Good day. Jeannette Hille, and I'm a registered counselor in private practice. I've worked for many years in Deaf Education as a school counselor, and educator, and head of department. Today, I will tell you about the social and emotional development in young children. In this video, we focus specifically on the notch to five-year-olds. The foundation for global development of a young child is bonding and attachment. This starts on day one when an infant is born. The primary caregiver, who is in most cases the mother, will bond and connect with her baby as only a mother can. The bond is created through touch, sound, sight, smell, and providing all of baby's needs. This bond and attachment will create a sense of safety and security for the infant. It is from this solid platform the infant can start exploring the world around him or her. That foundation is built using the essential tool of communication. This also starts on day one and is vital to build strong bonding and attachment, upon which all other aspects of global development can grow: physical, cognitive, sensory, social, and emotional. The mother will recognize the different cries, the giggles and gurgling sounds that make up the first form of communication between mother and child. The baby would express emotions through cries, smiles, and babbling sounds. The mother responds to these through her own verbal facial, and tactile communication methods. For example, she uses a special language called motherese. For a deaf baby, this early bonding and communication can be established through signing as a form of visual communication. We could call this visual motherese. Initially, the baby explores the world by exploring its own body. The infant starts recognizing other voices, and becomes aware of different faces. Through safe interaction between the baby and the world, the scene is set for healthy development, including social and emotional development. Through constant communication, objects get labels. People get names. This will assist the infant to make sense of the world. For a deaf baby, this early connection is stressful. Due to a lack of auditory input, it is difficult to form a primary bond between mother and baby. It is a well-known fact that young children follow the behavior patterns of the caregivers more than the spoken word. Imitation is a powerful socializing agent in the young child's development. The parents can show good behavior from bad, and show the child what is right and wrong, the word know is introduced in this phase. With a stern voice and the appropriate facial expression, a child can observe when a behavior or action is acceptable or not. This is an important part of the socialization process. Because through discipline, social rules and boundaries are introduced to the young child. With the deaf child, this part of social development should take place with the use of clear signs and gestures. A deaf baby or toddler would copy what the parents do more than what the parents say. It is important for the parent at home and the teacher at the preschool to check that the deaf child has understood the message. Much of what young children learn is done through play. This starts at an egocentric level whereby the baby or toddler plays learn. During the first two years, the toddler's cognition develops three actions on objects. They begin to derive pleasure from manipulating objects and learn to understand the social meaning of objects. They then proceed to the level of symbolic play, whereby objects become props and pretend or imaginary play. With this healthy cognitive development, the young child begins to use imagination, and becomes creative and play. A block becomes a truck, a cardboard box symbolizes a house. This can only happen if the child has enough vocabulary in understanding of the way things work in the world. A deaf toddler has a limited vocabulary in signs to engage fully in pretend play. Play in a deaf child therefore, will show limited use of imagination. The caregivers will play with the child at home and show them how to play and manipulate toys and other objects for enjoyment. They model the behavior they wish to see in their child. Then when a young child enters an early childhood development or preschool setting, other children become part of the world of play. The child will learn social skills such as: sharing, turn taking, waiting for their turn, not grabbing, making up games, obeying rules of board games and so on. In this setting, it is the teacher who becomes the other socializing agent. She will model the desired behavior and correct the inappropriate behavior. At the same time, the young child begins to learn how to regulate emotions and feelings. Through temper tantrums all the time for example, will not have the desired positive response from the people around him. Excessive screaming and crying for wanting a particular toy, will not evoke the expected response. Thus, they learn to request things in more socially acceptable ways. There are other factors that will have an impact on the child's emotional and social development. We live in a world where we cannot imagine the absence of televisions, smartphones, tablets, and other media. It is part of our lives and therefore, also part of a young child's life in development. Television has its place in the life of a young child as a window to the world. However, it has been proven that too much television watching can have a negative impact on a young child's life, including physical, cognitive, social, and emotional development. It is important for parents at home and for teachers at school to monitor the time and frequency of watching television programs. Adults should also check the content of programs as many young children are exposed to a world full of aggression, violence, and crime. Remember earlier, I said the children imitate behavior very well. This is true for what they see on television too. Here, the rule also counts what they see, they will remember, and act out or imitate. Although the following may not necessarily occur on a large scale, the use of mobile phones and iPads in this age group is concerning. I have seen young children playing on these devices without supervision or guidance. We do not know what they are exposed to unless we monitored and set strict boundaries. This attitude will assist the young child to become a healthy social person. There are many more factors that can have an impact on social and emotional development. This includes: poverty, poor housing, malnutrition, unemployment, illness, abuse at home, exposure to crime, gangsterism, etc. We cannot change the socioeconomic circumstances immediately, but we can make sure that bonding, attachment, and communication take place. We can ensure that this process will continue in the young child's life to guarantee that he or she will develop into a healthy social and emotionally mature human being.
