Home » ExchangeEveryDay » Babies on the Edge



ExchangeEveryDay Past Issues


<< Previous Issue | View Past Issues | | Next Issue >> ExchangeEveryDay
Babies on the Edge
March 28, 2012
“Children see magic because they look for it.”
-Christopher Moore
"For each new phase of motor development, infants have to relearn how to keep themselves safe." 

This is the conclusion, reported in Scientific American Mind (November 2010), of Karen Adolph a developmental psychologist at New York University.  Adolph tested how infants judge risk by setting 12- and 18-month old infants at the top of an adjustable wooden "cliff" and having their mothers beckon them over the edge.  Babies who had been crawling for months generally did not go over the drop-offs that were too big for them, nor did babies who had been walking for a while.  But many babies who had just started walking marched straight over drop-offs beyond their capabilities — even the highest, most obvious, three-foot plunge. 

According to Adolph, this means that crawling infants do not learn to be afraid of heights.  Instead, they learn what their crawling bodies can do, and when their style of locomotion changes, they need practice to recalibrate how they perceive their abilities.






Learning Moments CD - How Infants Learn

This Learning Moments CD (for use on a computer) presents 11 real-life video files that are the perfect compliment to workshops, lectures, and online courses on how infants learn through their interactions with objects, peers, and adults. The clips include children from infancy to one year of age.

ExchangeEveryDay

Delivered five days a week containing news, success stories, solutions, trend reports, and much more.

What is ExchangeEveryDay?

ExchangeEveryDay is the official electronic newsletter for Exchange Press. It is delivered five days a week containing news stories, success stories, solutions, trend reports, and much more.

Procare Software is the tool of choice for more than 25,000 child-centered businesses. Streamline your child care management, administration, record keeping and automate payment processing. Free Demo!
Introducing Scholastic Big Day for PreK a new, proven-effective comprehensive program that embraces children's natural curiosity and prepares children for success in school and life! Learn More
Rocky Mountain Sunscreen - Buy Bulk and Save!




Post a Comment

Have an account? to submit your comment.


required

Your e-mail address will not be visible to other website visitors.
required
required
required

Check the box below, to help verify that you are not a bot. Doing so helps prevent automated programs from abusing this form.



Disclaimer: Exchange reserves the right to remove any comments at its discretion or reprint posted comments in other Exchange materials.