Tutoring Tots

1. Tutoring Tots By Stephanie Erickson, Fernel Vasquez, Maddie Wiese, Amy Schield, Julie Perez, Shawna Burke

2. Group Objective Our goal was to work with children on techniques to help aid in their cognitive skills.  After observing the students, we applied our own techniques that we have learned from researching cognitive processes, memory, attention, language development, the Abecedarian Project, and child play to help them learn. We then observed the children to see if there were any changes

3. Enhancing Brain Development and Cognitive Skills in Infants and Toddlers

5. Developmental Sequence • Age 2 • Dependent on adult guidance • Refers to self by name • Socially very immature, has little concept of others as “people” • Self-centered • Beginning a sense of personal identity and belonging • Enjoys physical affection • More responsive to humor and distraction than discipline or reason • Vocabulary of about 272 words • Can say phrases and simple sentences • Understands simple directions • Likes to look at books and can identify simple pictures • Short attention span

6. Developmental Sequence • Age 3 • Likes to conform • Easy-going attitude • More secure • Great sense of personal identity • Beginning to be adventuresome • Enjoys being with others • Enjoys brief group activities requiring no skill • Like’s to “help” in small ways • Responds to verbal guidance • Vocabulary of about 896 words • Tells simple stories and says short sentences • Enjoys music

7. Developmental Sequences • Age 4 • Seems self-assured • Tests their boundaries, needs controlled freedom • Cooperative play • Enjoys other children’s company • Highly social • Talkative and versatile • Vocabulary of up to 1,540 words • Asks endless questions • Learning to generalize • Highly imaginative • Dramatic • Can draw recognizable simple objects

8. Developmental Services • Age5 • Self-assured • Capable of some self-criticism • Enjoys responsibility • Likes to follow the rules • Highly cooperative play • Has special “friends” • “School” • Feels pride in clothes and accomplishments • Eager to carry out some responsibility • Vocabulary of 2,072 words • Tells long tales • Carries out direction well • Can read own name • Counts to ten—English and Spanish • Knows colors • Asks meaning of words • Beginning to know difference between fact and fiction—lying

9. Stimulating Brain Growth • Encourage playing with blocks and soft toys • Helps to develop hand-eye coordination, fine-motor skills and a sense of competence • Give consistent warm, physical contact including hugging and body-to-body contact • Establish toddler’s sense of security and well-being • Be attentive to child’s rhythms and moods • Be supportive and encouraging, with firm discipline as appropriate, but without yelling or hitting • Provide consistent guidelines

10. Stimulating Brain Growth Continued • Experiences that provide a sense of discovery in the use of tools, cause and effect, object permanence, understanding space, imitation and learning schemas allow children to engage in opportunities to develop cognitive skills • Programs should include • A secure environment that provides both challenges and predictability • Opportunities for independent exploration • A flexible approach which accommodates spontaneity and allows toddlers to try to do things for themselves • Planning everyday play activities which encourage trial and error, manipulation and repetition will further support cognitive development. • Learning through the process of discovery, exploration, and repetition enables infants and toddlers to make sense of the world around them • The accumulation of this knowledge develops their cognitive skills and confidence, leading to a clear sense of identity about who they are and what they are capable of doing

11. Memory

12. Memory • Preschool children remember what they do through concrete experiences, they can use language effectively, recognize familiar people, places and objects, and understand a wide range of concepts • They are better at reconstructing than recalling • They are very good at remembering poems, stories, and songs

13. Memory Continued • Can hold in mind a whole sequence of spatial maps and know where things are in their environment and they are also able to hold two emotions in their mind at once • Mnemonics are good memory techniques such as acronyms-ROYGBIV which stands for the colors of the rainbow red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet • Other things that help child’s memory are finger plays, story time, and free play • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmRSGvmlMDg

14. Attention

15. Attention • Age Group: 18 months – 3 years • How they signal attention • Day to Day Experiences • How we can help

16. Language Development

17. Language Development • Language development begins at birth through: • reading books • telling stories • singing songs • talking

18. Language Development Continued Joint Attention & Early Language • 1st Study • Interaction between mothers and their children • Involved 24 children • Between the ages of 15 and 21 months • ½ inside and ½ outside • Outcome breakdown: Inside group showed more speech development due to less distraction and more involvement • 2ndStudy • Involved mother and children that were videotaped at home for 6 months • Given certain toys • The amount of time the mothers and children spent together was related to the child’s vocabulary • Outcome breakdown: The more time interacting with kids the more language is learned

19. Abecedarian Project

20. The Abecedarian Project • The Carolina Abecedarian Project was a controlled experiment that was conducted in 1972 in North Carolina by the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute to study the potential benefits of early childhood education for poor children to enhance school readiness

21. Abecedarian Project Continued • It has been found that in their earliest school years, poor children lag behind others, suggesting the fact that they were ill-prepared for schooling. The Abecedarian project was inspired by the fact that few other early childhood programs could provide a sufficiently well-controlled environment to determine the effectiveness of early childhood training. • Individuals, born between 1972 and 1977, were randomly assigned as infants to either the early educational intervention group or the control group

22. Abecedarian Project Continued • 111 infants born between 1972 and 1977 participated in this project, 57 of which were given high-quality childcare while another 54 acted as a control group. 98% of the children who participated in this experiment were African American, with the average age of participants being 4.4 months upon participation. Whereas other childhood programs commenced from 2 years old onwards, the Abecedarian Project started from infancy and continued for a period of 5 years, a period longer than most other programs. The participants received child care for 6 - 8 hours a day, five days a week. Educational activities were game-based, and emphasized on language. The control group was provided with nutritional supplements, social work services and medical care to ensure that these factors do not affect the outcomes of the experiment

23. Abecedarian Project Continued • Children from low-income families received full-time, high-quality educational intervention in a childcare setting from infancy through age 5 • Each child had an individualized prescription of educational activities • Educational activities consisted of "games" incorporated into the child's day

24. Abecedarian Project Continued • Activities focused on social, emotional, and cognitive areas of development but gave particular emphasis to language. • Children's progress was monitored over time with follow-up studies conducted at ages 12, 15, and 21 • The young adult findings demonstrate that important, long-lasting benefits were associated with the early childhood program

25. Abecedarian Project Continued • The significant findings were: • Higher Cognitive test scores due to enhanced language development • Higher academic achievement in both reading and math • Higher IQ than peers at all follow-up exams • They were more likely to attend college • They were also more likely to hold off on having children until they were older

26. Abecedarian Project Continued • Cognitive Development • The experiments provide data in three developmental areas • Instrumental learning • Visual and manipulatory exploration • Vocal and communication skills • These studies are aimed to discovering on how an infant can be helped to learn that he can control what happens around him. This principle is thought to be particularly crucial among high risk children, many of whom develop a belief early in life that they are helpless to change their situation

27. Child Play

28. Child Play • Play is crucial to the normal development of the child • Expands their understanding of themselves and others, their knowledge of the physical world, and their ability to communicate with peers • Major tool for facilitating children's mental development

29. Child Play Continued • Enhances every aspect of children’s development and learning • Develops cognitive, physical, social, and emotional well-being • Improves academic functioning • Higher level of competence

30. Child Play Continued • Children’s play gets more advanced as their cognitive skills develop • Different types of play: • Sensory Motor • Pretend Play • Games

31. Piaget’s Tests Conservation Concept Conservation of Solid Quantity Conservation of Liquid Conservation Object Permanence

32. Piaget’s Stages Pretend Play Games

33. Toys that will Make your Child “Smarter”

34. Children with Mental Illness

35. Children with Mental Illness • All aspects of development and learning are affected • Hinders cognitive, emotional, and social well-being • Impedes with academics

36. Children with Mental Illness Continued • Starts school with no significant difference between peers • As get older, cognitive skills do not develop as quickly • Fall further and further behind in school

37. Children with Mental Illness Continued • Studies show caused by: • Low socio-economic class • Education of parents • Behavioral problems • Motivation

38. Future Directions • Try to make sure that teachers teach to all of the children • Try creative ways to help children learn • Try to stop the gap before it gets too big • Interact with children at a young age to develop skills • Keep in mind that children with a disadvantage are just as important as their peers

39. Questions for You to Think About…. • For those who have little brothers or sisters or are around little children, do you notice the difference in cognition? • Do you think we expect too much from children today? • What do you think can help minimize the differences of cognitive skills? • What do you think the implications of No Child Left Behind are?

40. Questions???

41. References • Estigarribia, B., & Clark, E.V. (2007). Getting and maintaining attention in talk to young children. Journal of Child Language, 34(4), 799-814. • Miller, S.A. (1999). Let me think about that. Scholastic Early Childhood Today, 13(7), 15-16. • Klossek, U. M.H., Russell, J., & Dickinson, A. (2008). The control of instrumental action following outcome devaluation in young children aged between 1 and 4 years. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 137(1), 39-51. • Robbins, J. (2005). Contexts, collaboration, and cultural tools: A socioculturalperspective on researching children’s thinking. Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, 6(2), 140-149. • Wang, X., Bernas, R., & Eberhard, P. (2005). Maternal teaching strategies in four cultural communites. Journal of Early Childhood Research, 3(3), 269-288. • Saarnia, David A. (1990). Schematic knowledge and memory in young children. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 13(4)431-446. • Gleitman, H. (1981). Psychology. New York: W.W. Norton and Company. • Ministry of Education (1996). Te Whaariki: He WhaarikiMatauranga mo o Mokopuna o Aotearoa. Learning Media: Wellington. • Newberger, J. (1997). New Brain Development Research – A wonderful Window of Opportunity to Build Public Support for Early Childhood Education. Young ChildrenVol 52 No. 4, 4-9. • The Far West Laboratory for Educational Research. (1991). Discovery of Infancy – Cognitive Development and Learning. California Department of Education: Sacramento, CA.