Learning - 1 to 2 years
During the first year of your baby's life the accent was on learning physical things: she learned to crawl, to stand up and possibly even to take a few steps. The ability to do these things brought with it a sense of physical achievement and a sense of independence. She was able to go and explore the world without having to wait for you to bring it to her.
© Jupiter
Your child will be struggling to express her thoughts and desires through speech and with her increasingly able brain she'll now see herself as a separate entity to you; she'll be aware of “self”. She'll probably be quite frustrated this year and you may notice that more tantrums occur during this period. She'll need a lot of affection, encouragement and support.
Learning and speech
This is one of the most important intellectual lessons that your child will ever master. Without it, many of the other learning skills are delayed and may even be prohibited. Learning to speak is almost an act of survival; a child quickly learns that she has to communicate to survive.
Early communication, as we have seen, is not with words; initially it's with cries. The first conversation is usually with smiles; later it may just be with a head movement. You may notice that your child just bobs her head to say thank you, and then a little later she may stand close to something that she wants and just shout for your attention. Once she has got it she will point to the object. These early lessons tell her that life will be a lot easier if she can communicate with the world around her in the language that is commonly used, that is, with words rather than gestures.
In learning to use words a child learns about the world around her and how people behave in it. Very often she will try to guess at the meaning of a word from the general sense of what is being said and the tone of voice that is used to say it. In discovering language, your child makes connections between sounds and what she understands about the nature of things that surround her.
When she first uses words she'll use them generically, and they'll have a much wider meaning for her than they do for an adult. For example, “Nana” (banana) may be her word for all fruit because that's the name she remembers first learning for a single fruit. However, with your help your child will learn the difference between a car and a lorry even though they both move on four wheels, and between a cat and a dog even though they are of similar size and shape and have tails.
Talk to your child, help him learn
Your child is learning the art of communication. For this to happen you must communicate with her. If she wants something, tell her that you understand what it is that she wants and give it to her, naming the object as you do so. Don't talk to her without looking at her. If she wants your attention stop whatever you are doing, turn to face her and listen. When your child first starts to learn language she learns it in broad strokes, so while she may not understand individual words, she very often gets the gist of the sentence. Give her lots of clues to help with this. In the evening when it's time for bed, start tidying up the playroom, ask her to help you to put the toys away, stack everything neatly in its place, then go to the door and say “It's time for bed now” and put your hand out for her. Although she may not yet understand the words, she'll have got the sense of them.
During the early stages of learning to talk, you can give your child a great deal of help in learning to understand language. Children love the sound of speech and they love your attention. Combine the two and talk to your child as often as you can. Make sure that while you are talking you are looking directly at your child and make eye contact. Slightly exaggerate your facial expressions and your gestures. Exaggerate the emphasis you put on words, the inflection and the tone of your voice. If you can, try to match your words with actions. For instance, “I think it is time for your bath” - go into the bathroom and start running the taps. “Let's comb your hair” - pick up the comb and start combing her hair.
Intellectual development between 1 to 2 years
12 months
Your baby likes looking at simple books with you and loves a joke - she will repeat anything that makes you laugh. She'll understand that she should hold up her arms when you dress her and knows the meaning of simple, frequently used words like shoe, bottle, bath. Your one-year-old may even say one or two intelligible words.
15 months
She will show you that she wants to brush her own hair. She'll know what kissing means and will give you a kiss if asked. She'll be very thrilled by any new skill and will want to help you with any household chores like dusting. Even though she doesn't understand individual words she can understand quite complex sentences.
18 months
When you are reading together she will point to things, like a dog, ball, cow. She will recognize a cow and say “Cow”. She'll know the different parts of her body: if you ask her where her foot is she will point to it, and to her hand, her nose, her mouth or her eyes. She'll know the difference between her nose and Mummy's nose. If you ask her to fetch something she will.
21 months
She will come to you, attract your attention, and take you to things that she is interested in or has a problem with. She'll love scribbling with a pencil. She'll begin to understand and obey simple requests and questions.
Two years
She likes her own company and will play happily on her own. Instead of just scribbling with a pencil she will make up and down strokes in imitation of writing. She knows the names of many familiar objects and toys and will use the words with meaning. Once she learns the meaning of a word she may repeat it continuously.
New Babycare
Copyright © 2009 Dorling Kindersley
Text copyright © 2009 Miriam Stoppard
Posted 30.06.2010
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