How does the environment affect infant and toddler's learning and communication? Pick an age in infancy and toddlerhood and describe how that infant or toddler that age would communicate

Cd Cognitive Development

As much as we internalize claims and theories about cognitive development in infancy and toddlerhood, the focus remains to be the environment or rather the immediate surroundings of the infants and toddlers. The environmental surrounding will adversely affect the learning and communication of infants and toddlers. Even though Jean Piaget ignored the influence of society and culture on the child’s development, Lev Vygotsky (1896–1934), a renowned researcher, brought the idea of environmental factors affecting the development of infants. Vygotsky argued that infants and toddlers are more of apprentices in the sense that they learn through their immediate social and cultural environment. A child memorizes and imitates words that they learn from others and learns to internalize these terms (Berger, 2004). Infants and toddlers are also more observant in the sense that they observe and master the actions of their immediate environment.

Different age categories in infancy and toddlerhood have unique actions of infants and toddlers. An infant at the age of 4 months has pretty good head control while sitting supported, and they can hold their head and chest upright while lying on their stomach. They also can kick and push with their feet. At this age, the infant begins to babble and try to copy sounds that they hear from either their caregivers or parents and guardians. The child cries in different ways to indicate hunger or tiredness. They'll use their voice to experiment on sounds like 'aah-go' and even try to copy the tonal variations they hear from their parents. Infants at this age would make eye contact whenever they hear adults speak. These unusual behaviours connect to Piaget's theory which argued that infants tend to adjust responses accordingly as reflexes get replaced by voluntary movements. In conclusion, Piaget's claims on infant cognitive development are majorly seen at this age where the infant would try to reach for a toy with one hand.