In terms of language development, most of the children I observed were still at the beginning stage of this process which will eventually result in their ability to talk, listen, and to communicate with people at will. The vast majority of the children I witnessed showed indications of their natural proclivity to language -- meaning that they made noises and sounds, particularly when they were playing with one another and with members of the daycare staff. However, very few of them were able to form actual words, or at least any words that I was able to recognize. What was interesting about this aspect of observation was the fact that several of the children were able to make the same sort of sounds repetitively -- if not the exact same sound, then at least something quite similar to it. In this respect and by using this method of "communication," some of the children appeared to be actually talking to one another, although how much understanding they were able to gauge from each other could have been dependent upon other circumstances such as their physical proximity to one another and what objects happened to be near or around them.
Still, there were some children who were able to say a few basic words other than "Dada" and "Mama," although such words were still hard to understand and numbered no more than two or three per child. It was also a little surprising to see some of the children actually understand very simple directives. There were a few who seemed to understand what the word "stop" meant, since when they heard it they knew to desist from the activity which they were engaged in -- which mostly amounted to either playing with their food or playing with one another in a way that may have perceived as "rough" to one of the children.
In terms of social behavior,...
It was great to see that most of the children could actually use their hands to indicate that they wanted something. Several of the toddlers could formally point towards an object or towards a particular direction, while others had to gesture with their hands. But in such a way they were able to communicate with one another socially, via a body language that appeared to be more effective than their spoken language. Additionally, some of the children actually appeared to look to some of the adults for help when they needed it, which is a more sophisticated formal of social interaction that usually occurs around the time a toddler has reached 18 months of age. When one child could not find a ball which he had thrown and lost sight of, he appeared to look at me quizzically. I helped him by getting it from behind the other little girl who was next to him.
It was also fairly enlightening to view the children in the context of Erik Erikson's theory for development for toddlers. Erikson's theory indicates that once children have a relative feeling of safety and encouragement in their environment, they will then begin to explore it. This point could be evidenced from my observation by viewing the toddler's attempt to crawl and move about their surroundings. They definitely did not seem to want to stay in one place. According to Erikson, this desire is an attempt to assert the will of the toddler, which could certainly be seen in the way the children played with toys and even desired toys that others had. This social interactive aspect coincides with Vygotsky's theory that posits that children learn best by interacting with their surroundings, as well as with adults in their Zone of Proximal Development.
