Solution Manual for Dynamic Child 1st Edition by

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Chapter 5: Cognitive Development in Infants and Toddlers

Brief Description of Chapter

Chapter 5 explores cognitive development during the first two years of life. The chapter begins
with an overview of Piaget’s sensorimotor stage, including research that challenges some of
Piaget’s basic theoretical premises. It moves on to discuss more modern frameworks for
understanding early cognitive development, including core knowledge and information
processing approaches. Language development in the first two years is covered next, including
speech perception, speech production, social communication, word meanings, and syntax. The
chapter concludes with discussion of the biological and environmental factors involved in
language development.

CHAPTER-AT-A-GLANCE GRID
Chapter Outline Instructor’s Resources Multimedia Resources
5.1 Piaget’s Learning Objectives 5.1, 5.2, 5.3 Assimilation and
Theory of Thinking About Your Virtual Child: Reflection Accommodation video
Sensorimotor Activities (2:29)
Development Pair and Share: Examples of the Infant as Piaget’s Stages of
the Little Scientist Cognitive
Research Project: Who Was Piaget? Development video
Writing Assignment: Test Out Piaget’s Tasks (6:17)
with an Infant Sensorimotor Substages
Research Activity: Piagetian Research video (7:25)
Article A not B Search Error
video (1:26)
Violation of Expectation
Methods video (2:34)
Deferred Imitation video
(2:10)
Piaget on Piaget video
(42:00)

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5.2 Specific Learning Objectives 5.4, 5.5, 5.6, 5.7 Core Knowledge of
Aspects of Thinking About Your Virtual Child: Reflection Prosocial Behavior?
Cognitive Activity video (2:32)
Development Application Activity: Investigate the Work of Core Knowledge:
Dr. Carolyn Rovee-Collier; Category Interview with
Formation and Gender-Typed Color Researcher Dr.
Preferences; Research Challenges in Elizabeth Spelke
Measuring Infant Intelligence; Find a video (3:39)
Child’s Toy that Promotes Cognitive Infant Episodic Memory
Development video (3:37)
Shared Writing: Improving Child Care in the Infant Looking Time
United States Habituation video
Observing the Dynamic Child 5.2: Attention (8:25)
and Memory Bayley Scales of Infant
Guest Speaker: Assessment Professional Development video
Who Administers the Bayley Scales of (4:03)
Infant Development; Child Care Worker or Bayley Scales of Infant
Professor of Early Childhood Education Development
Administration video
(1:22)
Observing the Dynamic
Child 5.2: Attention
and Memory video
(4:15)

5.3 Language Learning Objectives 5.8, 5.9, 5.10, 5.11, Infant Language
Development 5.12, 5.13, 5.14 Research Procedures
Thinking About Your Virtual Child: Reflection video (12:20)
Activities Infant Speech
Pair and Share: Infant Language; First Perception video
Words and Language Errors; Compare (5:18)
and Contrast Behavioral Views with Joint Attention video
Chomsky’s View of Language (1:12)
Development Babbling Babies video
Application Activity: Research Bilingualism in (2:08)
Children; Observe Toddler Speech Thinking Like a Speech-
Research Assignment: Exposure to Language Pathologist:
Language in Utero Working with
Observing the Dynamic Child 5.3: Twins Language Delays
Playing at a Table video (1:42)
Thinking About the Whole Child: My Virtual Toddler Speech video
Child from Birth to 30 Months (2:30)
Writing Assignment: Design an Intervention Steven Pinker on
Program to Promote Language Language video (6:04)
Development Noam Chomsky and
Guest Speaker: Speech Language Language
Pathologist Development video
The Dynamic Child in the Classroom: (8:28)
Behavior and Problem-Solving Skills

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 Do Babies Learn from
Baby Media? video
(6:19)
Observing the Dynamic
Child 5.3: Twins
Playing at a Table
video (3:50)
The Dynamic Child in
the Classroom:
Behavior and
Problem-Solving Skills
video (5:03)

INNOVATIVE IDEAS FOR CHAPTER 5

 Compare and Contrast Approaches to Cognitive Development Writing Assignment

 Early Intervention Specialist Guest Speaker
 Discoveries of Infancy: Cognitive Development and Learning Videos
 Promoting Language Development in Young Children Writing Assignment
 How Talking to Children Promotes Language Processing and Builds Vocabulary
Writing Assignment
 Language Development and SES Writing Assignment
 Invite an Infant or Toddler to Class to Demonstrate Language Development
 Thinking About the Whole Child: Observing Cognitive Development in Infants
 Class Field Trip: Visit a Child Care Center to Observe Cognitive Development

CHAPTER OUTLINE WITH LEARNING OBJECTIVES

Introduction: The Infant’s Mind
Raising Your Virtual Child: Infants and Toddlers
5.1 Piaget’s Theory of Sensorimotor Development
The Process of Cognitive Development
LO 5.1 Explain the processes involved in cognitive development, according to
Piaget.
The Sensorimotor Substages
LO 5.2 Explain how the child’s problem-solving ability changes across Piaget’s
six sensorimotor substages, including object permanence.
Follow-Up Studies of the Sensorimotor Period
LO 5.3 Explain how subsequent studies have modified Piaget’s claims about
object permanence and imitation.
Object Permanence
Imitation
Evaluation of Piaget’s Sensorimotor Period
5.2 Specific Aspects of Cognitive Development
Core Knowledge of Numbers
LO 5.4 Explain what infants might understand about numbers.
Development of Attention and Memory
LO 5.5 Explain how attention and memory abilities develop in the first 2 years.
Categorization

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 LO 5.6 Explain how children develop categorization skills.
Relationship of Infant Information Processing to Later Intelligence
LO 5.7 Explain which information processing skills may be stable over time and
predictive of later IQ scores.
Shared Writing: Improving Child Care in the United States
Observing the Dynamic Child 5.2: Attention and Memory
5.3 Language Development
The Challenge of Understanding Language Development
LO 5.8 Identify the major milestones of language development.
Perceiving Language in the First Year
LO 5.9 Explain how infants perceive basic speech sounds and words embedded
within sentences in the first year.
Perceiving Speech Sounds
Segmentation of Speech into Words
Producing Speech and Communicating Socially
LO 5.10 Explain how the ability to communicate develops in the first year.
Speech Production
Early Social Communication
Learning Word Meanings
LO 5.11 Explain how children develop an understanding of word meanings.
Comprehending Words
The Nature of Early Words
Errors in Word Usage
Using Syntax
LO 5.12 Describe how infants develop the grammar of their native language.
Biological Bases of Language
LO 5.13 Explain how the brain processes language.
Environmental Influences on Language
LO 5.14 Explain how the environment contributes to language development.
Language Deprivation
Infant-Directed Speech
Is There a Sensitive Period for Learning Languages?
Observing the Dynamic Child 5.3: Twins Playing at a Table
Thinking About the Whole Child: My Virtual Child from Birth to 30 Months (Group
Activity)
The Dynamic Child in the Classroom: Behavior and Problem-Solving Skills

LESSON PLANS
Module 5.1 Piaget’s Theory of Sensorimotor Development
Introduction/hook to stimulate students’ interest (5 minutes)
Organizing theme: How does Piaget’s theory explain cognitive development?
Link the introduction’s discussion of Piaget’s observations of his daughter and her problem
solving. Ask students if they have witnessed something like this in observing problem-solving
skills in young children.
Inform students that we will explore the different ways that infants develop cognitively.

Integrating the Information: Thinking About Your Virtual Child: Reflection Activity
(5 minutes): In this section, students will continue raising their virtual child from birth to 30
months. Ask students to think about the ways in which specific aspects of cognitive

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development (language, problem solving, memory) impact their virtual child’s overall
development. Ask students to consider how the information covered in Chapter 4 (physical
development, including the brain and motor skills) and the upcoming information in Chapter 6
(social and emotional development) relate to cognitive development.

LO 5.1 Lecture Notes: Explain the processes involved in cognitive development, according
to Piaget.
Piaget viewed the child as an active participant (little scientist) in exploring the world. Children
develop schemes, or organized networks of knowledge, about people, places, and events.
In the sensorimotor stage of development, the child coordinates sensory and motor
information. The infant forms mental representations, or internalized mental schemes that
last over time.
Developmental change occurs through cognitive equilibrium, in which the infant is
motivated to act on or understand the world successfully. Cognitive equilibrium occurs
through adaptation and organization.
In adaptation, the infant achieves cognitive equilibrium through modification of schemes in
repetitive interaction with the environment. Adaptation occurs through assimilation and
accommodation. Assimilation involves interpreting experience in terms of the existing
schemes, and accommodation involves interpreting experience by modifying existing
schemes. (Note: Students often have difficulty with the difference between assimilation and
accommodation. To help students with these concepts, provide the following strategy:
Assimilation has two s’s, which can stand for “same scheme.” Accommodation has the letter
c, which can stand for “change scheme”).
Organization occurs when schemes are linked to form more complex mental structures.

Pair and Share: Examples of the Infant as the Little Scientist

Ask each student to pair with another student to discuss examples of times they have witnessed
infants acting like little scientists in exploring their environment. This can include things such as
dropping a spoon from a high chair, rolling a ball against the wall, or putting objects in the
mouth. Ask students to consider how the activities are explained in Piaget’s theory. What is the
role of assimilation or accommodation? This may also be used as an in-class writing
assignment or class discussion.

Application Video Activity: Assimilation and Accommodation (2:29)

https://mediaplayer.pearsoncmg.com/assets/mypsychlab-2015-manis1e_0134410971-
assimilation_and_accommodation
The video in LO 5.1 on assimilation and accommodation can be run with or without narration.
Without narration, students can be prompted in class to identify examples of assimilation,
accommodation, and organization.

Video Link: Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development (6:17)

https://youtu.be/TRF27F2bn-A
This video shows all four of Piaget’s stages, including coverage of object permanence.

LO 5.2 Lecture Notes: Explain how the child’s problem-solving ability changes across
Piaget’s six sensorimotor substages, including object permanence.
Piaget proposed that cognitive development in the first two years happens in six progressive
substages, and this progression happens in all infants in normal human environments.
In substage one, infants use their reflexive capabilities rigidly—they do not alter schemes
much. In substages two and three, infants begin to accommodate the environment by

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 modifying schemes related to their own bodies (primary circular reactions) and other people
or external objects (secondary circular reactions).
Substage four is characterized by goal-directed behavior, in which the infant carries out two
or more schemes in succession to achieve a goal. Object permanence, a type of goal-
directed behavior, requires that the infant combine two schemes to achieve an end. In this
substage, infants commit the A-not-B search error, in which they will look for an object in its
original place, even if they witnessed the object being moved to another location. At this
substage, Piaget proposed that infants do not yet have complete understanding of object
permanence.
In substage five, infants develop tertiary circular reactions, in which they intentionally vary
schemes to solve problems. In substage six, infants have fully developed mental schemes
and mentally work out problems instead of relying on trial-and-error problem solving. Infants
now fully understand object permanence and can engage in deferred imitation, imitation of
actions they observed in the past.

Integrating the Information: Thinking About Your Virtual Child: Journal Prompt
5.1 (5 minutes): Find examples of your child’s behavior that fit each of Piaget’s sensorimotor
stages. Is your child’s behavior on track based on the age ranges just presented? (This may be
used as an in-class writing assignment or a group discussion. For best results, prime students
to have answers to these journal prompts ready for class discussion.)

Video: Sensorimotor Substages (7:25)

https://mediaplayer.pearsoncmg.com/assets/mypsychlab-2015-manis1e_0134410971-
sensorimotor_development
This video in REVEL provides footage of infants at each sensorimotor stage, along with
narration. Although students may have viewed it already in reading the text, it may be used as
an accompaniment to lecture coverage of the stages. Instructors can pause the video before
each stage, describe the stage, and then show the segment of the video for each stage.
Students might be engaged further by asking them to describe the behavior that represents the
cognitive advance in that stage.

Video Link: A not B Search Error (1:26)

https://youtu.be/4jW668F7HdA
This video shows footage of a 9-month-old infant who understands object permanence, but fails
the A-not-B search test.

Research Project: Who Was Piaget?

Direct students to visit the Jean Piaget Society’s webpage (http://www.piaget.org/) to learn more
about Piaget, his life, and his research. Have students choose two or three interesting aspects
of Piaget’s life and work to present to the class. This may also be used as an in-class writing
assignment or class discussion.

LO 5.3 Lecture Notes: Explain how subsequent studies have modified Piaget’s claims about
object permanence and imitation.
Researchers challenged Piaget’s sensorimotor theory. First, object permanence appears to
emerge earlier than Piaget thought. Secondly, researchers outline problems in Piaget’s
approach to understanding development (Cohen & Cashon, 2006; Goswami, 2008).
In challenging object permanence, many researchers have used the violation of expectation
method to show that infants younger than 8 to 12 months demonstrate this skill. The basic

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 premise is that infants (like adults) look longer at impossible events compared with possible
events.
If tested using Piaget’s original framework, infants will not search for an object under a cover
until 8 to 9 months, and they will make the A-not-B search error around 12 months.
Researchers are not in agreement as to why this finding exists. Possible explanations include
growth of working memory and long-term memory for events, planning and executing
responses, and inhibiting responses that worked previously (all executive functioning
capabilities governed by prefrontal cortex brain development).
Piaget also underestimated infants’ ability to imitate, proposing that this does not develop until
approximately 18 months. However, current research shows that infants much younger can
demonstrate deferred imitation (Barr, Marrot & Rovee-Collier, 2003; Meltzoff, 1988a; Meltzoff,
1988b).

Video Link: Violation of Expectation Methods (2:34)

https://youtu.be/hwgo2O5Vk_g
In this video, Dr. Renee Baillargeon describes her research, which focuses on the violation of
expectation method. Infants are shown impossible tasks that directly test Piaget’s original
contentions.

Video Link: Deferred Imitation (2:10)

https://youtu.be/NbXHyIlsG0M?list=PLPoeH0A_vS7jpvbnx0E_xAq3BKVS2BBwz
This video provides an overview of Meltzoff’s (1988) research focusing on infant deferred
imitation. The video clearly shows that infants much younger than 18 months can demonstrate
deferred imitation.

Links to Additional Activities, Demonstrations, and Exercises for this Module

1. Writing Assignment: Test Out Piaget’s Tasks with an Infant
If possible, have students locate an infant and test out some of Piaget’s theoretical
concepts. For instance, test for object permanence and the A-not-B search error. Have
students summarize their findings in a short (two- to three-page) paper. Have students
relate findings to the information presented in the text. This may also be used as an in-class
writing assignment or class discussion.
2. Video Link: Piaget on Piaget (42:00)
https://youtu.be/0XwjIruMI94
In this video, Piaget discusses his theory, including some of his major tenets. Students may
find it very informative to hear about the theory from the actual theorist. Due to the length of
this video, you may choose to assign it outside of class time. This may be used as part of an
in-class writing assignment or class discussion.
3. Research Activity: Piagetian Research Article
Since Piaget has had such a lasting influence on cognitive developmental theory, have
students locate a journal article that relates to testing Piaget’s theoretical constructs.
Students may choose articles that test aspects of Piaget’s original theory or articles that
challenge Piaget’s theory. Direct students to summarize the article and share their findings
with the class. This may also be used as an in-class writing assignment or class discussion.

Module 5.2 Specific Aspects of Cognitive Development

Introduction/hook to stimulate students’ interest (5 minutes)
Inform students that this section looks at research spurred by Piaget’s theory. To challenge
Piaget’s theory, the core knowledge and information processing/developmental neuroscience
frameworks emerged.

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 Remind students of the basic tenets of evolutionary theory (covered in Chapter 1). Inform
them that both evolutionary theory and Piaget’s theory represent the intellectual origin of core
knowledge theories.

LO 5.4 Lecture Notes: Explain what infants might understand about numbers.
Core knowledge systems refer to innate systems that allow infants to understand the world
with minimal experience. Examples include innate understanding of number systems (up to
three objects) and comparison of large arrays (e.g., infants at 6 months can distinguish
between arrays of eight and 16 dots, but not between eight and 12 dots; Figure 5.3).
Critics of the core knowledge approach state that the reliance on habituation and violation of
expectation methods may only indicate a perceptual preference, as opposed to an enduring
mental representation (Cohen & Cashon, 2006; Kagan, 2008).

Video Link: Core Knowledge of Prosocial Behavior? (2:32)

https://youtu.be/F-UQkDs9I0I
This video features research by Dr. Karen Wynn, who is investigating another aspect of core
knowledge: that we are born with an innate preference for prosocial over antisocial behavior.
Wynn and her team put on puppet shows for infants, with characters that display both prosocial
and antisocial behavior. So far, the babies almost always prefer the nicer puppets to the mean
ones, indicating we may be born with an innate preference for prosocial behavior.

Video Link: Core Knowledge: Interview with Researcher Dr. Elizabeth Spelke
(3:39)
https://youtu.be/HnOllgd-8Ao
In this video, Dr. Spelke describes her research and the core knowledge theory of cognitive
development.

LO 5.5 Lecture Notes: Explain how attention and memory abilities develop in the first 2
years.
The Goldilocks principle (Kidd, Piantadosi, & Aslin, 2012) states that infants attend to
environmental stimulation that has a medium level of complexity. In attending to medium
complexity stimuli, infants get the most return for their cognitive effort. Infants also become
better at selecting and controlling attention in the first year.
Infants increase their speed of encoding new information to memory during the first 2 years,
in which the infant increases the speed of habituation to a new stimulus.
As demonstrated in experiments by Rovee-Collier and colleagues (1999; 2010), infants
develop memory for operant-conditioned responses throughout infancy (Figure 5.5). This
demonstrates implicit memory, the unconscious learning of a response.
Explicit memory, the conscious, deliberate recall of events or experiences, can be measured
through deferred imitation. Infants show gradual improvements in explicit memory over time,
likely due to changes in brain structures associated with memory (medial temporal lobes,
prefrontal cortex, and hippocampus).

Integrating the Information: Thinking About Your Virtual Child: Journal Prompt
5.2 (5 minutes): Earlier, you thought about changes in your virtual infant’s cognitive skills in
terms of Piaget’s theory. How might these changes in your child’s behavior be due to the
development of attention and memory? (This may be used as an in-class writing assignment or
a group discussion. For best results, prime students to have answers to these journal prompts
ready for class discussion.)

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Application Activity: Investigate the Work of Dr. Carolyn Rovee-Collier
Dr. Rovee-Collier made significant contributions to studying infant implicit memory. Have
students investigate her research and its main findings. A good place to start is the following
article:
Rovee-Collier, C. (1999). The development of infant memory. Current Directions in
Psychological Science, 8, 80–85.
https://faculty.washington.edu/sommej/Rovee-Collier1999.pdf
This may be used as an in-class writing assignment or class discussion.

Video Link: Infant Episodic Memory (3:37)

https://youtu.be/DkwEFw0UEz4
In this video, Dr. Nora Newcombe, professor of psychology and director of Temple Infant and
Children Laboratory, explains her research on episodic memory in infants and young children.

LO 5.6 Lecture Notes: Explain how children develop categorization skills.

Categories allow infants to organize the world. Habituation is used to study development of
categorization skills in infants. Three- to 4-month-old infants habituate to pictures of cats, and
then spend more time looking at pictures of dogs, indicating development of categories for
each (Arterberry & Bornstein, 2001). Six- to 9-month-olds have more complex categories for
things like furniture, emotions, plants, and people of different ages and gender (Figure 5.6;
Cohen & Cashon, 2006; Mandler & McDonough, 1998).
Infants start forming categories based on perceptual features, such as physical appearance.
By 9 to 11 months, they start to identify more subtle features (Mandler & McDonough. 1998).
Spoken words help infants determine stimuli that fit in different categories (Gelman, 2009;
Waxman & Lidz, 2006).
By 14 months, infants can clearly use conceptual categories. For instance, infants can sort
objects based on common features (Rakison, 2010) or category names (Ellis & Oakes, 2006).

Application Activity: Category Formation and Gender-Typed Color Preferences

Research examines the role that category formation may have in development of color
preferences. Have students read the following article that examines how young children’s
categorization abilities may aid in the formation of gender-stereotyped color preferences (e.g.,
blue for boys, pink for girls):
LoBue, V., & DeLoache, J. S. (2011). Pretty in Pink: The early development of gender-
stereotyped color preferences. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 29, 656–
667.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/51578057_Pretty_in_pink_The_early_developmen
t_of_gender-stereotyped_colour_preferences
This may be used as an in-class writing assignment or class discussion.

Video Link: Infant Looking Time Habituation (8:25)

https://youtu.be/dlilZh60qdA
If you did not use this video in Chapter 4, you may show it now to demonstrate habituation
procedures with infants. The video shows how habituation may be used in testing infant memory
and recognition of new stimuli.

LO 5.7 Lecture Notes: Explain which information processing skills may be stable over time
and predictive of later IQ scores.
The speed with which infants habituate to new stimuli appears related to later intelligence and
achievement (reading and math) scores (Fagan, Holland, & Weaver, 2007; Kavsek, 2004).

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Information processing capabilities in infancy, including memory, processing speed, attention,
and representational competence, correlate with the same skills during toddler years and at
11 years of age (Table 5.1; Rose, Feldman, & Jankowski, 2011; Rose, Feldman, Jankowski,
& Van Rossem, 2012).
The Bayley Scales of Infant Development, the most commonly used measure of infant
development, includes measures of infant attention, habituation, and visual memory, in
addition to measures of imitation, problem solving, and language skills (Albers & Grieve,
2007; Bayley, 2006; Berger, Hopkins, Bae, Hella, & Strickland, 2010).

Application Activity: Research Challenges in Measuring Infant Intelligence

Have students research some of the challenges that exist in measuring infant intelligence. For
instance, infants have short attention spans and limited verbal abilities. Ask students to bring
their findings to class to include in a class discussion. This may be used as an in-class writing
assignment or class discussion.

Video Link: Bayley Scales of Infant Development (4:03)

https://youtu.be/uxAcRJITQSM
This video provides an overview of the specific tasks involved in the Bayley Scales of Infant
Development.

Video Link: Bayley Scales of Infant Development Administration (1:22)

https://youtu.be/EHNnfjoDVME
This video shows an infant actually doing the tasks involved in parts of the Bayley Scales of
Infant Development.

Shared Writing: Improving Child Care in the United States

The following is the shared writing prompt from REVEL. It can be assigned within REVEL, with
the guideline of writing a minimum of 140 characters, or as a longer in-class writing activity.
Many U.S. children attend child care, either in registered homes or centers, but research
surveys have shown that the quality of these facilities varies widely. Use your knowledge of
brain and cognitive development (Chapters 4 and 5) to propose equipment, toys, or
activities caregivers could provide that would stimulate a specific aspect of brain or cognitive
development (such as goal-oriented problem solving, attention, memory, categorization, or
language).

Observing the Dynamic Child 5.2: Attention and Memory

https://mediaplayer.pearsoncmg.com/assets/mypsychlab-2015-manis1e_0134410971-
attention_and_memory
Ask each student to pair up with another student. Present students with a worksheet containing
the following questions and ask them to work in pairs. Show the Observing the Dynamic Child
5.2: Attention and Memory video (4:15). This can be used as an in-class participation grade.
NOTE: Be sure to remove the * before using this as a handout for students!
1. Which of the following is an example of the Goldilocks principle of attention?
a. Lily Rose uses the sound “ba” to attract people’s attention.
b. Lily Rose switches from toy to toy, paying only brief attention to each one.
c. *Lily Rose pays the most attention to the rings, an object of intermediate complexity,
ignoring simpler stuffed toys and rejecting a complex toy.
d. Lily Rose pays the most attention to each new toy her mother brings to her attention.
2. A clear example of imitation occurs when __________.

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 a. *Revel, the older child, tries to duplicate the experimenter’s turning and dropping of
the toy
b. Lily Rose imitates the sound her mother makes after giving her the toy
c. Lily Rose flicks some of the same little levers that her mother flicked on the complex
toy
d. Revel imitates exactly how his mother manipulated the complex toy
3. Which of the following might explain Revel’s greater interest in the more complex toy
and Lily Rose’s greater interest in the rings?
a. Revel has more advanced fine motor skills and can more successfully manipulate
the complex toy.
b. Revel has more advanced language, so the adults can explain how to play with the
toy.
c. The complex toy is only of moderate complexity for Revel, but it is of high complexity
for Lily Rose, and hence their attention to the toy varies.
d. *Both a and c are true.

To encourage additional critical thinking following the Observing the Dynamic Child video,
ask students to address this prompt:
You are invited to a birthday party for your 2-year-old nephew. You have little experience
with toddlers and decide to go to the local toy store to buy the perfect gift. As you review
the toy selection, you notice the toys include a notation of appropriate ages for the toy.
You eye a toy with the range 36–48 months clearly printed on the package. Although
your nephew is only 2, you consider how you might help him accelerate his
development. Of course, you think he is a very exceptional child, so you purchase the
toy marked 36–48 months. How might this toy help or hinder your nephew’s
development relative to attention and memory? Are the age range suggestions relevant?

Links to Additional Activities, Demonstrations, and Exercises for this Module

1. Guest Speaker: Assessment Professional Who Administers the Bayley Scales of
Infant Development
Invite a guest speaker to class who regularly administers the Bayley Scales of Infant
Development. You may locate such a professional through your local hospital or early
intervention services. Ask the speaker to bring the testing kit, if possible. Ask the speaker to
walk the class through the tasks, as well as developmental expectations for each task. You
might also ask the professional to provide some recommendations s/he gives to clients
when children are not meeting the developmental expectations for a given task. You could
also use this as an opportunity to ask about the specific training needed for this position.
Ask students to come prepared with at least two questions for the speaker.
2. Guest Speaker: Child Care Worker or Professor of Early Childhood Education
Invite a child care worker to speak in your class. If your institution has such a facility on
campus, this serves as a resource. Alternatively, you may ask a professor with expertise in
early childhood to speak on the topic. In line with the Shared Writing assignment for this
section, ask the speaker to provide information about the specific types of activities, toys,
and materials that a child care center uses to promote cognitive development. Direct
students to come prepared with at least two questions for the speaker.
3. Application Activity: Find a Child’s Toy that Promotes Cognitive Development
Have students either visit a toy store or find a toy website. Direct students to locate a toy for
children under 24 months that claims to promote cognitive development in some way. Have
students evaluate the specific way the toy does this, and compare the claims with the
information in the text on cognitive development. You may also ask students to relate the

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 toy’s claims to aspects of brain development presented in Chapter 4. This may be used as
an in-class writing assignment or class discussion.

Module 5.3 Language Development

Introduction/hook to stimulate students’ interest (5 minutes)
Organizing theme: How does language develop in the first two years of life?
Inform students that we will explore how language develops in the first two years of life. Ask
students to consider how language development fits with the dynamic systems framework.
How is language development related to physical and socioemotional development?

LO 5.8 Lecture Notes: Identify the major milestones of language development.

Most children say their first word around their first birthday. To use language effectively,
children must use the following features of language:
1. Phonology: understand sounds of adult speech and produce sounds accurately enough
for adults to understand
2. Semantics: understand words in context, produce words that match the context
3. Syntax: understand arrangement of words to match grammatical rules of the language
4. Pragmatics: understand and use practical aspects of communication
Children begin language using one-word utterances, gradually increasing to using simple
sentences.

Pair and Share: Infant Language

Have each student pair with another student to discuss their experiences around infants
learning to talk. How do young children use phonology, semantics, syntax, and pragmatics to
communicate? Have students share their experiences with the class. This may also be used as
an in-class writing assignment or group discussion.

Video Link: Infant Language Research Procedures (12:20)

https://youtu.be/EFlxiflDk_o
This video shows research in Dr. Peter Jusczyk’s lab on the investigation of infant speech
perception and language development. Procedures highlighted include the high amplitude
sucking procedure, the head turn preference procedure, and the preferential looking procedure.

LO 5.9 Lecture Notes: Explain how infants perceive basic speech sounds and words
embedded within sentences in the first year.
During the first 12 months, infants develop the ability to perceive two aspects of language:
units of sounds and words embedded in sentences.
By two days of age, infants prefer listening to their native language rather than other
languages and can distinguish between languages they have never heard before, based on
their rhythmical characteristics (Gervain & Mehler, 2010).
Young infants have the ability to distinguish among nearly all sounds found in the world’s
languages (Eimas, Siqueland, & Jusczyk, Vigorito, 1971; Gervain & Mehler, 2010). The
smallest of these sounds is the phoneme, or the smallest meaningful unit of sound in a
language. Infants gradually increase ability to distinguish phonemes in their native languages
over the first year, while decreasing ability to distinguish phonemes in foreign languages (Kuhl
et al., 2006; Werker & Tees, 1984).
Much of the decline in ability to distinguish phonemes in foreign languages applies to
monolingual babies; bilingual infants do not show the same decline in the first year. However,
the ability to distinguish phonemes in foreign languages re-appears around 2 years for
monolingual infants (MacWhinney, 2015; Werker, 1995).

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To understand language, infants must segment speech into words. Infants do this through
identifying repetitive sounds that appear together and through intonation and stress in
language. Parents also facilitate this process by using simple language to communicate with
infants.

Application Activity: Research Bilingualism in Children

Have students research bilingual education or immersion programs for children. How early do
these programs start? Considering what students have encountered in the text regarding
bilingualism and receptivity to language in the first two years, what recommendations do they
have for parents who want their child to be bilingual? This may be used as an in-class writing
assignment or class discussion.

Research Assignment: Exposure to Language in Utero

Recent work by Eino Partanen, a Finnish neuroscientist at Aarhus University Hospital in
Denmark, demonstrates the amount of language that crosses the uterine wall in prenatal
development. Ask students to research this work, which shows that infants exposed to particular
language patterns in utero recognized these same patterns shortly after birth. Infants who were
not exposed to these patterns did not recognize these patterns shortly after birth. National
Public Radio’s program The World in Words featured this as a March 2016 story.

Video Link: Infant Speech Perception (5:18)

https://youtu.be/CSMjKDZvNWA
This video discusses the ways that researchers have devised to test infant speech perception.

LO 5.10 Lecture Notes: Explain how the ability to communicate develops in the first year.
Infant attempts to communicate verbally move from crying to cooing in the first 3 months. By 6
months, infants make repetitive consonant-vowel combinations through babbling. Infants
increasingly babble in patterns that resemble their native language during the first year.
Infant-directed speech (IDS) helps infants learn the basics of language and conversation.
IDS has shorter sentences, more clearly articulated words, repeated words and phrases,
higher pitch, more variable pitch, imitation of infants’ speech by parents, and exaggerated
stress (Sachs, 2009; Thiessen, Hill, & Saffran, 2005). The use of IDS by parents is associated
with better learning of phoneme categories and a larger vocabulary at age 12 months
(Altvater-Mackensen & Grossman, 2015).
Joint attention, in which adults and infants focus on the same thing, is usually present by 9
months. Joint attention reflects the infant’s understanding that others have goals and
objectives. Joint attention relates to language development in that mothers who have frequent
bouts of joint attention with their infants and who attract the infants’ attention to objects and
say the names of objects tend to have infants who produce meaningful gestures and acquire
new vocabulary words at an earlier age (Brooks & Meltzoff, 2008; Carpenter, Nagel, &
Tomasello, 1998).

Video Link: Joint Attention (1:12)

https://youtu.be/FvbjlPcKEWk
This video shows examples of joint attention. It also provides some ways to promote
development of joint attention in infants.

Video Link: Babbling Babies (2:08)

https://youtu.be/_JmA2ClUvUY

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This video shows twin boys babbling to one another. After showing the video, have students
examine the social function of communication—what might the boys in the video want to
communicate? How do they engage one another in “conversation”? This may be used as an in-
class writing assignment or class discussion.

Integrating the Information: Thinking About Your Virtual Child: Journal Prompt
5.3a (5 minutes): Assume that if your virtual child actually could hear you, you would be
speaking to the child in infant-directed speech. How might this type of speech help your child
learn how to pronounce words as well as to learn the meanings of words? (This may be used as
an in-class writing assignment or a group discussion. For best results, prime students to have
answers to these journal prompts ready for class discussion.)

LO 5.11 Lecture Notes: Explain how children develop an understanding of word meanings.
Infants can understand many more words than they can produce in the first year (Fenson et
al., 1994).
The first words that infants produce are in reference to important people or objects in their
environment (Table 5.2). Once infants begin to speak, they add words slowly, speaking about
50 words by 18 months (Fenson et al., 1994).
In learning language during the first 2 ½ years, children make common errors:
1. Overextension: extend the adult meaning of a word too far
2. Underextension: using a word in more limited context than the adult meaning
Children are more likely to overextend in production of speech than in comprehension.
Underextensions may be due to retrieval problems, in that the child has only heard a word
once or twice, or the child does not know the full range of category members to which the
word extends (Pan & Uccelli, 2009).

Video: Thinking Like a Speech-Language Pathologist: Working with Language

Delays (1:42)
https://mediaplayer.pearsoncmg.com/assets/mypsychlab-2015-manis1e_0134410971-
working_with_language_delays
Show this video in class and ask students to consider how working with children on receptive
and productive language could apply to social interactions. You might have students first
consider some scenarios in which they must understand and produce language. Then, ask
students to consider settings in which young children would need receptive and productive
language. You might also prompt students to think about how this applies in settings such as
the home, school, and places with peer interaction. Based on what the therapist mentions in the
video, how might parents work with children at home on receptive and productive language
skills?

Pair and Share: First Words and Language Errors

Have each student pair with another student and discuss first words that they have heard from
infants. (Some students may know their own first word from stories of family members.) Do the
first words match with what is presented in the text? Have students also share any stories of
language errors they encountered in working with young children. Students may share their
experiences with the class. This may also be used as an in-class writing assignment or class
discussion.

LO 5.12 Lecture Notes: Describe how infants develop the grammar of their native language.
Infants use holophrases, single-word utterances that stand for an entire thought or variety of
meanings.

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In telegraphic speech (used when vocabulary reaches 150 to 200 words), children use only
the most essential, high-impact words and string together two- to three-word utterances.
Telegraphic speech lacks grammatical inflections, such as the plural, past tense, and present
progressive.
Children understand more complex syntactic structures and semantic relationships than they
can express (Golinkoff & Hirsh-Pasek, 1995; MacWhinney, 2015).

Integrating the Information: Thinking About Your Virtual Child: Journal Prompt
5.3b (5 minutes): Is your child behind, on track, or ahead of schedule in language development
by 18 months of age? Refer back to the Language Development of Milestones timeline. Is this
something you should be concerned about, and what, if anything, can you do? (This may be
used as an in-class writing assignment or a group discussion. For best results, prime students
to have answers to these journal prompts ready for class discussion.)

Application Assignment: Observe Toddler Speech

Ask students to spend some time observing toddlers. Preferably, this should take place in the
home, school, or day care environment. Ask students to write down specific examples of toddler
speech. What are the most common words used? What examples of holophrases or telegraphic
speech are present? Students may compile findings in a short (one- to two-page) paper. This
may be used as an in-class writing assignment or class discussion.

Video Link: Toddler Speech (2:30)

https://youtu.be/w2EertzeHjM
This video shows what a conversation looks like with a typical toddler. After showing the video,
ask students to locate examples of holophrases and telegraphic speech. If you want to tie in
information from Chapter 4, the girl in the video also uses pointing, reaching, and grasping in
conjunction with language. Ask students to consider the relationship between physical
development and language development. This may be used as an in-class writing assignment
or class discussion.

LO 5.13 Lecture Notes: Explain how the brain processes language.

Reinforcement and imitation (behavioral perspective) play a role in language development,
but they cannot account for learning grammar in a language. Noam Chomsky theorized that
infants are born with a language acquisition device (LAD), meaning that the brain is
hardwired to acquire language.
Evidence for Chomsky’s LAD points to greater activity in areas of the brain that process
language (left hemisphere) shortly after birth (Pena et al., 2003). Broca’s area (left frontal
lobe) contributes to the production of speech, and Wernicke’s area contributes to ability to
understand speech and sentences.

Pair and Share: Compare and Contrast Behavioral Views with Chomsky’s View of
Language Development
Have each student pair with another student to compare and contrast behavioral views with
Chomsky’s view of language development. What are the basic premises of each approach?
What processes in learning language does each theory account for best?

Video Link: Steven Pinker on Language (6:04)

https://youtu.be/C_kOzdRqC24

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Dr. Steven Pinker, a cognitive psychologist who researches language, describes the evolution
of language. Pinker discusses Chomsky’s theory of language and the mistakes that children
make in learning language.

Video Link: Noam Chomsky and Language Development (8:28)

https://youtu.be/MLk47AMBdTA
In this video, Dr. Chomsky presents his theory of language development, including the evolution
of language, the language acquisition device, and universal grammar.

LO 5.14 Lecture Notes: Explain how the environment contributes to language development.
Studies of language deprivation, infant-directed speech, and testing the sensitive period
hypothesis contribute to understanding of how the environment influences language
development.
Language deprivation studies examine the case of Genie. Genie, severely maltreated
between ages 2 and 13, never developed syntax beyond the level of the average 2-year-old
child (Curtiss, Fromkin, Krashen, Rigler, & Rigler, 1974).
Additional evidence of deprivation comes from deaf infants whose parents did not expose
them to sign language. These infants did not develop adequate oral language skills even
though they developed their own version of sign language, home sign (Goldin-Meadow &
Feldman, 1977; Goldin-Meadow & Mylander, 1984, 1990). In home sign, infants strung
together two or three signs, similar to telegraphic speech. However, development stalled after
reaching the telegraphic speech stage (Goldin-Meadow, Mylander, & Franklin, 2007).
Studies of infant-directed speech recasts support the role of the environment in language
development. Infants who had their sentences corrected (recast) showed both immediate and
long-term improvements in grammatical use (Saxton, 2000; Saxton, Backley, & Gallaway,
2003; Saxton, Kulcsar, Marshall, & Rupra, 1998).
Hart and Risley (1995; 1999) showed that infants in lower socioeconomic status (SES) homes
hear less language spoken, and this correlates with smaller vocabularies at age 3 compared
with middle and upper SES peers.
Video programs designed to teach children language (Baby Einstein) do not appear overly
successful; language appears to be learned best through social interaction.
Some theorists believe that the brain mechanisms for acquiring syntax may have a more
limited period of pruning and consolidation, whereas those for vocabulary may remain plastic
throughout the life span (Berko-Gleason, 2009). Individuals who learn sign language in
adolescence or adulthood are less likely to use subtle grammatical features compared with
individuals who learn sign language in childhood (Newport, 1990). For individuals who speak
English as a second language, researchers found decreases in self-rated language
competency as the age of immigration to the United States increased, from infancy to
adulthood (Hakuta, Bialystok, & Wiley, 2003).

Video Link: Do Babies Learn from Baby Media? (6:19)

https://youtu.be/lir_wF91VI4
Parents spend millions of dollars on videos and DVDs designed and marketed specifically for
infants and very young children every year. But do they work? Dr. Judy DeLoache discusses
her research, which presents empirical evidence that infants who watched a baby video did not
actually learn the words that the video purported to teach. After showing this in class, you may
ask students to consider the findings from this study in the broader context. What is it about
language that seems to require social interaction to learn? How could these study results be
used in teaching language? Note: You may also choose to link this to the Brainy Babies writing
prompt from Chapter 4. In light of what students now know about language development, has

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their perspective on baby media changed since Chapter 4? This may be used as an in-class
writing assignment or class discussion.

Observing the Dynamic Child 5.3: Twins Playing at a Table

https://mediaplayer.pearsoncmg.com/assets/mypsychlab-2015-manis1e_0134410971-
twins_playing_at_a_table
Ask each student to pair up with another student. Present students with a worksheet containing
the following questions and ask them to work in pairs. Show the Observing the Dynamic Child
5.3: Twins Playing at a Table video (3:50). This can be used as an in-class participation grade.
NOTE: Be sure to remove the * before using this as a handout for students!
1. All of the following uses of language were made in the situation EXCEPT __________.
a. request something from an adult
b. direct the other child in the activity
c. comment on what they are doing
d. *argue with an adult
2. All of the following were examples of telegraphic speech the children exhibited EXCEPT
__________, which was an example of the use of grammatical inflections.
a. *“Cutting it.”
b. “Push, Annie, push.”
c. “Annie have knife, too.”
d. “Nope cut it.”
3. The organizing theme of the twins’ play turns out at the end to be that they are cutting up
imaginary food for three adults sitting on the couch and watching them. This is an
example of what type of thinking that becomes more common as children attain the age
of 2 and older?
a. cooperative social thinking
b. sensorimotor thinking
c. *symbolic thinking
d. recall memory

To encourage additional critical thinking following the Observing the Dynamic Child video,
the video can be used as part of the following in-class activity:
Hand out a transcript of what the children say and have students work in teams to
analyze what is and is not present in the twins’ utterances. They should be able to
identify features of telegraphic speech. They can also work from a list of the semantic
relations in Table 5.3 and identify which ones they hear in the twins’ language. To
capture some of the difficulty in studying spontaneous speech in infants, you can run the
video once to see how well they do on the assignment, and then run it again with the
transcript.

Thinking About the Whole Child: My Virtual Child from Birth to 30 Months
This is designed for small group discussions. Break students into groups of three or four and
prompt them to compare their virtual child experiences. Students should compare virtual child
experiences for the period from birth to 24 months, also including the developmental evaluations
at 19 and 30 months. The following questions are suggestions to get students started in the
discussion of virtual children:
1. Describe and give examples of changes in your child’s exploratory or problem-solving
behavior or memory from 3 through 24 months in terms of Piaget’s theory and information
processing/cognitive neuroscience theories. Compare your child’s development to that of
others and discuss why differences might exist.

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2. Compare your child’s communication and language development at 12, 18, and 24 months
of age to that of other children. What factors might explain differences within the group in
rate of development?

Links to Additional Activities, Demonstrations, and Exercises for this Module

1. Writing Assignment: Design an Intervention Program to Promote Language
Development
Research by Hart and Risley (1995; 1999) demonstrates that low-SES children are often not
exposed to the same amount and quality of language compared with more advantaged
peers. This appears to contribute to smaller vocabularies later in life. Have students first
review the major findings of Hart and Risley’s work. Then, have students suggest specific
ways to reach low-SES parents with this information. How would they promote language
development in low-SES populations? What specific recommendations would they provide
for parents? Have students present recommendations in a short (three- to four-page) paper.
This may also be used as an in-class writing assignment or class discussion.
2. Guest Speaker: Speech Language Pathologist
Invite a speech language pathologist to class. If your institution has such a program, you
may consider inviting faculty to speak in your class. Ask the speaker to discuss the typical
language milestones that should be present in the first 2 years. Ask the speaker about
specific assessments that are used to measure language development. Additionally, you
may ask the speaker for some specific treatment techniques that are used to promote
language development. Ask students to come prepared with at least two questions for the
speaker.

The Dynamic Child in the Classroom: Behavior and Problem-Solving Skills

https://mediaplayer.pearsoncmg.com/assets/mypsychlab-2016-manis1e_0136049745-
infant_social_behavior_and_problem-solving_skills
Overview
The Chapter 5 video (5:03) encourages students to analyze the social and communicative
behavior of a 10-month-old infant. Students also have the opportunity to apply their knowledge
of Piaget’s sensorimotor substages to the behavior the infant exhibits.
1. How does Lily Rose communicate with the adults in the room?
She makes eye contact, makes loud sounds such as “ahh!,” “ba,” and “deh,” imitates the
movements of a parent, raises her arms and gestures for attention from an adult, and
responds to an adult request to get a block and give it to her.
2. What sensorimotor skills does Lily Rose exhibit? In which of Piaget’s stages do these skills
fall? Which stage has Lily Rose likely not reached yet?
She searches for a hidden object, even when delayed in the search process, and tracks
the location of a hidden object from place to place, which is likely stage 5. She is not yet in
stage 6 because she doesn’t use words to stand for things and shows no evidence of
pretend play. For example, she doesn’t pretend to drink from the cup but just bites on its
edge. She does show some awareness that the cup is for drinking. She demonstrates a
wide variety of sensorimotor skills, shaking, pounding, mouthing, holding up an object to
show adults, sliding an object across the floor, etc.

INNOVATIVE IDEAS FOR CHAPTER 5

Writing Assignment: Compare and Contrast Approaches to Cognitive
Development

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Have students compare and contrast Piaget’s theory with core knowledge and information
processing approaches to cognitive development. How do the frameworks differ? What
research supports each? Students may present findings in a four- to five-page paper. This may
also be used as an in-class writing assignment or class discussion.

Guest Speaker: Early Intervention Specialist

Invite an early intervention specialist to class to discuss his/her work in the area of cognitive
development. Ask specifically about how this person distinguishes typical from atypical cognitive
development. Additionally, be sure to ask about the specific strategies that the specialist uses
for young children who are developmentally delayed. What advice/guidance does this person
provide to parents to help with lagging development? Ask students to come prepared with at
least two questions for the speaker.

Video Link: Discoveries of Infancy: Cognitive Development and Learning

https://youtu.be/1UgID3g-YQE (18:19)
https://youtu.be/9jOO6tZAijA (14:28)
This is a two-part video series on cognitive development in infancy. The videos explore the
basics of cognitive development that are outlined in the chapter. You may want to assign this
before discussing this chapter in class. You may use video content in class to stimulate class
discussion or as an in-class writing assignment.

Writing Assignment: Promoting Language Development in Young Children

Ask students to research specific ways to promote language development in young children.
Have students compile their recommendations in a short (two- to three-page) paper. You may
also choose to have students present their main findings to the class.

Writing Assignment: How Talking to Children Promotes Language Processing

and Builds Vocabulary
Have students read the following article and provide a synopsis:
Weisleder, A., & Fernald, A. (2013). Talking to children matters: Early language experience
strengthens processing and builds vocabulary. Psychological Science, 24(11), 2143–
2152.
https://web.stanford.edu/group/langlearninglab/cgi-bin/WeislederFernald2013.pdf
How can the results of this study be applied in the home, school, and day care environments to
promote language development in young children? Have students compile their
recommendations in a short (two- to three-page) paper. This may also be used as an in-class
writing assignment or class discussion.

Writing Assignment: Language Development and SES

Ask students to read and summarize the following article:
Fernald, A., Marchman, V. A., & Weisleder, A. (2012). SES differences in language
processing skill and vocabulary are evident at 18 months. Developmental Science,
16(2): 234–48.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3582035/
Ask students to consider how results from this study could be applied to language development
in early childhood. How can we use the results from this study to shape public policy, child care,
and early childhood education centers? Have students compile their recommendations in a
short (two- to three-page) paper. This may also be used as an in-class writing assignment or
class discussion.

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Invite an Infant or Toddler to Class to Demonstrate Language Development
Invite an infant or toddler to class to demonstrate typical language development during this
period. Of course, the primary caregiver should accompany the child. Ask the caregiver to
engage the child in conversation. Ask students to note the features of the conversation and the
features of the language the child uses. Ask the caregiver about the child’s typical language
patterns. What are the most common words the child uses? Does the child use holophrases?
Does the caregiver recast the child’s speech? Ask students to come prepared with at least two
questions for the caregiver.

Thinking About the Whole Child: Observing Cognitive Development in Infants

What changes in cognitive skills should you look for in a visit to a child care center, play groups
for children, or babies in their home environment? Piaget’s sensorimotor achievements are
relatively easy to observe, and you can perform simple tests, such as variations on the object
permanence test, if you are able to interact with the infants. You can also observe what kinds of
stimuli attract infants’ attention, and how their ability to sustain attention to an activity or object
increases over time. To test explicit memory, you can bring along objects and demonstrate two
or three novel actions with them. A half-hour later (or better yet, the next day), bring the
materials back to see if the infant tries to imitate what you did.
Language skills are somewhat harder to observe, but you might start by recording the
sounds or speech of the infant, so that you can listen to it carefully later. You should be able to
identify cooing and babbling, as well as the use of specific words and word combinations,
depending on the age and level of development of the child. It is more difficult to assess
language comprehension, as there are many contextual cues infants might use to interpret what
other people say.

Class Field Trip: Visit a Child Care Center to Observe Cognitive Development
If your campus has a child care or child development center, arrange a field trip to observe child
cognitive development. While at the center, ask students to observe children as they
demonstrate aspects of cognitive development, including memory, problem solving, and
language skills. Have students link their observations to the information presented in the text.
This may be used as an in-class writing assignment or class discussion. Suggestions about
what to look for during an observation are provided in Thinking About the Whole Child:
Observing Cognitive Development in Infants.

Innovative Ideas References

Fernald, A., Marchman, V. A., & Weisleder, A. (2012). SES differences in language processing
skill and vocabulary are evident at 18 months. Developmental Science, 16(2): 234–48.

Jankovsky, E. (2013, Mar. 4). Discoveries of infancy—Cognitive development and learning part
1. [Video file.] Retrieved from: https://youtu.be/1UgID3g-YQE.

Jankovsky, E. (2013, Mar. 4). Discoveries of infancy—Cognitive development and learning part
2. [Video file.] Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jOO6tZAijA.

Weisleder, A., & Fernald, A. (2013). Talking to children matters: Early language experience
strengthens processing and builds vocabulary. Psychological Science, 24(11), 2143–2152.

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