Development Stimulation - Is intelligence fixed at birth?

Developmental Stimulation:

Is intelligence fixed at birth?
There has been a general debate since the 18th Century as to whether human intelligence is the product of generic attributes only, or if it is affected by stimuli and experiences. Scientists now agree that there can be no doubt that there are real differences in children’s inborn intellectual capacity from the beginning,(after all, we can’t all be Einstein!!) there is however clear evidence that there is nothing fixed or permanent about IQ! It is certain that in the early stages of life, enormous changes to IQ can be made by Developmental and Environmental stimulation. Babies need a stimulating environment in order to grow and develop mentally and physically to their peak potential. Intelligence is NOT fixed at birth; early stimulation has an immensely powerful effect on intellectual development. A baby who is left in a carrycot or playpen or carried on the back for most of the day will never develop to their full potential. A lack of stimulation can have a devastating effect on development. A baby needs to be given direct attention, spoken to and played with in order to develop and learn. A stimulating environment is food for brain growth! The brain, more than any other organ is where experience becomes flesh!

You can fill a house with toys, but if you don’t help and encourage them to play and show them how to play with the toys, then having the toys is no good.

The infants brain at birth has virtually all the nerve cells it will ever have, but the pattern of wiring has not at that point been established. The information the infant receives through his senses results in neural activity, and connections are made. The first three years are a time that the completion of neural circuts in the brain need appropriate stimulation. This stimulation is critical in shaping future development, and sadly, deprivation of stimulation in these years has an irreversible effect on intelligence as experienced in the tragic outcomes of the Romanian orphans!!



HOW CAN I HELP DEVELOP MY BABIES BRAIN?


Play, fun, exploration and experiences are what lead to learning and brain development in children.
Play can roughly be divided into 4 main categories, although they overlap and dominate playtimes to different degrees as the child develops, and get older. The adult needs to encourage all of these types of play.

Investigative Play:
Babies start off by investigating things through shaking, banging and tasting them in an attempt to find out the basic properties of objects eg size, shape and texture. As their intellectual capacity increases, their investigation become more complex, and they begin to become interested in how things work and how they relate to one another and form concepts such as bigger/smaller, in/on/under. They also learn about cause and effect through investigation, trial and error. eg ‘if I hit this peg with the hammer, it disappears into the hole, and if I miss and hit my thumb, it hurts!’
Toys to promote investigative play:
Rough and smooth objects
Big and small objects
Noisy toys, bottles filled with rice etc.
Pull-along toys or a can on a string
Boxes and tins with lids that they can open and close.
Water and things that float/sink
Shape sorter etc.
Manipulative Play:


As their skills in manipulation increase through increasing control over their bodies, hey will need toys to promote their dexterity, motor skills and co-ordination and control over the use of their muscles and fingers, etc. Toys to promote manipulative play help develop the child’s fine motor skills, and helps develop analytical thinking.

Toys to promote manipulative play:
Stacking rings
Blocks
Stacking cups
Play dough and shape cutters, etc
Paper and crayons
Large soft ball/ beanbag
Peg board and hammer
Representative or Pretend Play:


Very simple symbolic or pretend play develops from around a year old. The toddler may hug a teddy, push a dolly in a pram, or push a car making a ‘brrr’ sound.
Pretend play is play in which pretend objects are used to represent other objects, thus using them as symbols. This is critical to children’s intellectual development. It is the precursor to the ability to think through problems in abstract and find creative solutions to them. The ability to use the imagination creatively helps in every aspect of life. Einstein once said: “Imagination is more important than knowledge.”
Pretend play reflects the intellectual capacity of being able to represent something symbolically.
By the age of 15 months he should start using objects which are less similar to the real ones eg a box as a dolls bed or a matchbox pushed along like a car. As they get older, pretend play and investigative play tends to dominate playtimes and they also start to enjoy mimicry.



Toys to promote pretend play:
Soft animals and dolls
Farmyard set
Tea-set
Doll pram
Toy telephone
Cars/trains
Wooden vehicles
Dolls brush/comb
Tins / boxes
Puppets
Interactive Play


Play involving actions with other people or children are enormously important in intellectual and emotional development. Interactive games involving turn-taking are very important. Activities like taking turns to drop balls into a bucket; fit shapes into a shape sorter and, throwing games all lend themselves well to turn-taking.

Learning takes place through a combination of these types of play, and the process of learning is greatly accelerated if an adult firstly provides the appropriate toys, objects or stimuli, and secondly, encourages play through interaction either with themselves or with other children.

Learning is most likely to occur when:
The child is praised for their achievements.

He is given freedom to explore.

The adult displays confidence in his abilities.

The adult accepts some mess.

The child in interacted with e.g. spoken to, read to, told stories.

The child is allowed time for free-play.

The child is allowed contact with other children.

The child is encouraged to explore and play make believe.


EDUCARE offers developmental stimulation courses to assist Moms, Nursery School teachers and Au-Pairs to help their child develop to their full intellectual and creative potential