INTELLIGENCE

INTELLIGENCE

Infancy

Babies were once thought to enter the world with minds that were blank slates that developed through a lifetime of experiences. It is as of the early 2000s known that newborns have brains as sophisticated as the most powerful supercomputers, pre-wired with a large capacity for learning and knowledge. In the first few months of life, a baby's brain develops at an amazing rate. At birth, infants have the senses of sight, sound, and touch. At about three or four months, infants begin to develop memory, and it expands quickly. Modern brain imaging techniques have confirmed that children's intelligence is not just hereditary but is also affected greatly by environment. Babies' brains develop faster during their first year than at any other time. By three months, babies can follow moving objects with their eyes, are extremely interested in their surroundings, and can recognize familiar sounds, especially their parents' voices. At six months, infants begin to remember familiar objects, react to unfamiliar people or situations, and realize that objects are permanent. At seven months, babies can recognize their own name. Parents can help their infants develop their intelligence by talking and reading to them, playing with them, and encouraging them to play with a variety of age-appropriate toys.

Toddlerhood

Toddlers' lives generally revolve around experimenting with and exploring the environment around them. The primary source of learning for toddlers is their families. During their third year, toddlers should be able to sort and group similar objects by their appearance, shape, and function. They also start to understand how some things work, and their memory continues to improve rapidly. They are able to remember and seek out objects that are hidden or moved to a different location. Toddlers should be able to follow two-step instructions and understand contrasting ideas, such as large and small, inside and outside, opened and closed, and more and less. Toddlers also develop a basic understanding of time in relation to their regular activities, such as meals and bedtime.

Preschool

At age three, preschoolers can say short sentences, have a vocabulary of about 900 words, show great growth in communication, tell simple stories, use words as tools of thought, want to understand their environment, and answer questions. At age four, children can use complete sentences, have a 1,500-word vocabulary, frequently ask questions, and learn to generalize. They are highly imaginative, dramatic, and can draw recognizable simple objects. Preschoolers also should be able to understand basics concepts such as size, numbers, days of the week, and time. They should have an attention span of at least 20 minutes. Children this age are still learning the difference between reality and fantasy. Their curiosity about themselves and the world around them continues to increase.