Name: Niti Singh

Course: 18 months PG Diploma

Enrollment No. :

Child Psychology

1. What are the six sensitive periods?

Dr. Maria Montessori observed six sensitive periods. They are as follows

 The period for sensitivity to Order

A very important and mysterious period is the one that makes a child
extremely sensitive to order. This sensitiveness appears in a child’s first
year and continues on through the second. During this time babies and
children are striving to sort out and categorize all their experience, and it
is easier for them to do this if there is some kind of order in their lives. A
child has a twofold sense of order. One of these is external and pertains to
his perception of his relations with his environment. The second is
internal and makes him aware of the different parts of his own body and
their relative positions. This type of sensitiveness could be called inner
orientation.
The need for order is particularly evident in the child from about 1 ½
years. This coincides with the stage in his development when he is first
able to manipulate his environment and move object from one place to
another. He expects to find objects where he first perceived them and he
will go to great lengths to put them back if they are of place. This striving
for order is a characteristic in the child that passes as he grows older and
therefore Montessori calls it a Sensitive period. In a Montessori School is
a very important aspect of the environment.

 The period for Refinement of Senses

The young child has natural curiosity to explore the environment. At
about the age when he begins to crawl the exploration often takes the
form of picking up objects and putting them in the mouth. The child does
not only taste, he is beginning to co-ordinate interaction between all his
separate senses. There is strong evidence that the effects produced by the
stimulation of a given sense organ are continuously modified by ongoing
activities in the other sense. The development of this inter sensory
judgement goes up to the age of 8 years, and can be improved or refined
by guided teaching and practice. The quality of teaching will have direct
bearing on the degree of sensitive discrimination in distinguishing subtle
color variation that many adults never attained.
For a very early age a child has begun to make selected response to sense
stimuli i.e. he only hears, sees, touches and smells that which he wants to.
This selectivity of response is necessary to prevent the human nervous
system from being over whelmed by stimuli. It also has the effect of
making previous experience the key to what a human selects in his
response.

 The period of Sensitivity to Language

The ability to use language to talk is obviously of major importance as it
plays a vital role in all subsequent intellectual growth. The sensitive
period for language begins from birth. Your baby hears your voice and
watches your lips and tongue the organs of speech from birth, absorbing
all the time. By the age of six with almost no direct teaching, basic
sentence patterns and the inflections and accent of language. This does
not mean that he has achieved full language competence he will continue
to acquire more complex sentence structure and to extend this vocabulary
throughout childhood. By six, however an extraordinary amount. Has
been achieved. If for any reason a child is not exposed regularly to
language during this period, he will be irrevocably damaged. Depending
upon the degree of deprivation he could suffer more limitations in his
intellectual growth than could ever be compensated for totally.
Montessori believed therefore, that it was particularly important for adults
to converse with children during this period continually enriching their
language and giving them every opportunity to learn new words.
By the age of 5 years with almost no direct teaching, he has learnt basic
sentence patterns and has achieved considerable mastery in the following
areas:
Intonation patterns – the inflection of sound
Phonology – how to put sounds together to form words
Syntax – how to put words together to form simple sentence
Morphology – how to distinguish between different forms that words can
take
Semantics – how to interpret meanings of the words and sentences
Pragmatics – how to participate in conversations

 The period of Sensitivity for Walking

When your toddler first learns to walk at around twelve to fifteen months
he has a need to practice and perfect the skill. You walk because you
need to get from one place to another or for exercise but at this stage your
toddler walks for the sake of it. Once he is mobile he is constantly on the
move. In her book The Secret of Child-hood Montessori gives an
example of two and three year old children walking for miles and
clambering up and down staircases with the sole purpose of perfecting
their movements. We tend to under estimate the child’s ability to walk.
Very young children of two and three are capable of walking long
distance provided they can do it in their own time and speed.

 The period of Sensitivity for Small Objects

At around one, when the child becomes more mobile and therefore has a
larger environment to explore, he is drawn to small objects such as
insects, pebbles, stones and grass. He will pick something up look at
closely and perhaps put it in his mouth. The urge to pay attention to detail
that children of this age have is part of their effort to build up an
understanding of the world.

 The period of Sensitivity to Social aspects of Life

At about the age of two and a half or three, you will notice that your child
has become aware that he is part of a group. He begins to show an intense
interest in other children of his own age and gradually starts to play with
them in a cooperative way. There is a sense of cohesion which
Montessori believed was not instilled by instruction, but which came
about spontaneously and was directed by internal drives. She noticed that
at the age children began to model themselves on adult social behavior
and gradually acquire the social norms of their group.
2. What are the three stages of child development? Write two
paragraphs on each of the sub-phases of the first stage: 0 to 6 years.

Dr. Maria Montessori observed that all children, regardless of culture or

locale, experience the same stages of development at approximately the
same age. It is easy to see that children everywhere learn to walk and talk,
lose baby teeth, etc., at approximately the same age. Developmental
milestones that take place in the minds of children are harder to see, but
no less real or important. Maria Montessori divided these developmental
stages into three main stages. She called the first of these stages ‘The
Construction of Individuality’ or the Absorbent Mind Stage.

 Birth to Age Six: The Construction of Individuality and the

Absorbent Mind
From birth to around six years-of-age, children have an absorbent mind.
This means that they learn effortlessly, soaking in huge amounts of
information as easily as a sponge soaks up water. Montessori explains
that during this stage, children are constructing their individuality. She
further breaks this stage into two sub-stages: the unconscious and
conscious stage. Children under the age of three absorb information
without conscious effort. He or she is developing his basic faculties
through mimicry. Children in this phase will mimic just about everything
they see. Then from three to around six-years-old, children pass into a
more conscious stage of development. They still have sponge-like minds
that absorb information easily, but now they will consciously seek certain
experiences. Children in this phase are expanding their newly developed
faculties and abilities. They will demonstrate an innate and often intense
desire to make choices for themselves and to accomplish tasks
independently. Maria Montessori referred to this as the ‘help me do it
myself’ stage.

 Six to Twelve Years Old: Acquisition of Culture and the

Cosmic Plan
At about six or seven years old, children make a huge transition from the
Absorbent Mind Stage into the Reasoning Mind Stage. Children in this
stage become group oriented and like to work collaboratively. The
question “why” replaces the “what” of earlier stages as they become
interested in moral questions. Children at this age begin to use their
imaginations more, and to wonder what part they will play in the bigger
scheme of life. Maria Montessori called this The Cosmic Plan.

 Twelve to Eighteen Years Old: The Development of Personality

and Earth Children
As children enter into adolescence, they develop what Montessori called
a ‘social consciousness’. This presents itself in the form of a new sense of
self-awareness and a concern with his or her societal role in life.
According to Montessori’s curriculum for this age which she called
‘Erdkinder’ or Earth children this is not the time for children to be at their
academic prime. Instead, this is when children are developmentally ready
to broaden their range of experience within a community. In other words,
to learn skills for independent human living such as building, cooking,
sewing, and maintaining a budget. This is a time for children to spend
time discovering themselves and exploring their creative or artistic side.

Two sub-phases from birth to three and three to six.

In the first sub-phase from 0-3 years the child absorbs everything from
his environment unconsciously. It has a mind which is different from that
of the adult. The child has a type of mind that the adult cannot approach
that is to say, we cannot exert upon it any direct influence. In fact there
are no schools for such children. The child constructs his movements,
language, intelligence, memory, emotions and creative faculties
unconsciously during this sensitive period. This sub-phase is a period to
self-construction.

In the second sub-phase from 3-6 years the child brings his unconscious
knowledge to conscious level. This is achieved through movement and
exploration of the environment. The child uses his hands and enriches his
experience. Now the hand has become the instrument of the brain. This
sub phase is a period of consolidation. In some ways the child needs
freedom to consolidate his knowledge. In order to consolidate his past
achievements the child needs to be placed in a specially prepared
environment i.e. Montessori House of Children, where he is set free to
choose his own occupations and to make social contacts. Here he is able
 to make progress in the elements of culture, learns writing, reading and
number concepts, besides many other things.

3. Write short note on (a) Natural laws of development. (b)

Characteristics of child development.

a) Natural laws of development

Dr. Maria Montessori identified the Laws of Natural Development. These
are the natural instincts in children that help them to thrive and adapt to
their lives. As parents and teachers we need to nurture these to help our
children develop to their full potential. We have to follow the straight
path of nature according to ascertained laws of development. The new
approach to education must be based on natural laws of development.
These natural laws of development apply to plans, animals and children
in definite and unalterable ways.
The child is a great builder, a great constructor and maker of the adult
man. The child is the father of the man. That does not mean that one need
to have respect and veneration for one’s parents. Instead one should have
a similar sense of gratitude and affection towards the child as well.
We may not consider the child as the product of the adult, but regard him
as the producer of the adult. It is only a cycle in which both adults and
children take their places and it is necessary to recognize the parts both
play and the relative importance of each.
The great dignity of parents comes from the fact that they have made a
vital contribution to the coming into existence and development of the
child. The miracle of life occurs in the vegetable kingdom, in the animal
kingdom or among the children. Plants follow their own law of
development, so do animals, so does the child.
Growth and development through self-activity is nature’s greatest
miracle. The development of every organism has to be accomplished
within the precise space of time allotted to it. We know to the exact
minute how long one particular little germ will take to develop. There is
no one more attached to the timetable nor so faithful to it than any little
being in the process of growing.
The laws of development are there, they have to be observed, ascertained
and followed. Nature has its own laws regarding what should be achieved
by human beings, when and how. During that period, we find it
impossible to interfere with nature’s own forces. The child should be
given the freedom to develop within the laws of natural development.

b) Characteristics of child development.

Child development refers to the process through which human beings
typically grow and mature from infancy through adulthood. The different
aspects of growth and development that are measured include physical
growth, cognitive growth, and social growth. Child development focuses
on the changes that take place in humans as they mature from birth to
about age 17.
Child development entails the biological, psychological and emotional
changes that occur in human beings between birth and the conclusion of
adolescence, as the individual progresses from dependency to increasing
autonomy. It is a continuous process with a predictable sequence, yet
having a unique course for every child. It does not progress at the same
rate and each stage is affected by the preceding developmental
experiences. Because these developmental changes may be strongly
influenced by genetic factors and events during prenatal life, genetics and
prenatal development are usually included as part of the study of child
development. Related terms include developmental psychology, referring
to development throughout the lifespan, and pediatrics, the branch of
medicine relating to the care of children. Developmental change may
occur as a result of genetically-controlled processes known as maturation,
or as a result of environmental factors and learning, but most commonly
involves an interaction between the two. It may also occur as a result of
human nature and our ability to learn from our environment.
There are various definitions of periods in a child's development, since
each period is a continuum with individual differences regarding start and
ending. Some age-related development periods and examples of defined
intervals are: newborn (ages 0-4 weeks); infant (ages 4 weeks-1 year);
toddler (ages 12 months-24 months); preschooler (ages 2-5 years);
school-aged child (ages 6-12 years); adolescent (ages 13-19).
Promoting child development through parental training, among other
factors, promotes excellent rates of child development. Parents play a
large role in a child's life, socialization, and development. Having
multiple parents can add stability to the child's life and therefore
encourage healthy development. Another influential factor in a child's
development is the quality of their care. Child care programs present a
critical opportunity for the promotion of child development.
The optimal development of children is considered vital to society and so
it is important to understand the social, cognitive, emotional, and
educational development of children. Increased research and interest in
this field has resulted in new theories and strategies, with specific regard
to practice that promotes development within the school system. There
are also some theories that seek to describe a sequence of states that
compose child development.