Toddlers' social coordinations: Changing responses to another's invitation to play.

Abstract

This study observed 28 toddlers, longitudinally at 16, 20, 24, 28, and 32 months, reacting to an adult's programmed play overtures. Ss ! actions were coded for (a) their relation to the adult's overture (coordinated, interfering, tangential, and unrelated), (b) alternative overtures to the adult, and (c) the uses of sounds/words. Coordinated responses increased with age; most consisted of nonverbal imitation, but, with increasing age, more involved verbal imitation and verbally directing the adult. Alternative overtures also increased with age and were increasingly repeated in same or varied form. Finally, words were increasingly used to regulate the activity between toddler and adult: In their coordinated responses, toddlers increasingly described their own actions and directed the adult; in their alternative overtures, they verbally requested the adult to assume a new role. A proposed model integrates developmental changes in forming and maintaining social coordinations with changes in negotiating the topic for coordinated action.

Potential neural mechanisms underlying the effectiveness of early intervention for children with autism spectrum disorder

“…As these early social behaviors and abilities are emerging, contingent brain activation takes place and shapes neural networks, leading to flexibility, generalization of knowledge, and expertise with continued experience (Eckerman & Didow, 1989; Ross, 1982; Rutter & Durkin, 1987). At the neural level, therefore, brain regions that are activated during these early social encounters are fundamental to the development of social brain circuitry.…”

“Let’s work together”: What do infants understand about collaborative goals?

“…This distinctive form of human social behaviour emerges early in life (e.g., Bates et al, 1979; Bruner, 1983; Brownell & Carriger, 1990, 1991; Eckerman & Didow, 1989; Ross & Lollis, 1987; Warneken & Tomasello, 2007), contributes critically to development (e.g., Azmitia, 1988; Radziszewska & Rogoff, 1988; Sommerville & Hammond, 2007), and has been argued to be the primary engine through which culture is created, maintained, and transmitted from one generation of the human species to the next (e.g., Rogoff, 1990; Tomasello, 1999; Tomasello, Kruger, & Ratner, 1993). Despite the growing body of evidence documenting children’s engagement in collaboration, very little is known about what infants understand about these activities.…”

“…Infants coordinate their own actions with those of a social partner in familiar cooperative routines, such as peek-a-boo, before their first birthday (e.g., Bates et al, 1979; Bruner, 1983; Duncan & Farley, 1990; Hubley & Trevarthen, 1979; Ross & Lollis, 1987). Between 13- and 30-months, infants become more skilled partners in novel cooperative activities in which they and their partners engage in complementary actions (Bakeman & Adamson, 1984; Brenner & Mueller, 1982; Brownell & Carriger, 1990, 1991; Brownell, Ramani, & Zerwas, 2006; Eckerman, Davis, & Didow, 1989; Eckerman & Didow, 1989; Warneken et al, 2006; Warneken & Tomasello, 2007). These findings raise the question of whether infants understand the collaborative goal structure underlying these activities; do infants represent collaborative activities as depending on complementary actions in service of a collaborative goal?…”

Detection and Growth Pattern of Arcuate Fasciculus from Newborn to Adult

“…The literature provides many examples of significant developmental changes, especially in regards to social and cognitive aspects, which occur around 3 years of age, during the toddler stage (Howes, 1983; Eckerman and Didow, 1989; Willard, 1989). Erikson's psychosocial stages of development may correlate with the functional and structural changes occurring in the brain during major developmental stages.…”