An article in the Guardian reported on a study in the US which showed babies could make social judgements as young as at 6 to 10 months old.
The study, which took place at Yale University's Infant Cognition Centre, involved infants watching googly eyed toys climbing a hill and another similar toy coming to help it or push it backwards. They then were presented with the toys to see which one they chose to play with.
The article revealed that almost all the babies chose the helpful toy over the other one, which also was the case when presented with a neutral toy as well.
The author of the report, Kiley Hamlin, was quoted and said, "It's incredibly impressive that babies can do this. It shows we have these essential social skills without much explicit teaching."
It was suggested in the article that the research follows a school of thought that social abilities are innate. However, psychology professor at Florida Atlantic University, David LewKowicz, was quoted as disputing such a claim.
"Infants acquire a great deal of social experience between birth and 6 months of age and thus the assumption that this kind of capacity does not require experience is simply unwarranted."
The research was printed in the journal Nature. www.nature.com
(Guardian, 21.11.07)
Research has shown that toys do not provide babies with long-term benefits. According to a report on the BBC website, the study from the Institute of Education showed that toys link to children's development at the time, but they had no impact on long-term effects.
It was noted that mothers playing and talking with their children was far more important and had a greater effect for those mothers with little education.
The BBC quoted the report's lead author, Dr Leslie Gutman, who highlighted that although toys and books have an effect on children's social development and physical co-ordination, there was no impact 12 months later.
Dr Gutman said, "Toys and books have their place and do help children develop but what is important is having the parents interact with the child. To have parents read to their children is much more important than having a hundred books."
The BBC reported that the research revealed children who were taken out by their mothers showed significantly better social skills and motor development. In addition more interaction was reported amongst mothers with better education and higher incomes.
However it highlighted that the effect of income levels was small, and reduced as the child got older.The report was based on data since 1991 on thousands of children in the Avon area.
(BBC website, 27.04.07)
To download the full report visit www.learningbenefits.net/Publications/
Nursery World has reported that researchers have
devised new tests that spot potential problems with young
children’s language development. Pyschologist Dr Penny
Roy and co-researcher linguist Professor Shula Chait from
City University, London came up with the tests, which assessed
children’s ability to process language and their social
and cognitive skills.
The article quoted Dr Roy as saying that the study's aims
were to identify early on children who would have long-term
problems, as more than half of children referred to speech
and language therapists usually resolve difficulties naturally
by the time they start school. She said: “Children who
are referred get broad language assessments, which only tell
you about language development. We came to it from a different
angle, by looking at the skills that underpin language.”
The study was reported as involving 200 children, and one
test assessed their ability to recognise sounds as words,
by asking children to repeat a mixture of real and made up
words. Another test assessed meaning and if children were
unable to do this, it could indicate problems with social
and communication skills.
(Nursery World, 08.03.07)
A major investigation by the Work Foundation into the economic
and social impact of parenting for under fives argues that
there is a compelling economic case for significant expansion
in the government’s Sure Start programme to help parents
become better parents.
Its report, 0-5: How Small Children Make a Big Difference,
says many of society’s intractable social problems,
including crime, drugs misuse and unemployment, are rooted
in the experiences of children during their first five years
of life. It recommends that parenting support and day care
should be available for up to half the population with young
children.
(Guardian, 24.01.07)
To download the full report visit www.theworkfoundation.com/products/publications/
Parents who invest in toy computers and other electronic
games marketed as boosting learning for babies and pre-schoolers
could save their money and help their children to learn themselves,
according to new research.
A government-funded study examining the role of technology
in the lives of three- and four-year-old children and their
families found that the hi-tech devices - one of the fastest
growing sectors of the toy market, aimed at infants as young
as nine months - are no more effective than traditional ways
of introducing basic literacy and number skills.
Toy laptops and mobile phones were of greater value to young
people as an aid to imaginative play such as pretending to
make phone calls than in teaching specific skills, researchers
at the University of Stirling concluded after tracking families
for 15 months.
Youngsters also gained an understanding of the social role
of technology simply by watching their parents use computers,
digital cameras and mobile phones for work and leisure - far
outstripping the benefits of using computers for unrealistic
exercises and games while at nursery.
The study, which examined 24 families of varying social backgrounds
in detail and analysed written responses from 346 families
in total, found parents were universally keen to prepare their
children not only for school but also for the world of work,
but felt unsure whether to buy them electronic toys billed
as supporting both play and learning.
Toy retailers heavily promote the educational benefits of
toys for small children, with the expansion for the electronic
learning market boosting sales for the birth to three age
group by 9% over the last year to £666m - one of the biggest
growth rates in the toy sector..
Linda Plowman, professor of education at Stirling University,
said parents interviewed experienced 'a lot of anxiety' about
the role of new technology, and felt under pressure from manufacturers
to buy educational electronic toys such as Leappads and games
consoles. Professor Plowman.said such toys were neither harmful
nor 'particularly beneficial'. She said: "I don't think there
is any problem about children having these toys at home, but
in terms of basic literacy and number skills I don't think
they are more efficient than the more traditional approaches."
(By Lucy Ward, The Guardian, 14.11.06)
Parents who engage in the age-old tradition of picture book
reading are not only encouraging early reading development
in their children but are also teaching their toddlers about
the world around them, according to a study in the November
issue of Developmental Psychology, published by the American
Psychological Association (APA). This finding shows that interactions
with lifelike colour pictures can aid in children's learning.
Parents of preschool children reported that they own dozens
of children's picture books and spend approximately 40 minutes
a day reading books to their small children. To determine
the extent of a young child's ability to learn from a picture
book, psychologist Gabrielle Simcock, PhD, University of Queensland,
and co-author and psychologist Judy DeLoache, PhD, University
of Virginia, tested if toddlers could imitate specific target
actions on novel real-world objects on the basis of a picture
book interaction.
A total of 132 children from three different age groups (18
months, 24 months and 30 months) participated in two studies
to determine if age influenced a toddler's ability to learn
how to construct a simple rattle from a picture-book reading.
In the first study, two groups of children ages 18, 24 and
30-months, were given one of two picture books. One contained
six colour photographs and the other contained coloured pencil
drawings that were reproductions of the photograph. At the
end of the reading, the children were asked to construct a
rattle using the items in front of them. The study revealed
that many of the children were able to imitate the actions
depicted and described in the book.
"This research shows that very young children can learn to
perform novel actions with novel objects from a brief picture
book reading interaction. This common form of interaction
that takes place very early in children's lives, may provide
an important source of information to them about the world
around them," said lead author, Gabrielle Simcock.
The iconicity (similarity between the actual object and the
likeness presented in the book) of the pictures in the books
had the most influence on the youngest children's reenactment.
The 18-month toddlers were less able to follow the directions
given in the book containing coloured-pencil drawings than
when they were when given directions from the books containing
life-like colour photographs. Due to the age-related difference
in the reenactment with the two versions of the picture book,
Simcock and DeLoache selected a new group of 24 and 30-month
old toddlers to study their reactions to black and white line
drawings of the same picture book.
The second study showed that the second group of toddlers
performed relatively poorly when given the black and white
images compared to the first group of toddlers who were given
colour photographs, proving that children are more influenced
by iconic images. "The results expand our understanding of
the development of pictorial competence in the second year
of life and point to an interaction between symbolic and general
representational capacities in the performance of very young
children," said Simcock.
The full text of the article is available at www.apa.org/journals/releases/dev4261352.pdf
(APA Press Release, 30.10.06)
A new study suggests that educational television programmes
are successful in broadening young children's knowledge, affecting
their racial attitudes and increasing their imaginations,
according to a study published in the November issue of Pediatrics,
the official journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Researchers Dimitri A Christakis, Michelle M Garrison, and
Rupin R Thakkar, of the Child Health Institute, conducted
a systematic literature search and identified a total of 376
articles dealing with children and television. Of these, 12
met the criteria of being a controlled trial. The 12 studies
were conducted between 1973 and 2000 and focused specifically
on television content viewed by children under age 6 and its
impact on learning, racial preference, aggression, pro-social
behavior, self-regulation and imagination. None of these studies
looked at infant television viewing or examined the content
of videos designed for children.
"The bottom line is that content is key - high-quality educational
programming can have a positive effect on children under age
6," said Dr Dimitri Christakis, a pediatrician at Children's
Hospital and Regional Medical Center in Seattle. "However,
much more research is needed. It was disappointing that there
are so few rigorous controlled trials of something that is
so important and so prevalent."
The research found that there is evidence to suggest that
educational television programs, such as Sesame Street and
Mister Rogers, can aid in the acquisition of general knowledge
plus improve overall cognitive knowledge among young children.
There is also evidence in the literature that children's imaginative
play can be positively affected by television content. Furthermore,
there is evidence that educational television programming
that emphasises diversity can improve children's racial attitudes.
On the negative side, there is evidence that television viewing
can increase a child's display of aggression. Children who
watch aggressive programmes and cartoons with lots of violence
can be more likely to engage in aggressive behavior than those
that do not.
"This is a good start, but more research is needed on the
impact of television viewing and content on infants and young
children. Especially as the infant video and cable television
markets are exploding, we should be carefully monitoring whether
or not these products meet their claims to improve a child's
intelligence, language acquisition and pro-social behaviors,"
said Christakis. "At this point, we should continue to be
cautious about the amount and type of television we let our
kids watch."
The study's researchers also stress the importance of AAP
recommendations that parents avoid letting their children
under age 2 watch television and that parents exert caution
- such as setting limits on TV viewing, helping children develop
media literacy skills to question, analyse and evaluate TV
messages, and taking an active role in their children's TV
viewing - for children over age 2.
The study be viewed at http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/reprint/118/5/2025
(PR Newswire, 06.11.06)
A Children in Wales survey of parents' concerns about their
children and where they turn for advice on parenting reveals
that most rely on informal networks of friends and family
for support rather than more formal services. However, they
may welcome formal parenting programmes if there was more
information about availability and these were accessible in
the local community. Making programmes available to all parents
helps remove the stigma associated with parenting classes,
where they can be seen as being useful only for problem families.
For more information go to www.childreninwales.org.uk
(Children Now, 5-11.06.07)
Children under two years old who blow bubbles and lick their
lips are most likely to find talking easy, says a study. Psychologists
at Lancaster University say they have identified a strong
link between such mouth movements and a child's language ability.
They say their research may be useful for parents worried
about their child's speech development, because teaching a
child to lick his or her lips and blow bubbles may advance
their ability to articulate words.
The study looked at more than 120 children aged 21 months
- the time when children are learning new words at a faster
rate than at any other stage of their life. Those who were
good at imaginative play were also better at talking.
(Sarah Womack, Social Affairs Correspondent,
The Telegraph, 23.06.06)
To download a summary or the full report visit www.esrcsocietytoday.ac.uk/ESRCInfoCentre/ViewAwardPage.aspx?AwardId=3228
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