There has been a revolution in our understanding of babies. We now know that they are far more competent and capable than we ever realised. No longer do we regard them as helpless. Psychology professor Alison Gopnik summarised it beautifully when she wrote, 'Babies do not need to be taught how to think. They are born with mental abilities that fully function to allow them to make sense of experiences and anticipate future events' (1).
REACHING OUT FROM A SAFE AND SECURE BASE
Babies are born with a huge interest and intent to reach out and make sense of the world. From birth, babies can already recognise their mothers' voices. They rapidly become sensitised to a mother's smell and focus on her face. When a baby is exposed to experiences again and again, the delicate threads that link and connect to the brain cells are strengthened through use.
All experiences have some impact on the very young brain, but it is the consistent and repetitive experiences offered in warm and loving relationships that nourish these brain connectors and establish patterns of thinking. These early relationships or attachments involves a parent or special person tuning in to their child's needs. What interests them and how long can they sustain this interest? How do they show they are tired or uncomfortable?
Links with parents
- Listen to parents talking about their very young child.
- Encourage them to share every detail about their child's personality, likes and dislikes.
- Emphasise that this valuable information will help you to tune into their unique child.
BEING AWARE OF AND IN TOUCH WITH OTHERS
Babies take a significant step in thinking around nine months when they begin to recognise themselves as separate from other people. They may follow something that is of interest to others or alert their special person to something of interest by pointing to it. At this stage, they have developed a 'theory of mind'. By responding promptly and sensitively to a baby's signals, the special person helps the baby to understand how it can gain their attention and enjoy these early moments of shared thinking.
Studies show that very young children work from a sharp social intelligence, taking a real interest in how other people close to them behave and feel. Young two-year-olds show some understanding of how older brothers and sisters will react when teased or annoyed (2, 3). They can sympathise with a family member who is upset, but also recognise and join in with a joke.
We can see for ourselves that babies and infants are hungry for attention and interest from people they know and will do all they can to communicate through gestures, body movements and signing, and later, through words.
The ability of the very young child to make meaning from what they know of the world and to extend their understandings is heavily influenced by their growing command of spoken language (4). Around nine to 12 months, the signs of spoken language develop, with babies babbling and using personal sounds to express their needs and requests. First words emerge around 12 months.
The beginning of verbal thinking appears to be linked to the very young child's curiosity about words and a rapid increase in vocabulary. Initially infants talk to themselves when playing, and this is an early sign of them using words to direct their thoughts and actions. A strong spirit of enquiry is evident in early communication.
Professional check
Reflect how well you support early thinking through:
- easy, ongoing conversations about something that the young child finds interesting
- showing interest and encouragement in the child's connected ideas.
CASE STUDY
Ben, just three years old, is digging a hole in the mud.
Ben: 'Look Don, I dug, dug a big hole.'
Don (his key person): 'Just look at that, Ben. Can you stand in it?'
Ben (jumping into the hole): 'Oh look it covers me up.'
Don: 'Not quite, Ben. Does the hole come up to your tummy?'
Ben looks carefully at his tummy and pushes himself up to the side of the hole. 'That's me. I'm big, I'm big, bigger than the hole - it don't cover me, it comes up to my tummy.'
Don: 'Yes, I can see that the hole is not deep enough to cover you.
Will you dig some more to make it deeper?'
Ben shakes his head.
Don: 'What could you do then?'
Ben: 'I be little.' He crouches down in the hole until he matches the depth of the hole and laughs. 'Now, see the hole cover me up.'
Don (laughing): 'Oh that's clever. What a good idea.'
COMMENT
This sustained conversation shows how Don helps Ben to build on his outdoor play to gain some insight into relative size. He is friendly and interested and although Don is careful not to correct Ben's choice of words, he gently introduces the term 'deep' as an alternative to Ben's description of depth as 'big'.
Ben's idea to show that the hole is deep enough to cover him up shows remarkable ingenuity and Don shares his pleasure.
OPEN TO POSSIBILITIES AND EXPERIENCES
While the parts of the young brain that deal with feelings are in place at birth, the pre-frontal cortex, which regulates our thinking, planning and focusing, develops much later. This more mature brain structure helps the thinker to resist distractions in order to concentrate on a particular topic. Although babies lack this ability, it can actually be a benefit in that it allows them to be open to all sorts of possibilities (5, 6).
A walk with a toddler can prove a frustrating or intriguing experience depending on the time you have and your frame of mind. If you need to get to the shops quickly, your toddler's exploration on the journey of every paving stone, mini-beast and stone in the gutter can exasperate. However, if you can join your child in his investigation, the world can become a different place as you share his wonder in the mundane.
And because very young children can't focus on the particular, they are able to be flexible. They are entranced by everything and anything, and this ability to hoover up so much information provides babies and infants with a fund of rich experiences.
CAPACITY TO THINK AWAY FROM HERE AND NOW
We used to think that the minds of very young children were firmly rooted in the present. However, predictable and loving routines allow them to recognise a signal and anticipate an event (see next case study).
In certain circumstances babies can also envisage possibilities for the future. One test carried out was to see if a baby could consider possibilities for a task and select the best option. Babies at 15 months were given a post with stacking rings but one of the rings had the hole taped over. The babies attempted to solve the problem by forcing the ring onto the post, trying again and eventually giving up.
Three months later, at 18 months, babies stacked the rings but refused even to try to fit the taped ring. These older babies didn't need to check if the taped ring would fit but seemed able to imagine the consequences.
Young three-year-olds are also able to think about the possibilities of an alternative past. Told a story about a duck with muddy shoes who had walked into a kitchen, they recognised the consequence that the floor would be dirty. However, when questioned about what would happen if the duck had cleaned his boots first, the children surmised that the floor would be clean (6).
Both of these examples show the extended scope of very young children's thinking - given a scenario that they can understand, they are able to reach back and consider consequences of past events and also project forward. This adaptability is the precursor to older children's ability to identify and solve problems.
CASE STUDY
Eight-month-old Anitha was exploring a treasure basket, but suddenly stopped. She had heard the sound of a key turned in the door outside. Anitha's eyes widened and a broad smile spread on her face. There was the sound of footsteps and Anitha watched as the doorknob to the sitting room slowly turned. She squealed with anticipation and stretched out her arms as her daddy's face appeared around the door.
COMMENT
Anitha had grown used to these daily, familiar signals which allowed her to connect them with her dad's arrival and his loving greeting. She used her powers of prediction awaiting this important moment.
MAKING SENSE OF THINGS: MOVING AND TOUCH
When we observe the very young child moving her body, crawling, standing and taking first steps, we recognise developmental psychology expert Margaret Donaldson's description of movement as thought in action. As babies and infants become more mobile, they need an environment with plenty of room for free physical play, both inside and outside.
Early motor and sensory experiences allow babies and infants to absorb and make sense of the world. Spaces need to be varied and challenging, encouraging the infant to test moving their body around corners, and in and out of small areas.
Practical activity
Provide different floor textures and surfaces that will appeal to the young child's sense of touch:
- Cover an indoor area with bubble wrap.
- Provide areas that are covered in bark chippings or shredded paper.
Note the surface where the infant lingers or chooses to return to.
THE POWER OF IMITATION AND IMAGINARY WORLDS
The Revised Early Years Foundation Stage identifies 'creating and thinking critically' as a significant characteristic of children learning (7). Imaginative play has an important role in achieving this characteristic. It offers babies and infants great opportunities to use their experiences, muse on their ideas, experiment and be open to all sorts of possibilities.
Babies in their first year learn fast through imitation. At first, the sensitive close person will imitate the baby's facial gestures and body movements and this reciprocity builds a pattern of close communication that affirms the baby's actions and helps it to start to understand other people and what they do.
Babies watch the daily and increasingly predictable actions of those around them closely and by the end of their first year young children are keen to apparently copy actions that they have observed - using a mobile phone or sweeping the floor. But Tricia David and co-authors suggest that this apparent copying is actually a reconstruction - the child's own version of what it has observed (8).
Childhood education author Tina Bruce suggests that toddlers start to rehearse roles, pretend and create play props as they become able to imagine and play with symbols. She notes, 'Children at play are able to stay flexible, respond to events and changing situations, be sensitive to people, to adapt, think on their feet and keep altering what they do in a fast-moving scene' (9).
When infants begin to recognise that one thing stands for another they have moved forward in their thinking. Around 14 months, infants may do this with objects that have something in common - they may wrap a teddy in a newspaper if a blanket is not available. Later, they extend their use of symbols and imagine that anything can happen. The space behind the sofa can become a post box and a cardboard box may be turned into a boat, house or plane within the space of a few minutes.
The make-believe allows infants to have some control over their world. Through pretend play, very young children are beginning to use symbols, form images or imagine things that are not present or may not even exist. And we now know that babies can pretend before they can talk, although once they use language, they have a powerful way of putting their ideas together. Pretend play is the beginning of abstract thought and by around the age of two children spend much of their time in a world of imaginary prospects.
CASE STUDY
Fourteen-month-old Chloe was fascinated with mark making. She also enjoyed visiting the post box with her mum and helping to post letters into the box. At home, she sat with her granddad and made marks with him. Chloe laboriously posted her 'letters' underneath the door in the downstairs shower room. She was delighted when granddad joined in the play and posted back some letters back to Chloe through the crack in the kitchen door.
COMMENT
At this stage Chloe is perfectly happy to accept that anything could become a post box. One year later she chose to use a cardboard box that she had helped her mum convert into a familiar red pillar box. She moved on to elaborate her play by pushing her letters into envelopes and making a mark for a stamp.
PROFESSIONAL CHECK: THE BENEFITS OF SIGNING
Given the opportunity, very young children will learn to sign their choices and preferences quickly and easily. Signing is a wonderful way to encourage all children to communicate at a time when many twoand three-year-olds struggle to use words. It a simple skill for them to master and the vast majority move effortlessly on to use spoken language. When very young children sign, they give us valuable insights on their thoughts.
How well do you:
- ensure that babies and infants learn to sign?
- inform parents about their child's sign language and encourage them to learn and share the skill?
READER OFFER
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REFERENCES
1. Gopnik, A, Meltzoff, A and Kuhl, P (1999). How Babies Think. Weidenfield and Nicolson, p271
2. Dunn, J and Kendrick, C (1982). Siblings: love, envy and understanding. Harvard University Press
3. Dunn, J (1999). 'Mindreading and Social Relationships' in Bennett, M (ed) Developmental Psychology. Taylor and Francis, pp55-71
4. Vygotsky, L (1978), Mind in Society. Harvard University Press
5. Gopnik, A (2009), The Philosophical Baby. Bodley Head, pp218-9
6. Gopnik, A (2009) op cit pp24, 26 (note 5)
7. Department for Education (2012), The Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage
8. David, T, Gooch, K, Powell, S and Abbott, A (2003), Birth to Three Matters: a review of the literature. Research Report 444. DFES Publications
9. Bruce, T (2001), Learning Through Play: babies, toddlers and the foundation years. Hodder Arnold, p46
