Preschoolers

 

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So many things to learn in such a short amount of time.

Preschoolers are quick learners. And they have a quite a wide range of skills they are trying to master. They can name four colors, can count to four, and can hop on one foot four times. They are not very good at sharing but they are better than they were.

It’s fascinating to see children develop a sense of who they are and what they can do. And somehow they obtain a mind. If you cut your finger, your nose or your toes, you describe it as MY finger, My nose and My toes. We explore where this sense of Me-My comes from.

Here’s what is included in this lesson:

• Theory of Mind
• False Belief Task
• Language Development
• Autism

Mind Map

Notes

• Theory of Mind
  • Understanding:
    • Your internal states
    • Others internal states
    • You & others might differ
  • Mental states
    • Beliefs
    • Intents
    • Knowledge
    • Mental skills
    • Pretending
• Mind
  • Not directly observable
    • Inferred
    • Experienced
      • Feel like mind & body differ
  • Assume
    • Others are like us
    • I think this way
    • Everyone thinks this way
  • Useful
    • Predict what others will do
    • Empathy (how others feel)
• False-Belief Task
  • Also called “Sally-Anne” task
  • 2 dolls
    • Sally has a basket
    • Anne has a box
  • Scene
    • Sally puts marble in basket
    • Leaves room
    • Anne takes marble, puts in box
    • Sally returns
    • Must predict behavior based on what Sally knows
      • different from what child knows
  • Basket  4+ years
  • Box  3 years or autistic
• Appearance-Reality
  • “Smarties” task
  • Box of candy but holds pencils
  • What will John say is in it?
    • Pencils
• Relational Frame Theory
  • Learn to discriminate relation
  • Multiple cues
    • Self, others, place and time
  • Verbally respond
  • More complex combos of simple
  • Based on Skinner
    • Appropriate responses rewarded
    • No higher cognitive functions
    • Operant conditioning
• Cognitive Theories
  • Direct matching hypothesis
    • Elicits similar emotion in you
    • Then you infer the meaning
  • Inverse modeling hypothesis
    • Simulates intended goal
    • Infer intention
  • Response Modeling
    • Prepare a complementary action
    • What do you have to do analysis
    • That are they likely to do
    • What will I do next
  • Simulation theory
    • Imagine how you would react
    • Create a mental representation
    • Pretend
• Interaction Theory
  • Very little cognitive processing
  • Minds of others are directly perceived
    • Second-person perspective
    • Not theoretical 3rd person
  • Process
    • Perceive actions, infer meaning
    • Intended meaning is apparent upon perception
    • Mental states like “beliefs” and “desires” are unnecessary
  • Example
    • See angry face
    • Immediate response
    • Difficult to tell if
    • Process quickly or directly
  • How it works
    • Mirror Neurons
    • Neural circuits that response to watching what others do
    • Take time to develop
• Brain Development
  • Brain metabolism
  • Maxs out at 4
  • More synaptic connections than needed
  • Synaptic pruning follows
  • By age 8 – 10
    • Plasticity reduced to adult level
• Lateralization of hemispheres
  • Develop at different rates
  • Left hemisphere
    • 3-6 years, develops quickly
    • 6+ years, levels off
  • Right hemisphere
    • Slow development
    • 8-10, sudden burst
• Body Growth
  • In general
    • Child gradually becomes thinner
    • Grows 2-3 inches per year
    • Gains 4-5 lbs per year
  • All 20 primary teeth by age 3
  • Vision is 20/20 by age 4
  • Posture & balance improve
  • Sleeps 11-13 hrs per night
    • usually without a nap
• Language Development
  • 3-year-olds:
    • Use pronouns & prepositions
    • Three-word sentences
    • Plural words
  • 4-year-olds:
    • Understand size relationships
    • Follow a three-step command
    • Enjoy rhymes & word play
    • Name four colors
    • Count to four
  • 5-year-olds:
    • Understand time (somewhat)
    • Respond to “why” questions
    • Know telephone number
    • Count to 10
  • Stuttering
    • Common in 3-4 year olds
    • Ideas come faster than words
    • Keep frustration low
    • Listen to what they say
    • Ignore stutter
    • Consult speech therapist in 6 mo
• Gross Motor Skills
  • Center of gravity shifts downward (Cephalocaudal trend)
    • Balance improves
    • Motor skills improve
  • Catching changes with age
    • 2 yrs old, catch with arms-chest
    • 3 yrs old, catch with hands-chest
    • 6 yrs old, catch with hands
    • Small balls too
  • Motor skills can’t be taught
    • Except throwing
    • 2-Yr Olds
      • Throw ball overhand (body still)
      • Kick large ball forward
      • Jump 12 inches
      • Stead gait
      • Can’t turn smoothly
      • Can’t stop suddenly
    • 3-Yr Olds
      • “Basket-catch” a ball (use body)
      • Balance on 1 foot for 1 sec
      • Broad jump 15-24 inches
      • Pedal a tricycle
      • Hop 3 times
    • 4-Yr Olds
      • Broad jump 24-34 inches
      • Catch a bounced ball
      • Hop 4 times
      • Gallop
    • 5-Yr Olds
      • Run, Turn, Stop & Skip smoothly
      • Descend stairs alternating feet
      • Hop across the room (16 feet)
      • Broad jump 28-36 inches
      • Catch a ball (hands only)
      • Walk a balance beam
      • Jump 1 foot high
• Fine Motor Skills
  • 2-Yr Olds
    • Put on clothes (no snaps or buttons)
    • Build tower of 6-8 blocks
    • Hold a glass in one hand
    • Turn pages of a book
    • Scribble
  • 3-Yr Olds
    • Pour from a pitcher
    • Draw a straight line
    • Eat with a spoon
    • Copy a circle
    • Smear paint
    • Draw person with three parts
    • Use blunt-nose scissors
    • Self-dressing (mostly)
  • 4-Yr Olds
    • Cut on a line with scissors
    • Make block buildings
    • Make letters (crudely)
    • Self-dressing (not buttons)
    • Each with spoon & fork
    • Draw a square
  • 5-Yr Olds
    • Button & zip clothes
    • Copy squares
    • String beads
    • Tie shoelaces (sort of)
    • Spreading with knife
    • Draw a triangle
  • 6-Yr Olds
    • Still be somewhat uncoordinated
    • Might learn to ride a bicycle
    • Can move in time w/ music
    • Tie shoe laces
    • Has difficulty making choices
    • Friendships are unstable
    • Needs to win
    • Change rules to suit them
    • More independent
    • Feel less secure
    • Craves affection from parents & teachers
• Autism (again)
  • Seem to lack theory of mind
  • Still operate like young children
  • Possible factors
  • Small head size
  • Extra-rapid brain growth in 1st yr
• Deficits of Mind
  • Autism spectrum disorders
  • Schizophrenia
  • ADHD
  • Sleep-deprived
  • Severe emotional pain
  • Mind-blindness: can’t see things from another perspective
• Mind before 3?
  • Difficult to assess
  • Pre-linguistic
  • Use preferential looking
    • looking time is DV
    • 9-month-old infants
    • prefer behaviors by human hand over hand-like object
• Non-Humans?
  • An open question
  • Non linguistic
  • Lack of naturalistic observations
• Best Summary
  • Theory of mind as a continuum

Terms

• academic programs = series of educational classes (program)
• ADHD
• animistic thinking = Piaget’s preoperational stage, dolls have feelings too
• appearance-reality
• autism
• autism spectrum disorders
• basket-catching
• beliefs
• body development
• brain development
• brain metabolism
• cardinality = learn ordinality first (greater than), learn last number limits set
• centration = Piaget’s preoperational stage, focus on one aspect only
• cephalocaudal trend
• cerebellum = coordinates motor control, balance
• child-centered programs = education focused on needs of children
• cognitive processing
• cognitive theories
• conservation = Piaget, develops in concrete stage, volume is constant but cup shape can change
• corpus callosum = major neural connection between brain hemispheres
• deficits of mind
• direct perception
• direct-matching hypothesis
• dominant cerebral hemisphere = left for language, right for spatial tasks
• dual representation = Piaget, acquired with age, able to use symbol and what it means
• egocentrism = Piaget, child sees only own perspective
• emergent literacy = what kids know about reading before they can read (vocabulary, sounds)
• empathy
• expansions = expanding of what child says, increasing complexity of conversation
• false-belief task
• fast-mapping = learning concepts based on only a few data points
• fine motor skills
• gross motor skills
• growth hormone (GH) = secreted by pituitary, helps regulate growth
• guided participation = Vygotsky, exploration within limits, help when needed
• hierarchical classification = Piaget, concrete thinking structures
• hippocampus = consolidates STM into LRM, needed for encoding, not retrieval
• immediate response
• intents
• interaction theory
• internal states
• inverse modeling hypothesis
• irreversibility = Piaget, preoperational stage, don’t know objects taken apart and be put together
• knowledge
• language development
• lateralization of hemispheres
• memory strategies = methods to increase recall, usually increase encoding efficiency
• mental representation
• mental skills
• mental states
• metacognition = knowing what you know, awareness of own cognitive processes
• mind
• mind-blindness
• mirror neurons
• naturalistic observation
• ordinality = Piaget, learn greater than relationsips
• overregularization = apply grammar rules in all cases; I holded the rabbit
• phonological awareness = knowing letter sounds
• pituitary gland = regulated by hypothalamus
• plasticity
• pragmatics = how context impacts word meanings
• preferential looking
• pre-linguistic
• preoperational stage = Piaget, ages 2-6, no conservation or logical thought
• pretend
• private speech = Vygotsky, self-guidance, talk to self when solving problem
• Project Head Start = summer program for preschoolers, started in 1965
• psychosocial dwarfism = extreme deprivation cause low levels of growth hormone, failure to thrive
• recasts = correcting language errors without stopping conversation, what kind of food do you want?
• relational frame theory
• response modeling
• reticular formation = brain stem, regulates awake-sleep
• Sally-Anne task
• scaffolding = Bruner’s addition to Vygotsky, we learn by building on previous knowledge
• schizophrenia
• scripts = common social interactions you can predict. Hello, hello; How are you, fine how are you
• second-person perspective
• simulation theory
• sleep-deprived
• Smarties task
• sociodramatic play = acting out scenes, using puppets, props, telling a story
• stuttering
• synaptic pruning
• theory of mind
• third-person perspective
• thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) = released by pituitary, regulates thyroid

Quiz

• 1. Ironically, 6 year olds become more independent but less ________.
  • a.       lateralized
  • b.       talkative
  • c.        secure
  • d.       reliant
• 2. Which allows us to learn by watching what others do:
  • a.       oligodendrocytes
  • b.       mirror neurons
  • c.        cerebellum
  • d.       attachment
• 3. Which gross motor skill can be taught:
  • a.       holding a glass in one hand
  • b.       closing snaps
  • c.        throwing
  • d.       walking
• 4. Which technique is used to test pre-linguistic children?
  • a.       preferential looking
  • b.       sleep deprivation
  • c.        false belief task
  • d.       diaries
•  5. 4-year-olds are able to:
  • a.       hop on one foot four times
  •  b.       name four colors
  •  c.        count to four
  •  d.       all of the above

Answers

• 1. Ironically, 6 year olds become more independent but less ________.
  • a.       lateralized
  • b.       talkative
  • c.        secure
  • d.       reliant
• 2. Which allows us to learn by watching what others do:
  • a.       oligodendrocytes
  • b.       mirror neurons
  • c.        cerebellum
  • d.       attachment
• 3. Which gross motor skill can be taught:
  • a.       holding a glass in one hand
  • b.       closing snaps
  • c.        throwing
  • d.       walking
• 4. Which technique is used to test pre-linguistic children?
  • a.       preferential looking
  • b.       sleep deprivation
  • c.        false belief task
  • d.       diaries
•  5. 4-year-olds are able to
  • a.       hop on one foot four times
  •  b.       name four colors
  •  c.        count to four
  • d.       all of the above

Summary

Bonus

Photo credit

Photo by Rusty Watson on Unsplash