Watch Her Grow...

This Week's Focus: Language and Critical Thinking


Interactions with Materials

Still finding activities to do with her rings!

• Still loving bicycles! She's constantly asking to go on a bike ride.  She knows all of the clothes that Daddy wears when we go on a bike ride, and some mornings upon waking she walks directly to our closet and starts pulling out Daddy's bike clothes in hopes of a bike ride.
• Shoes!  Especially those that are too big..

Interactions with Others

• Opa and her uncle are here this week, and she was quick to open up to them.  I think she also clearly remembered her uncle although it's been about two months since he last visited. 

Critical Thinking

• Today she used the sign "want" for the first time.  I was especially impressed because this is a sign that Daddy and I have never demonstrated.  However, she has seen it in this book.  This morning when I asked, "Do you want to read a book?" She signed back "want" "book".
• Q-ball is continuing to work to express her ideas and memories.  When she hurts herself or gets upset, she shows or "tells" me what happened.  She'll show me where she hit her head on the wall or how the ball hit her in the mouth.  It seems to help with tantrum reduction!
• Similar to making the connection about Daddy's bike clothes and biking, she seems to think that every time I put on my shorts (vs. the yoga pants I constantly wear at home...) that we are going to the park.  She gets so excited and starts signing "park" and making the noise and actions she makes for the slide.  Sadly, we are normally just running errands, but I guess I have a little optimist.   

Interactions with Life 

• She is really started to express her own wants.  She is starting to (aggressively) tell me what she wants to wear, what she wants ME to wear, where she wants to nurse, where she wants to read books, etc.  She enjoys making a game of it at times, making me change seats multiple times during meals and laughing all the while.  But, because of this new phase, I know that it's time to introduce the Montessori closet, so stay tuned next week for updates and pictures!
• She is starting to use "please", so modelling good manners does work!
• And, a final story about our clothing, I put on a skirt the other day to go to dinner, and she thought it was so funny! She couldn't stop laughing. The next day, she opened the closet and wanted me to wear it again.  I guess I need to branch out from the yoga pants...But, our daughter certainly has a budding sense of humor!

 
To see the rational and purpose for the Watch Her Grow series, please check out this post!

Dr. Montessori on Rewards and Walking

    This past weekend was a very exciting weekend in our household; Q-ball started walking!  But, because of our belief in Dr. Montessori's methods as well as a the desire to follow principles of positive discipline and unconditional parenting, Daddy and I worked to ensure that we did not let our excitement diminish Q-ball's own excitement, sense of accomplishment, and desire to continue to work towards mastery. Watching Q-ball learn to walk has allowed me to observe two of Dr. Montessori's ideas firsthand- 1) her reservations towards rewards and 2) her concept of a sensitive period towards walking.

Rewards   

    I believe that Q-ball had been mentally preparing for her attempt throughout the evening. She demanded to get down from her high-chair during dinner and speedily crawled to a wide-open space. Suddenly, although wobbly, she was on her feet with arms flapping. And, then she was on her rear.  But, then she was up again with arms flapping, and then she took three steps! And, then she was on her rear.  She did not look to Mama and Daddy for a verbal reward or encouragement.  In fact, she did not realize that we were watching.  She was so focused on the work of walking that she hardly cared what we were doing.

    Instead of rushing towards her and showering her with "way to go," "good job," and "you are the world's best (and cutest!) baby!" (which would have, no doubt, knocked her over anyways...), we simply looked at each other with happy disbelief and continued our conversation. But, Q-ball was already on her feet to try again. 

   This expereince is very similar to the observations that Dr. Montessori describes in The Discovery of the Child that encouraged her to shy away from a system of rewards and punishments (i.e. praise, grades, threats, and criticism)  within an educational and developmental environment.  In one of her Children's Homes, Dr. Montessori observed two children- one being punished by time-out (or "forced isolation" in the words of Unconditional Parenting's Alfie Kohn) and the other had been rewarded with a large star to wear on his chest. The "good" child was allowed to continue his work and, while busy with his materials, dropped his star.  This child did not even notice he had lost his reward, but the "bad" child quickly asked to pick it up and have it.  The rewarded child was "[indifferent]" to his reward and gave it away without a care. Dr. Montessori concluded, "This pendant could satisfy the naughty one, but not the child contented with his work!"  

   Q-ball does not need us to give verbal praise for her accomplishment. Ultimately, most people provide praise as a means to getting a behavior to continue.  However, the fact that she immediately gets up from falling with a huge smile on her face, ready to try her next steps, indicate that she is internally driven and satisfied with her work.  No additional, exaggerated praise necessary.

   Which leads to the second observation of Dr. Montessori's work...

The Sensitive Period for Walking

     Dr. Montessori believes that very young children undergo a number of "sensitive periods" during which they are especially excited and willing to learn specific skills.  The sensitive period for walking is somewhere between one and two years. Dr. Montessori saw walking as a critical development for children as it provides them with a new sense of independence.  But, she believed that children who are learning to walk view the activity in a very different way than adults do.  While we walk to get to a specific destination or to reach a goal, children walk just to walk.  "The small child walks to develop his powers, he is building up his being. He goes slowly. He has neither rhythmic step nor goal. But things around him allure him and urge him forward."  Q-ball's walking over the last few days has certainly demonstrated this.  

   We have also worked to honor Q-ball's work in developing her walking skills by letting her always lead the way.  We rarely have "helped" her walk since she took her first step (although when a baby is clinging to one's leg as one is frantically trying to finish dinner, one doesn't want to just knock baby to the ground.)  Dr. Montessori also saw this respect for allowing the child to lead while working towards mastery of walking when she said, "If the adult would be of help, [the child] must renounce his own rhythm and his own aim."

   It's amazing to watch Q-ball push herself as she is learning to master a new task. While I'm avoiding providing too many rewards in her presence, I'll happy use this medium to say, "Way to go, Q-ball!  You are the best baby ever!!!"  (Alas, avoiding giving praise is tough!)  

Sources:

Crain, W. (2011) Theories of development: Concepts and applications. NY: Prentice Hall.

Montessori, M. (1936). The secret of childhood. (M.J. Costelloe, trans.). NY: Ballantine Books, 1966.

Montessori, M. (2004) The discovery of the child. Dehli, India: Aakar Books.

What was it like watching your child learn to walk or master another milestone? Did you provide them with reinforcement?

Wordless Wednesday: Walking Wagon

Because I had observed Q-ball start to cruise around on the furniture last week, I decided it was time to introduce her new wagon.  Q-ball has loved walking around on her wagon.  Because ours is quite busy with a different game literally on every side, it's not exactly Montessori, although I as I've said before, we are not totally Montessori.  Here, my chief concerns are her safety and enjoyment.  And, we haven't had a hint of an accident, and she SUPER loves this thing.  Still, the wagon does meet all of the basic descriptors of a Montessori that are listed in The Joyful Child by Micheal Olaf:

A walker wagon (wooden, not plastic) will provide a opportunity for the child to pull up and practice walking at will, but it will usually require the adult to turn the wagon around when the child reaches the end of the path, and push and pull toys are great fun for the new walker.

 

She's now using everything as a wagon!

 Sources:

Olaf, M. (2010). The Joyful Child. Retrieved from http://www.michaelolaf.net/1JC1stCPS.html

Beyond Physical Milestones, Part V: Dynamic Systems

            In the 1990s, a new developmental theory emerged. The dynamics systems approach to development seems to take Bernstein’s concept of redundancy (for a review of Bernstein and his findings, check out the first post of this series) and multiplies it by infinity. The new theory states that development is non-linear because the basic components involved (the person, environment, and the task) are in constant flux.  Consequently, each of these components must be considered from every angle in order to understand an individual’s developmental progress. This makes development truly unique to each individual and not necessarily something that unfolds along a set timeline as argued by proponents of maturation theory.  No wonder some people have started to call the dynamics system theory “chaos theory.”

            One key point of the dynamic systems theory is that human development occurs through various timescales, but these timescales cannot be treated as individual events.  Research in this field analyzes the relationships between the timescales of each component of development.  A component of human development might be a signal sent by the central nervous system and its timescale would be only milliseconds. Simultaneously, the action itself (such as crawling) might be another component which would then be analyzed by millisecond. These flashes in time might be analyzed next to the larger component of learning a new skill, a component whose timescale can be years. 

A second key point of dynamic systems theory is that these various components and timescales self-organize. Dynamic systems theorists believe this self-organization is the cooperation between the infinite components and their timescales which manifests itself through a new development milestone.  So, when all of the timescales align perfectly, baby can complete a new skill!

           
         Now, assuming that you have made it this far in the reading, an example that might clear things up. Or, only provide further support for the name “chaos theory.”  Esther Thelen, an American psychologist who was instrumental in the research that supports dynamic systems theory, proposes that there are eight sub-components in the development of walking.  She hypothesizes that when the sub-components listed below self-organize, walking emerges.  The accompanying figures show the change of the components at their different timescales (13-5) and how these components must align or self-organize with the correct environmental context in order to produce a new development milestone (13-6). 

1.    Pattern generation- The coordination of multiple muscles and joints to form a single motion.

2.    Articular differentiation- Fancy way to say that joints movement becomes unsynchronized.  In newborns, the hip, knee, and ankle joints are synchronized during kicking.  As the baby ages, however, the knee joint will move separate from the hip and ankle, which is necessary for walking.

3.    Postural control- increased ability to stand up right

4.    Visual flow sensitivity- Involves balance, awareness of one’s movements in relation to the surroundings, and vision

5.    Tonus control- The shift of dominance from flexor muscles (those that allow us to bend) to the extension muscles (those that allow us to straighten).  This reciprocal interweaving (for review of this concept see the post on maturation) is typically not complete until an infant is 7-12 months old.

6.    Extensor strength- the muscle strength to support upright movement

7.    Body constraints- Babies are just too chunky to lift their own weight, especially their legs!

8.    Motivation- the desire to move towards a goal

And remember, even if all of these components perfectly self-organize to support walking, the context or the environment still needs to be favorable to this new action.  So, hopefully baby isn’t ready to take his first step on top of an icy hill!

Sources:

Herzia, C. (1991). Motor development: Contemporary and traditional theories.  In Foundation for Physical Therapy (Series Ed.), Contemporary Management of Motor Control Problems (pp.99-126). Retrieved from http://www.udel.edu/PT/galloway/motordevelopment.pdf

Savelsbergh, G., Davids, K., van der Kamp, J., & Bennett, S. (2003). Development of movement co-ordination in children: applications in the field of ergonomics, health sciences, and sport.  London: Routledge.

Smith, L.B. & Thelen, E. (2003). Development as a dynamic system. TRENDS in Cognitive Science, 7(8), 343-348.