Early Experience And Childhood

EARLY EXPERIENCE AND CHILDHOOD

Early Experience and Childhood

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Subject: Human Cognitive Development

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Level: MASTERS

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Running head: EARLY EXPERIENCE AND CHILDHOOD

Early experience and its determination in infant future intellectual ability

Childhood is a period of great plasticity and fast learning. Building better brain for children

before age of two will mould their life because intelligence will dramatically increase. Parents

are urged to give more focus on their children before age of two or three. Therefore, strengths

and nature of parents on children influence in early years after birth should be given more

concern. This essay aims at discussing an extent in which early experiences in development of

children before age of two determines their intellectual skills later in life.

Research that link child and brain development and education confirm that early experiences

in children determine how their brains are wired. Moreover, the critical two or three years are

important as these experiences evaluates whether they will grow up as violent or peaceful

individuals, undisciplined or focused workers, detached or attentive future parents (Clinton,

1996).

Caregivers or parents do more than bathing, comforting and feeding in taking care of

children. They help children’s brain develop by teaching them about the world and shaping

temperament. It is argued that these experiences on children are enduring because a pattern for

entire future development is laid. If they encounter stressing parents with emotions, their

intellectual potential will be limited in the future as it will be hard to change the patterns later.

Brain science research on children development found out that they have an ability of

discriminating sounds in all human beings languages. In addition, an infant at six months of age

has already started focusing on specific sounds of language around them by simply listening to

speech adults hence altering their perceptual systems. Therefore, parents should emphasize in

Running head: EARLY EXPERIENCE AND CHILDHOOD

knowing whether their infants can see, hear, and feel stimuli in the environment. These early

experiences in children regarding language will later determine their intellectual ability.

Language trajectories between children who come from less successful homes and high-class

ones are different. Their language skills when reaching schools is also different as those who

have experience due to a lower socioeconomic status underperform compared to monolingual

English speaking children. This is because there is a deficiency in language skills among less

successful causing a mismatch with that the school needs. It is therefore clear that their

intellectual ability has been determined by the early experience they had as they were developing

before two or three years.

Early experiences of children from low socioeconomic homes rise from low income and

education among their parents or guardians. Low education among parents negatively affects

language development of children. Their vocabulary and grammar in speech becomes most

sensitive as the gap between their language skills and of those who come from more advantaged

homes constantly increase as they develop. In return, their language skills affect their intellectual

achievement throughout in life.

Among the factors that affect development of children is parenting. Treatment of parents

influences different temperaments in their children that determine their intellectual capacity in

the future. Genetics is not a factor in early experience of children before two or three years

because it does not correlate between actions of children and those of parents. However, if a

parent who gave birth to an infant is emotionally overactive, actions can be taken and a calm

parent can foster caring of the child. Environments that are emotionally stressful are associated

with poor intellectual development causing risks such as low self-esteem and behavior problems.

Running head: EARLY EXPERIENCE AND CHILDHOOD

Clarke & Clarke 1992, 1998) evaluated evidences for early experiences and effects on child

development and how they will later influence them. It is argued that children given secure

attachments when young perform well in school, as they will have social intelligence making

them have good relationships with teachers and their peers. Those children who have suffered

poor early hardships cannot fully overcome a poor start. According to Clarke, early experience

therefore is important in making children be professional intellectuals.

The bad early experiences especially among children from disadvantaged homes are

interpreted and remedied. Although some would have or not mastered the use of language and

dialects in schools and communities, they both have weaknesses in the language skills that is

why English is not sometimes achieved well in schools. Moreover, the most obvious reasons as

to why children from lower socioeconomic status homes have low level of language skills is

because they had less early experience.

Control groups can help parenting in good parenting by training them on practices that will

be of help to their children. Parents should persevere so that infants can have good early

experience that can determine their intellectual ability while they continually develop. Single

parents can face environmental problems such as poor housing when raising their infants but it

can be controlled once training is given to them on how to handle the risks.

A conclusion is made on early experiences of childhood in cognitive development.

Behavior of children while young should be checked and be given more attention. Brain science

plays a big role in the importance of critical first two to three years of infants because it helps

parents invest better in parenting education and good health services. The essay has therefore

discussed the intellectual ability in children and problems hindering its success.

Running head: EARLY EXPERIENCE AND CHILDHOOD

References

Bruer, T. (199). Through the prism of the first three years.

Hoff, E. (2013). Interpreting the Early Language Trajectories of Children From Low-SES and Language

Minority Homes: Implications for Closing Achievement Gaps.

Maccoby, E. E. (2002). Parenting effects: Issues and controversies.

Pinker, S. (2001). Children.

Russell, J., & Jarvis, M. (2003). Angles on applied psychology. Cheltenham, UK: Nelson Thornes.

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