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Mental development is largely dependent
upon language development. When the baby reaches the stage in his
development that he can react to gestures and words, he can also recall
and remember. As soon as he can use even a few words himself, while
understanding the meaning of many more, he is better able to control
his world. The child whose parents help him to recognize many words and
expressions in relation to his experiences is able, when only two or
three years old, to remember, to compare, and to reason what will
happen in certain circumstances."
Language, Thought and Communication
A child listens to his parents, siblings,
neighbors, and imitates them. We can teach him by saying a word and
giving him some reward (attention, smiles, or the object he names) when
he is able to repeat it. A child also learns to speak the language he
hears in his surroundings. Children who do not hear much language or do
not get sufficient rewards for saying words learn very little language.
There is also an internal processes and maturation of the child himself
that enables him to understand and produce complicated grammatical
patterns and sentences. The acquisition of language aids and abets the
growth of thought. Through language, a child slowly learns to play with
ideas and share experiences with others.
We can speak or write about an object without the necessity of having
the object present. Language frees children from the necessity of
manipulating the environment. By using symbols or words, they can
select, store, and code complex concepts and then communicate them.
Mental Development of Toddler Two
In the second year of their lives,
children's memories increase -- for things, people, places, and ideas.
Not only do they recognize the familiar, now they begin to demonstrate
the ability to recall and reproduce recent memories of words, actions,
and events. In solving new problems, children rely on their old
experiences. Toddler-Twos try out different known modes of action in
each new situation, and toward the end of the year, they begin to
develop new procedures by combining or changing old ones. They begin to
have representations of real things in their heads (memories of
pictures, sounds, feelings, etc.) that help them think about something
without its being physically present -- an important milestone.
In addition to being a means of communication, speech is a tool for
expressing our thoughts. This does not imply, however, that all our
thinking is done with the help of words. Many studies have shown that
the child can understand many things before he has acquired and used
speech. Many aspects of thought are nonverbal -- imagination,
creativity, art, etc. -- and we should not undervalue them.
Curiosity Should be Encouraged !
Encourage your child's curiosity. He has
to have many experiences with different objects and situations. For
example in order to fully understand the word "dog," a child needs to
see many kinds of dogs, to touch a dog, to hear one barking, to know
what it eats, and even what smell it has. Real understanding of a thing
comes only after a young child has seen and experienced it from many
angles.
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