Children\'s Development Early Childhood Language,

Children's Development

Early Childhood Language, Cognitive, and Social Development

Preschool children are full of wonder and amazement of the world around them. They enjoy life in a way no adult can after developing so far from that early state of mind. It is within the preschool years where a child's mind develops rapidly, coming out of the complete ignorance of infancy into having a more complex and abstract idea of the world. Particular books are best for harboring the development of preschoolers because they appeal to the nature of the development itself. These children develop new language skills and strategies rapidly along with huge advances in their cognitive make up. Additionally, social development helps create them as social beings and not the isolated infants they had once been in the recent past.

To help augment certain age appropriate developments within the minds of preschool children, certain types of books prove most efficient. Research has proven the immense influence books can have on the developing minds of preschoolers, "Books are an excellent resource for children. They can introduce children to different people and places, expand their word vocabulary, stimulate their curiosity, and encourage their intellectual growth," (Lopes 1995). Therefore, it is always best to use age appropriate books as learning tools to help strengthen certain developments and keep preschoolers on track with the way their minds naturally develop. For instance, "Preschoolers enjoy books that have a lot of action, pictures, and repetition," (Lopes 1995). Thus, choosing books with such repetition not only pleases the child, but also works in accordance with the way their mind is naturally developing. Much of their language and social skills come from the repetition and imitation of adults and other social contexts. The repetition of certain words and sounds also helps strengthen their developing language skills. This also is seen in preschooler's love for stories about children their own age and real life stories. These stories present a seemingly real image of the world around them, a world which they are just beginning to understand in abstract conceptions. It also shows how abstract language development is important in the facilitating for reading and other critical development within preschoolers.

During the age of preschool children, language skills increase dramatically. There is a rapid increase of language development and skills between the ages of three and six. According to research, "spoken vocabularies expand dramatically to anywhere between 8,000 and 14,000 words," (Oswalt 2007). This is a huge leap, compared to the average vocabulary of a toddler with only a few hundred words. It is during this age range where a child's "expressive (spoken) abilities start to catch up with their receptive (ability to comprehend language) skills," (Oswalt 2007). In previous developmental stages, the child could understand language, but not necessarily use it to express their own thoughts and ideas. During the age of preschoolers, children are given the developmental tools to express themselves through language and their extended vocabularies. Preschool children begin to develop the capacity for expressing themselves in much more complex sentences, showing their understanding of not only vocabulary, but also grammatical concepts and rules. Preschool children begin to utilize rules of plural nouns, possessive statements, and the blending of different tenses. Most of these early grammatical developments are facilitated through repeating what the child hears around them. Children of this age are amazing at absorbing an repeating language concepts from the adults around them, "Children become increasingly skilled at remembering and practicing language modeled around the, as well as modifying word use based on other people's reactions," (Oswalt 2007). As the child's vocabulary and language strengths continue to increase, so do their general understanding of the world around them.

While language is rapidly developing, so is the cognitive make up of the mind of a typical preschooler. At this stage, the child is exposed to various new ideas and stimuli which influence their thoughts through assimilation and accommodation. Research states that "As the child develops and goes through the process of assimilation and accommodation, their brain will develop through the natural process of maturation, and therefore their understanding of the world matures and their ability to accurately interpret and predict the world develops," (Oakley ). A whole new understanding of themselves and the word around them is facilitated through preschooler's cognitive developments. Psychologists Jean Piaget places preschool children within the preoperational stage, between the ages of two and six years old. According to his research, this stage in the theory of cognitive development harbors increased language development and imaginative play, hence books chosen for this stage should appeal to both. Expanded memory allows for children to gather and retain much more information than in previous years. However, this rapid new development is limited by egocentrism, where "the child can only view the world from their perspective and finds it difficult to understand any other perspective," (Oakley). Yet, even in spite of limited understanding of others, the child becomes capable of abstract thought in that they can use an object to represent something else. This abstract thought is what helps drive the development of more complex language and social skills.

During this stage, children also develop specific social skills and understandings. According to research, "Parents and caregivers play an important role in supporting children's healthy development," (Cooper 2009). Children imitate language and behavior from their caregivers. Attachment can also have serious impacts on a child's social development. Healthy attachment allows children to hold meaningful relationships and trust with other individuals, while insecure attachment can breed behavioral problems such as intense fear of abandonment and self-esteem issues. Another important factor in the social development of children is the external world around them. Studies have shown that "Neighborhood characteristics and family income can be risk factors that impact young children's social-emotional health and development," (Cooper 2009). Low income neighborhoods tend to harbor an environment with more potential behavioral problems. Other children also help facilitate a child's social development. Play becomes increasingly imaginative and imitative, showing how children understanding the social rules and concepts around them in the adult world.

Annotated References

Cooper, Janice L. (2009). Social-emotional development in early childhood. National Center for Children in Poverty. Retrieved October 10, 2009 at http://www.nccp.org/publications/pub_882.html

This publication explores the factors which influence a child's social development within the preschool years. It gives clear research findings regarding parental and caregiver influences along with social and neighborhood ones as well. It also outlines the potential hazards and issues of a child who develops within a problem area.