language and literacy development

One area that I am having problems in is the prenatal and infancy section. I would like to add more references and information to this section.

Prenatal and Infancy

As a baby, Mariah had as many neurons as there are stars in the Milky Way (Honig, 2009, p. 96).  During infancy, babies experience speedy changes in their development and growth in the baby’s organs, senses, and size. Each of these transformations produces new capabilities. Mariah gained confidence in herself through her development in forming concepts and motor coordination and learning and using language. Her confidence prepared her to build upon new abilities that were needed for each change in new stages of development. Mariah’s mother practiced self-talk with her while she was at home with her. During self-talk, she would tell Mariah what she was doing, for example while changing her; she would talk her through the steps of changing her diaper.

Victoria also practiced Parallel talk, allowing her to tell Mariah what she was doing. Although talking to Mariah may seem simple, this simply stimulating activity helped develop her language. Using their five senses, Mariah takes information and makes a mental effort to understand it; that’s how the connections form (Brophy, 2007, p. 50). Vincent would do activities that stimulated her touch, by allowing her to feel various textures, which taught her about different environments. Touch also helped Mariah’s brain to make connections.  Mariah’s grandmother Loree would provide activities and opportunities for her that encouraged exploration and curiosity that enhanced Mariah’s overall development when she watched her on the weekends.

Mariah spent the first two months of her life at home with her mother. With her mother being a school teacher she did not have to return to work until August. When searching for daycare, her mother was extremely concerned with the curriculum and the environment. Although both of Mariah’s parents are advocates for education, her father does not believe children can retain information until they are at least one years old. However with Victoria studying the development of children she knew that this was false. The daycare that she chose offered A BEKA curriculum and the infant rooms provided lessons that fostered growth in self-help skills, language development, social development, and spiritual growth. Every day the teachers read and song to the infants. Victoria would ask Mariah questions to engage her in dialogue such as “why so much fussing” or “Are you a happy baby”?  Victoria would then turn around and interpret Mariah’s reflexive sounds out loud by saying things like “are you saying, you want mommy to change your bottom”?

Changes in fetal heart rate and motor activity when a fetus mother is speaking, shows that it can hear and this affects its preferences for language after birth in a number of ways (Karmiloff & Karmiloff-Smith, 2001) Studies have shown that infants become acquainted with and have a preference for “the rhythms and sounds of language” that they heard while in the womb (Karmiloff & Karmiloff-Smith, 2001, p. 43). This study holds true for Mariah. While her mother was pregnant, she would read “One Love” and “Peekaboo Morning” every day. At night before going to sleep she would play the baby Einstein station on Pandora. After Mariah’s birth, her mother continued doing these things. Mariah would smile, squeal, or imitate the sounds from the books and music that she heard while still in the womb.

 Infants display pre-verbal communication. One form of preverbal communication is crying, which is known as reflexive. Parents ascribe communicative functions to even the earliest of infants’ vocalizations (C.L. Miller, 1988).  Mariah would always cry when she was wet and hungry. It seemed to her parents that she would cry louder if she was hungry, it was almost like a scream instead of a cry. At eight weeks Mariah begin having problems with colic which according to her pediatrician is normal for that age. If she developed gas after eating not only would she cry she would also do a little squirm this is how her parents knew that it was gas and not anything else. According to Menn & Stoel-Gammon (2005) infants between 2 and four months begin to make more pleasant sounds.

During this time, infants also start to laugh, which was a countless reward for Mariah’s parents. Victoria and Vincent would make silly faces or sounds, and Mariah would often smile or try to imitate them.  Mariah at this stage was joining in a pre-language “conversation” with Vincent and Victoria. Mariah would coo; Vincent and Victoria would talk back; Mariah would look and laugh; Victoria and Vincent would smile and talk. In this way, Mariah is beginning to learn how to use language before she actually speaks. She developed as a typical infant should, making one-syllable sounds at four months. Her mother would always say ma back to her when Mariah would say da. Around eight months Mariah begin combining the sounds to say dada or mama.