourage language development by speaking
in a clear and engaging way
Speech Difficulties
• Using pressure on a child who is a “late talker”
can sometimes make it worse
• Speech-language pathologist- trained to
detect and correct speech problems
• The following may slow speech:
– Poor hearing
– Mental retardation
– Learning disabilities
– Emotional problems
• Problems with articulation are common until three
or four
– Articulation- the ability to use clear, distinct speech
• Avoid constantly correcting a child’s pronunciation,
just set a good example in your own speech
• Stuttering is identified by rhythm, pitch, and speed of
speech
– Children who stutter need time to say the word on their
own