EARLY CHILD HOOD

Early Child Hood Programme Assignment

Early Child Hood Programme Assignment

Introduction

We often hear about the “terrible twos.” Maybe two-year-olds got that reputation because they get around very fast and insist on doing things their own way. They get upset easily and don't want to change their minds once they start to do something.Quality care means developmental care that helps children develop both their minds and bodies in a safe and healthy place. In child care, it is not enough to see that children are fed, clean, and safe from harm. This custodial care meets only the child's basic needs for health and safety. Developmental care tries to meet all the needs of the growing child for love, guidance, and learning (Berger, 2009).

Discussion

By the time children are 24 months old, they should be able to understand many of the words that are said to them every day. They usually say about 50 words, and some children can put two words together to make a little sentence. One child may talk better than another but; most children catch up quickly when they have caring adults who help. Twos talk about the things they sense- the things they hear, see, smell, taste, or touch- so teachers should talk about these things with them. Name people, things, and actions for Twos; Talk about what their senses tell them (Caselman, 2007). Talk about the things that are part of their own world so that they will understand what you are talking about. Toddlers use the few words they say in many ways. They will use one word to mean a whole sentence. For example, a child may say “apple” to mean “there is an apple,” or “I want an apple.” One can figure out what Twos mean to say by closely watching what is going on in their world. Listen closely whenever they talk, and figure out what they mean. Then you can help them learn to say more by adding the rest of the words to their sentences (Neuman, 2006). There are numerous theories about language acquisition, and they include 2 main schools of thought:

Nature- These theorists propose that we are pre-wired for language learning. It is part of our human “nature”

Nurture- These theorists propose that language is an entirely learned behavior.

A compromise between “nature” and “nurture” is the “Integrationist” approach which recognizes that many factors influence language development. There are 3 well known theories in this category:

developmental cognitive theory

information processing model

social interaction.

The Interactionist perspective contends that children acquire language through their attempts to communicate with the world around them; this perspective contributes to our understanding of the ways in which children acquire pragmatic language knowledge (Otto, 2010). The role of adults in the communication process is crucial in supporting children's language development; because the child is a novice communicator, an adult in the conversational dyad serves as the expert who often creates conditions that make for effective communication (Bruner, 1990; Vygotsky, 1978).

Toddlers are curious about ...