Week 6 — Infancy and Toddlerhood: Cognitive and Language Development

Why this matters

An infant-room teacher hiding a toy during play and a grandparent talking with a baby in two languages both read what a baby knows as a growing skill, not a verdict.

In plain language

This chapter is about how babies come to think and talk in the first two years. Jean Piaget described infants as active explorers who build schemes (organized patterns of action or thought) and keep adjusting them as the world surprises them. One big step is object permanence (knowing that a thing still exists when you can no longer see it), which grows in steps rather than all at once. At the same time, sounds turn into words: babies coo, then babble, then say first words, then put two words together. You will also learn to read a milestone checklist (a list of what most children do by a given age) the way its issuing body means it: as a reason to talk with a health professional, never as a diagnosis.

• Already covered: Week 5's brain growth, reflexes, and motor windows.
• This week: Piaget's schemes and sensorimotor stage, the A-not-B error, first words, checklists.
• How they connect: this week follows the same infants' minds and first words.
• Where we're going next: Week 7, social-emotional development.

Focus

What does a baby know about a hidden toy, and how do first words grow out of babbling?

By the end of this module, you should be able to:

• [ ] tell assimilation from accommodation
• [ ] put the six sensorimotor substages in order
• [ ] read a search as the A-not-B error on Dataset D
• [ ] tell receptive from expressive language
• [ ] read a CDC checklist as a reason to talk

To-do

Plan your week

1. Read Chapter 6 (~40–50 minutes), then the lecture and slides.
2. Work the lecture tutorial (60–90 minutes).
3. Try the practice set (15–25 minutes).
4. Do the workshop (about 90 minutes), the discussion, and the assignment, then the quiz.

This week's checkpoint: read an infant's search under the old hiding place as the A-not-B error, a middle step, not a missing skill.

You've got this

Take it in order, and ask your instructor if a step snags.

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