early childhood

Early childhood is full of lots of small triumphs and rapid growth. The movie we watched in class showed us several different scenarios and in which small children discover that they can affect their world. In an experiment done by Emperor Fredrick II over 700 years ago, humans discovered the importance of interaction between a care giver and child. The Emperor had several babies grow in such a way that their caregivers simply fed and changed them. The caregivers were told not to speak or show affection to the infants. The Emperor was trying to figure out which language these babies would learn to speak. What he discovered instead was that the children would soon die without the love and affection they need to survive. Later experiments show how sad and dejected babies can easily become when their parents or caregivers do not make eye contact and soothe them. When faced with new things, such as music, babies often look to their caregivers for an appropriate response.
Playing is an essential part of a child’s development. Symbolic play helps children associate their toys, such as a cup, with an everyday object used to drink. One scenario shown in this film is how a family, in which everyone is deaf, plays and relates to one another. I found it very interesting that this family interacted with one another generally in the same way as any family with the ability to hear would. They were signing over one another at the dinner table, just as excited children would speak over each other. Deaf children still learn to babble the same as any other child. Language is the key to life as human beings. Be it signing, or any native tongue, we need the ability to communicate with one another to develop a sense of belonging and to survive.