Sign language is something that is commonly used around the world to connect deaf individuals with individuals who can hear. Sadly, in Nicaragua, there was not always deaf education provided to help teach young children sign language. However, this did not stop the children there from learning how to communicate with the people around them.

Ann Senghas talks on this episode of Radiolabs about how these children developed a language to break the barriers they had once experienced. She evaluated the language they used for over 30 years, and even within this time, was able to witness how much the language changed. Language is something that is so important for development, and it is so impactful to witness how language can come to be even in adverse situations.

To listen to more click here!

Mikayla Clemens

Research Assistant, UConn KIDS

As addressed in previous posts, providing children time to go outside and play reaps benefits across multiple domains of a child’s development. It promotes gross motor development, allows kids to use their imagination and creative thinking skills while tackling social development milestones… the list is endless. However, when thinking from an educational standpoint, this idea of an outdoor classroom is not something that is new and has been seen 40,000 years ago!

Unfortunately, due to COVID-19’s sudden switch to online learning, a lot of classrooms have spent less time outside. This has created questions in the benefits of integrating nature into classrooms and whether this new style of education is beneficial or harmful to students. Today’s article brings to light the history behind outdoor classrooms; where we first saw examples of them, how they have changed, and what they look like now post pandemic.

To read more, click here!

Mikayla Clemens

Research Assistant, UConn KIDS

Good evening and welcome to Trivia Tuesday! This week’s question dives deeper into the brain…

True or false: during early years of development, children have neurons in their brain which strengthen when stimulated. The synapses that are not stimulated are often weakened and will not develop.

The answer to last week’s question is reflexive smiles and social smiles! Reflexive smiles start to occur as early as 2 weeks and are often in reaction to bodily functions such as gas or even reaching REM sleep. Social smiles start to appear around 6 weeks to 3 months. Babies will often start to smile at familiar faces at around 4 months and will eventually smile in certain situations at around their first birthday!

Tune in next Tuesday to find out the answer to this week’s question!

Picky eating can be hard to manage and often has a bad reputation, however, this does not necessarily mean it will impact a child’s development. It is common for toddlers to go through a period of picky eating while they are growing, which can be stressful for parents as it may worry them for problems in the future. According to a study, 300 children who identified as picky eaters during toddlerhood were compared to 900 other children that did not. It was found that there was no difference in BMI. A slight difference was found in different nutritional levels such as zinc, iron, and carotene, but it was not at a level of concern over the children’s health.

Though, picky eating may seem like a behavior that may impact a child’s development, it is not anything to truly worry about. Every individual has a different taste, and if a child is getting the nutrients they need in a healthy way, it truly is not something to worry about.

To read more on picky eating, click here!

Mikayla Clemens

Research Assistant, UConn KIDS

 

Good afternoon and welcome to Trivia Tuesday! This week’s question relates to something we see on jack o’lanterns… bright, wide smiles!

As your child begins to interact with the world, within a few weeks you will begin to see some smiles from your young ones. However, there are two different major types of smiles that emerge from infants… what are these two smiles called?

1. Happy smiles and surprise smiles
2. Regular smiles and super smiles
3. Joyful smiles and enjoyment smiles
4. Reflective smiles and social smiles

The answer to last week’s question is yes! This is due to a child’s inability to think from another person’s perspective. Here is a refresher to last week’s scenario for the question:

Person 1 left their toy on the table and walked into another room. Person 2 then moved the toy and put it somewhere else different than where it was left. Person 1 then comes back into the room, would person 1 know where their toy is now?

As adults, we know that after Person 1 walks back into the room, they would look in the original location of the toy because they did not see Person 2 move the toy. Children under the age of four typically do not understand this, meaning they would assume Person 1 knows that the toy was moved since the child saw Person 2 move the toy themselves. This concept of recognizing situations from another person’s perspective is called the Theory of Mind and it is not achieved until around the age of five. Experiments are often completed to test children’s understandings in this theory through using a False-Belief task such as the scenario above.

Tune in next Tuesday to find out the answer to this week’s question!

Good evening and happy Trivia Tuesday! Today’s question connects a bit with last weeks question…

A false-belief task is when a child is presented with a scenario where they must think about a situation from someone else’s perspective. A scenario like this would often be presented to a child:

Person 1 left their toy on the table and walked into another room. A person 2 then moved the toy and put it somewhere else different than where it was left. Person 1 then comes back into the room, would person 1 know where their toy is now?

This trivia Tuesday question is: would a 3-year-old child believe that the person knows where the toy’s new location is?

a.    Yes!

b.    No!

 

As promised, the answer to last week’s question is 7-12 years old! Children reach Piaget’s concrete operational stage around 7 to 12 years old where they can begin to understand concepts of conservation and have more of an organized, logical way of thinking. 

 

Tune in next Tuesday to find out the answer to this week’s question! 

 

 

Good afternoon and happy Trivia Tuesday! Today’s trivia question may be easier for those who examined your child’s critical thinking skills and watched as they gained a better understanding of how the world around them functions physically!

When it comes to understanding conservation, around what age do children start to understand this? **bonus: which stage in Piaget’s stages in sensorimotor development does this occur?**

1. 12 years old or older
2. around 7 to 12 years old
3. from birth
4. 2 to 5 years old

As promised, the answer to the last question on which of the five senses is developed first, the correct choice is touch! In the womb, fetuses develop touch as their first sense with hearing then developing after about 4 months in the womb.  Tune in next week to discover what the answer is for this week’s question and to learn more on child development!

Mikayla Clemens

Research Assistant, UConn KIDS

Babies are naturally curious. They love to look around and examine what is going on in the environment that they are in, but did you know that infants look at what you look at most of the time? This process is called joint attention; infants will often look at you and take note what you are glancing at, and then will shift their gaze to that direction to match you! Infants and younger children tend to learn an enormous amount through mimicking behaviors that are displayed around them, so this is no surprise that infants engage in behavior like this. Recognizing and tuning into this aspect of social development can help you understand why your child may look to you when meeting a new person or look at you after looking at an object themselves. This can help build unspoken connections with your child and foster growth in this domain.

In the research article Infant responding to joint attention, executive processes, and self-regulation in preschool and children, it covers various aspects on joint attention and dives deeper into what really happens when an infant is engaging in joint attention. The result of the study demonstrates that there is a connection between self-regulation and regulation of execute attention with joint attention. The study also mentions that there needs to be a better understanding of this process as it might lead to a better understanding of social cognition. This article was written in 2011, so we do know more about how this process plays into social cognition and development, however more studies still need to be done examining various cultural aspects and developmental delays. That being said, the research article adds the ability to gain a clearer understanding on what exactly joint attention is, how it works, and how children engage in it within other areas of development.

This innate developmental tool is so important. It allows your child to engage and connect with you in such a simple, unspoken manor while also providing learning experiences that help your child socially, emotionally, and even linguistically. Next time you are with your little one, pay attention to how they exhibit their own forms of joint attention. You might catch them gazing at what you are looking at every once in a while!

Read the full article here!

Mikayla Clemens

Research Assistant, UConn KIDS

We all have experiences doing art projects when we were younger. From paintings to chalk drawings, we all have some memory whether it was in school or at home; but how did this improve your development? Art is not just some elective that you’re required to take, it fosters development in multiple domains that you might not even realize!

The article “An introduction to the visual arts in early childhood education” dives deeper and breaks down what activities in the visual arts really does to help your child develop. Various main aspects of development that are promoted are mediated thinking, facilitated communication, imagination and creativity, appreciation of diversity and cultural knowledge, critical literacy and understanding in art, and even emotional support. Different activities can tune into different themes of development, but by integrating various activities that include arts whether that be by examining historical pieces or creating art of your own, all these positive aspects of development can be touched upon.

Now, when you think back to your own experiences in your art classes, you can see how important each lesson was. Not only was it fun and engaging, but it taught you a lot! Next time your child comes home with a new art project, think about all that was learned in that lesson. It is cool what art can do!

Read the full article here!

Mikayla Clemens

Research assistant, UConn KIDS