The beautiful word "sensitive" in Latin means "sensitive." Psychologists and scientists believe that the child at certain stages of life becomes especially susceptible to any kind of activity and behavior. This article will talk about such a phenomenon in child psychology as the sensitive periods of preschool age.
Definition of a concept
Sensitive periods are called periods of children's special sensitivity to certain phenomena, activities, types of emotional responses, behavior, and much more. Even each character trait is most sharply formed on the basis of any emotional-psychological reaction during a certain narrow time period. These stages are necessary for the child to have a unique opportunity to obtain psychologically necessary skills, behavioral methods and knowledge, etc.
A person will never again have the chance to learn critical things so easily and quickly. For this, there are sensitive periods in children, which nature itself has developed.
The importance of sensitive periods in child development
It is impossible to influence the terms and duration of these periods, but it is very useful to know about them. Understanding the sensitive period your child is in, you can better prepare for it and use it to the maximum extent possible. Knowledge, as you know, is the key to success. Sensitive periods are fully and thoroughly described by the famous teacher Maria Montessori and her followers. In her studies, she explained the nature of the development of any child, regardless of his place of residence, ethnicity, as well as cultural differences.
On the one hand, these periods are common for all children, because in one way or another absolutely all children passed through them. On the other hand, they are unique because the biological age does not always correspond to the psychological one. Sometimes psychological development lags behind physical development, and sometimes vice versa. Therefore, you should look at a particular child. If a child is forced to do something by force, not paying attention to the level of his development, then they don’t come to the corresponding result at all or are very late. Therefore, various methods, such as “reading - before a walk”, should be treated with great attention.
Period to year
During this period, the child imitates sounds, he wants to talk and emotionally interact with adults. At this age, he really wants to talk, but so far he cannot do it. If the baby was deprived of normal emotional contact (especially from the mother), for example, children in shelters and boarding schools without parents, this, alas, is an irreparable event, and the whole process of further development of the child is already disturbed to some extent.
Period from one year to three years
At this age, the child develops spoken language (it is known that if for some reason the baby was separated from human society and did not hear the human language, he could never speak normally, for example, a child like Mowgli in Kipling's book). This time is a sensitive period in the development of speech.
With great speed, the child begins to increase his vocabulary - this is the most intense period in human life to increase vocabulary. During this period, the child is most sensitive to linguistic norms. This is why Montessori advises adults to speak with the child so that he speaks clearly. Now it is scientifically proven.
Stage three to six years
After three years, the child develops an interest in writing. With great zeal, he tries to write specific words and letters. And by the way, not necessarily a pen on paper. Children are happy to lay out letters from rods and wires, sculpt them from clay or write with their finger on the sand. At the age of five, most children are interested in reading. It is easiest to teach a child this skill at this age. Ironically, it’s harder to learn to read than to write. Therefore, as the Italian teacher Montessori advises, it is better to come to reading through writing, because this is the expression of one’s own thoughts and desires. Reading is an attempt to understand the thinking of different people, the solution of "alien" puzzles.
The critical period of up to three years for the formation of the skill to order
Order for a child is not the same as an adult. The fact that everything is in place becomes unshakable for the baby. Everything that happens every day is a certain routine, in this the child sees stability in the world. The external order is so involved in the child’s internal psychology that he gets used to it.
Sometimes adults think that children aged 2 to 2.5 years are unbearable and moody (some even talk about a two-year crisis). But it seems that this is not so much a whim as a requirement to preserve the order of things. And if this order is violated, he knocks the little man out of a rut. The order should be in everything, in the time schedule (every day proceeds in a certain sequence), as well as in the behavior of adult family members (they act according to certain norms that do not change depending on the mood of one of the parents).
Sensitive period for sensory development: from 0 to 5.5 years
At this age, show the ability to see, hear, smell, taste, etc. This, of course, happens naturally, but for a more intensive sensory development, Maria Montessori recommends, for example, special exercises: close your eyes to recognize texture, smell, volume.
Sensory impressions in the child should be as possible. And this is not necessarily done every day. For example, you can take the baby to the theater or to a concert of symphonic music. You can also suggest such a game - guess how different household items sound. Ask your baby to listen to the sounds to distinguish between them. For example, how the glass rings (the baby slightly hits it with a teaspoon) or how the iron pan or wooden table sounds.
Children at this age (and adults too) love the Magic Sack game. A bag with an opaque cloth contains a variety of small objects: pieces of different fabrics (chiffon or silk), figures of wood, plastic, metal, pieces of paper, various materials - from fabric to sand, etc., and then it is determined by touch that is in the bag.
Sensitive period for the perception of small objects: from 1.5 to 5.5 years
Horrified adults see small children playing with peas or small buttons. Especially when the kids are trying to figure out whether to put small objects in the ear or nose. Of course, these actions should take place only under the control of adults.
However, this is a rather natural interest, which stimulates the development of fine motor skills. Still, you need to make sure that playing with tiny things is completely safe. For example, a button can be strung on thick threads. Then you get the original beads, the creation of which will take a lot of time. Together with you, the baby can understand and collect things with the smallest details for a long time. This activity helps in the development of the child in the sensitive period.
Maria Montessori gave advice even to create a special collection of very small things.
The critical period of movements and actions: from 1 to 4 years
This is an extremely important stage for the child. Due to movement, the blood is saturated with oxygen, and oxygen-rich blood supplies the brain cells that are involved in the development of all intellectual functions. And therefore, any sedentary activity or monotonous work is an unnatural phenomenon for young children.
Every year, children improve coordination of movements, develop new types of activity and learn new things. The kid is open to new information and skills. Help him with this! Run with him, jump on one leg, climb the stairs. Such activities are no less important than learning to write and read.
The development of critical periods for mastering social skills: from 2.5 to 6 years
At this age, the child learns social forms of communication, which is called etiquette in European languages.
Up to six years, the foundations of social behavior are laid, the child absorbs, like a sponge, normal and permissible examples, as well as non-tactful forms of communication. Here, mainly imitative ability. Therefore, behave as you would like your child to behave and act.
Transition between stages
To understand how the children's psyche moves between these stages, it is important to understand how the kids perceive the environment and use it for growth. Most theorists agree that there are periods in the lives of children in which they become biologically mature enough to acquire certain skills that they could not easily learn before this maturity. For example, studies have shown that the brains of infants and toddlers are more flexible in terms of language learning than older people.
Children are ready and open for the development of certain skills at certain stages, but not everything is so simple. To do this, they need the right incentives to develop these abilities. For example, babies have the ability to grow and gain weight amazingly fast during the first year, but if they do not eat enough during this period, they will not have the opportunity to grow and develop in accordance with their age. That is why it is so important that parents and carers understand how their babies develop and know what things they should do for their children to help them grow up.
It should be remembered that the sensitive period of life for the formation of character begins with the very birth of a child. Many agree that children who do not receive the right education at the right time will have problems later in life, but they do not believe that this inability to develop is permanent. For example, infancy is the time when children first learn that they can trust adults or parents. This encourages parents to take care of all the needs of the children, including giving them unconditional love. Some babies live in orphanages, where there are too many children for several nurses and staff to normally care for everyone equally. These babies exist their first years without experiencing touch or affection that would teach them to trust and show affection for people in the future. If these children are eventually adopted by a loving family later, they may have problems with attachment to an adequate parent. This is the main problem of sensitive periods.
Reasons for the lag
Sometimes children without any cognitive or physical problems at birth cannot develop certain skills in the sensitive period of the child’s development, that is, at the moment when the person is most susceptible. The cause of this may be some kind of trauma, illness, careless childcare. This also includes a shortage of needs, such as food or medical care, which impede the child's development, both physical and psychological. Nutrients and vitamins are essential for gaining important abilities at certain times in life. When these factors are absent, in such children, as a rule, the development process is more difficult, even if subsequently they receive special attention and resources that are designed to help them compensate for the previously existing deficit.
How did the theory come about?
The concept of the critical period (the sensitive period is called differently) at the scientific level arose as a result of studying etiology and evolutionary psychology, specializing in the study of adaptability or survival of biological species depending on their behavior and their evolutionary history. Conrad Lorenz, a European ethologist, has observed behaviors that promote survival. The most famous of them is the so-called imprinting, that is, the imprinting of certain events and facts into the subconscious at the psychological level. This is a rather important area of psychology that can be effectively used in teaching children of the sensitive period. So parents will be able to invest in their children the norms of good and evil, the rules of correct behavior and other useful skills and habits that will be useful to them in their future life.