Birth to three matters - Communities and Local Government

The importance of social interactionsand cognitive development formaking connectionsSocial inte ra ctions with their mothersand re l i a n ce on them during emotionalchallenges at six to nine months have be e nl i n ked with cog n i t i ve and language skillsat age two years (Robinson and Aceve d o2001 ).Ch i l d ren who had shown lowre l i a n ce on their mothers when distre s s e dand whose mothers had low psyc h o l og i ca lre s o u rce s, had less well deve l o pe dlanguage and cog n i t i ve skills than thosewhose re s ponses displayed high emotionalre a ct i v i ty and who relied heav i ly on theirmothers for suppo rt and social re fe re n c i n g.Fu rt h e r, Mu rray and Coo per (1997) discussthe growing body of ev i d e n ce indicat i n gt h at po s t n atal depression is implicated ina range of adverse outcomes for babies,e s pe c i a l ly males, i m p a cting on theircog n i t i ve and emotional deve l o p m e nt.Emphasis on the impo rt a n ce of early,s u p po rt i ve inte ra ctions be tween babiesand the adults ‘m o t h e ring ‘ them and thei m p a ct on cog n i t i ve abilities, is also fo u n din Wi j h n ro k s’s (1998) re s e a rc h .Wh e remothers we re able to maintain theat te ntion of their babies in inte ra ct i o n s,whether the babies we re pre - te rm orf u l l - te rm ,the be t ter the outcome for theb a b i e s’ cog n i t i ve deve l o p m e nt (Smithet al 1996 ).Bo rn s tein (1998: 301) re po rted on re s e a rc hco n ce rned with the way ‘Me ntal growth inthe human child consists of the incre a s i n gcoo rd i n ation of mind and re a l i ty.’ To do thishe loo ked at ‘h a b i t u at i o n’ – the way inwhich babies are at first inte re s te d, t h e nbe come bo red with, and lose inte rest in,o b j e cts they are shown seve ral times.An impo rt a nt finding from this re s e a rc hre l ated to babies who had been ex po s e dto cocaine in ute ro. At first it was assumedt h at the problems such children had one nte ring school we re the result of longte rm damage from the dru g s. Howeve r,Bo rn s te i n’s wo rk indicates that, while thec h i l d ren may well be ex pe riencing difficultl i ves through co ntinuing ri s ky be h aviour intheir pare nt s, the dru g - ex posed babieswe re not nece s s a ri ly disadva ntaged in theiri n fo rm ation processing abilities per se, t h eywe re suffe ring from an arousal re g u l at i o np ro b l e m ,o ften crying in re s ponse to nove ls t i m u l ation where the dru g - f ree babieswe re inte re s ted and po s i t i ve.Teasing of toddlers by fathers is moreprevalent than by mothers, accordingto research by Labrell (1994). Suchinteractions introduce novelty andambiguity which challenge and oftendelight young children. However,interactions resulting in arousal meanthat the adults involved need to besensitive to levels with which theirchildren are comfortable.Equally, as children interact more withsiblings and peers, they will be insituations where conflicts may arise.Several researchers (for example Gopniket al 1999; Light 1983) discuss how conflictcan act as a spur to cognitivedevelopment. This idea was also putforward by Piaget (1932),particularly inrelation to moral development.91