Early Language and Development Essay Example for Free

Early Language and Development Essay Language is a complex and abstract endeavor, wonderfully creative at the same time governed by a multitude of rules. Before the age of 1 year, babies communicate with intent, primarily through the use of body orientation, facial expressions, gestures, and nonsymbolic vocalizations that mimic the intonations of their native language. At the end of the first year, however, many babies are beginning to use word approximations, consistent combinations of sounds as a transition to language, a symbolic system of communication. During the toddler years, language development is focused on semantics, or the meaning of words, and on syntax the rules of grammar for the language. (Slentz, et al. , 2001) Early language developments are crucial stage to one’s life. Baby’s language are through actions, and it could mean various meaning. Babies can’t speak yet, but they have their own ways to let us know how they feel. From the beginning, a mother and baby can be seen attuning to each other. They copy each other’s movements and expressions with mutual relaxed smiles, and later with laughing delight. (Clulow, et al. , 1993) Attunement is an essential factor for speech and language in general. According to John Bowlby (1980) early month – infant bonding and attachment are crucial to early language and development, thus it should be given importance by the mother to her baby as soon the baby was born. It is also noted that our feelings are easier to convey or communicated with infants. For an instance, baby cries when he hears another baby crying or when a mother the mother is angry while holding the baby, the baby becomes fussy. (Klein, 1987) Moreover, at an early stage, the mother’s speech affirms and responds to the infant’s eagerness to become involved in â€Å"proto-conversation†, a non – verbal form of discourse. Speech engages attention, communicates feelings, and facilitates social interaction as well as facilitating language acquisition. (Clulow, et al. , 1993) If a mother cannot attune to her baby’s rhythm then, as a result the baby will become distressed. This in turn stresses his mother, usually upsetting more, so that a vicious circle is likely. From birth onwards, children can be regarded as active participants in interaction. As for intentionality, young children develop along a continuum, in which they gradually learn to use more sophisticated and conventional means to communicate and also demonstrate increasing competence in intentionally conveying meanings to their interactive partners. The most common communicative functions of early intentional communicative acts have been found to be requests for objects/actions and comments on objects/actions (Paavola et al. ,2005) A mother’s ability to monitor her child’s visual attention and exhibition of a vocal or an exploratory act and then to respond promptly, contingently and appropriately is usually referred to as responsiveness. There is a lot of evidence for the supporting role of maternal responsiveness in child language development However; the efficacy of maternal responsiveness may not be global. Instead, it has been suggested that certain aspects of responsiveness are more predictive than others to particular language outcomes in the child. Furthermore, it is possible that children differ in their needs to be guided and supported by their mothers, which leads to differences in maternal role in early interactions (Paavola et al. , 2005) According to Harris (1992) the relationship between the cognitive/perceptual processes involved in development and the childs linguistic experiences. The first steps in language development and the role of adult-child interaction (both verbal and nonverbal) are very important. The focus is on the way parentsmothers in particularstructure the childs language-learning experiences so that they are conducive to the steps the child must take to master the first stages of language acquisition. Moreover, Harris (1992) concludes that early lexical development (the learning of an initial vocabulary) may be more sensitive to individual differences in parental interaction styles than has been demonstrated to be the case for syntactic development. Hence, the emphasis of the monograph is on the period and processes of parent interaction and child language development from the pre-verbal phases, from 6 month of age, through to the appearance of word combinations, around 2 years of age; that is, roughly Browns (1973) Stage I and early Stage 2. There are 3 major theoretical controversies about the nature and process of language development; the research into the influence of adult speech on childrens learning language; the role of the social interactional context in assisting language development; the childs use of the immediate referential context in progressing through the first steps in language development; and what constitutes appropriate evidence with which to address these issues. (Harris, 1992) In the early weeks of life, pragmatic skills (responding to verbal and non-verbal aspects of language) develop as babies interact with their carers through crying, blinking and smiling. First words appear between 12 and 18 months. (http://www. literacytrust. org. uk/Research/earlylanguage. html) ? 12-month-olds can distinguish between words, mouth sounds and object noises. They have linguistically specific knowledge of the privileged status of language. (Pruden, et al. , (2006) ? Children aged 18 to 35 months demonstrate learning through integration of earlier instruction with subsequent problem-solving experience. Toddlers are not passive learners. (Chen and Siegler, 2000) Furthermore, according to the website http://www. literacytrust. org. uk, Mother-child dynamic in language learning has been central to early year’s research. Mothers are often the predominant influences in childrens early years. The concentration on maternal speech input implies that mothers share a unique relationship with their children as they learn language, that mothers are programmed to respond to childrens sounds in a way that reinforces early language development and, in turn, that the child has an innate capacity for learning language. Early studies in this area found that mothers speech facilitates, and, in some cases, hinders the language development of young children. Social contact between parents and infants are considered to be a contributing factor in language development. It is also noted that social interaction with other people can either impede or development the babies language. Environment and culture can influence one’s speech as well. A baby whose parents are Asian and American and living in Europe could somehow impede his speech especially when there are different languages at home. Being specific at an early age could help the baby understand more and becomes attuned to his surroundings. Additionally, when the child verbally establishes complex connections and relations between perceived phenomena with the help of an adult, the child introduces at each moment essential qualitative changes in the receptivity and interpretation of sensory input to his brain. When a child acquires a word which isolates a particular thing and serves as a signal for a particular action, the child carries out an adult’s verbal instruction is connected to this word. (Eveloff, 1971) Toddlers build vocabulary based on unique experiences, and new words are acquired at an average rate of one word per week until children are 18 months old. Some toddlers focus on primary words that refer to objects and people, and developing strategies such as asking â€Å"what’s that† to elicit noun labels in response from adults. Other youngsters had vocabularies with more words for affect, motion or location, expressive language. Language is considered to be the most significant adaptive measure available to developing human. Language is highly related to developmental hierarchies such as neurophysiologic, cognitive, and affective. .(Slentz, et al. , 2001) Overall, early language and development starts with parents or the babies caregiver, it is an essential factor for parents to be educated properly on what are their roles in developing their babies language. Babies’ language development can impede or progress, depending on the ability of the parents and how they interact with their babies. I personally believe that education is the best tool in order to achieve great results for communicating well. Language, speech, and emotions can be linked together. Emotions are greatly expressed through words, and thus this will lead to how we can influence the child’s language and development. Parents are foremost educators on developing the characteristic and personality of the child. Language factor is another contributing aspect on how the child will become in the future. References: Bowlby, J. (1980) Loss: Sadness Depression [Vol. 3 of Attachment and Loss]. London: Hogarth Press; New York: Basic Books; Harmondsworth: Penguin (1981). Brown, R. W. (1973) A First Language: the Early Stages. Cambridge, Harvard University Press Chen, Z. , Siegler, R. S. (2000). Across the great divide: bridging the gap between understanding of toddlers’ and older children’s thinking. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development 65 No. 2 Clulow, C. (1993) Human Development: An Introduction to the Psychodynamics of Growth, Maturity and Ageing. Psychology Press UK Eveloff, H (1971) Some Cognitive and Affective Aspects of Early Language Development Child Development, Dec71, Vol. 42 Issue 6, p1895-1907, 13p; Harris, M (1992) Language Experience and Early Language Development: from input to Uptake Hove, UK: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Paavola, et al. , (2005) Maternal responsiveness and infant intentional communication: implications for the early communicative and linguistic development.. Child: Care, Health Development, Nov2005, Vol. 31 Issue 6, p727-735, 9p; Pruden, et al. , (2006) The Birth of Words: Ten-Month-Olds Learn Words Through Perceptual Salience Child Development 77 (2), 266–280. Slentz, K. , Krogh (2001) Early Childhood Development and Its Variations. Mahwah, N. J. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. â€Å"Early language development: a review of the evidence for birth to age three† can be accessed at http://www. literacytrust. org. uk/Research/earlylanguage. html (accessed February 22, 2007)

The Advantages Of Being Legal :: essays research papers

The Advantages of Being Legal   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There are many arguments on the question of whether or not to legalize marijuana. The benefits of legalizing marijuana include its medicinal value and its many uses to produce commercial products like paper, rope, oil, textiles, and canvas. Another good reason to legalize marijuana is that hundreds of thousands of non-violent drug offenders are overpopulating prisons, costing taxpayers millions of dollars. Legalization would also put marijuana dealers out of business and it would bring revenue to the government like alcohol and tobacco does. Some opposition to legalizing marijuana is that traffic fatalities would increase, and that more people like school teachers and bus drivers would be smoking legally purchased marijuana. They also believe that more young people would smoke more marijuana.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Marijuana is medicine and has been used as medicine for thousands of years to treat a wide variety of ailments. It is one of the safest therapeutically active substances known. Marijuana is often useful in the treatment of cancer, AIDS, glaucoma, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy and chronic pain. For cancer patients, marijuana alleviates the nausea, vomiting, and loss of appetite caused by chemotherapy treatment. It does the same for people with AIDS. By reducing intraocular pressure, marijuana helps slow or halt the gradual increasing eye pressure suffered by glaucoma patients. Marijuana reduces the muscle pain and spastically caused by multiple sclerosis. It also helps some patients control their bladders. With some epileptic patients, marijuana prevents seizures. Marijuana is also a very effective pain reliever.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Hemp, a plant mainly grown for its use as a fiber source, is from the same plant that produces marijuana. It is different because industrial hemp is grown with minute amounts of delta-9 and tetrahydrocannibinol, abbreviated as THC, which is the element in marijuana that gives the ‘high sensation'. Industrial hemp is one of nature's strongest and most versatile agricultural crops. It can be used to produce various things such as textiles, paper, clothing, plastics, cosmetics, food stuffs, insulation, and animal feed. Hemp seeds can be used to make high protein foods and the oil can be used to produce non-toxic paint, varnish, detergent, diesel fuel, ink, and lubricating oil.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  One acre of hemp produces as much fiber as two to three acres of cotton and one acre also produces as much paper as two to four acres of trees. The advantage of using paper products produced by hemp is that hemp's growing cycle is around one hundred days, while it takes trees years to grow to produce the same amount of paper. Hemp was cultivated in the U. S. until 1937, when the Marijuana Tax Act outlawed marijuana. The Advantages Of Being Legal :: essays research papers The Advantages of Being Legal   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There are many arguments on the question of whether or not to legalize marijuana. The benefits of legalizing marijuana include its medicinal value and its many uses to produce commercial products like paper, rope, oil, textiles, and canvas. Another good reason to legalize marijuana is that hundreds of thousands of non-violent drug offenders are overpopulating prisons, costing taxpayers millions of dollars. Legalization would also put marijuana dealers out of business and it would bring revenue to the government like alcohol and tobacco does. Some opposition to legalizing marijuana is that traffic fatalities would increase, and that more people like school teachers and bus drivers would be smoking legally purchased marijuana. They also believe that more young people would smoke more marijuana.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Marijuana is medicine and has been used as medicine for thousands of years to treat a wide variety of ailments. It is one of the safest therapeutically active substances known. Marijuana is often useful in the treatment of cancer, AIDS, glaucoma, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy and chronic pain. For cancer patients, marijuana alleviates the nausea, vomiting, and loss of appetite caused by chemotherapy treatment. It does the same for people with AIDS. By reducing intraocular pressure, marijuana helps slow or halt the gradual increasing eye pressure suffered by glaucoma patients. Marijuana reduces the muscle pain and spastically caused by multiple sclerosis. It also helps some patients control their bladders. With some epileptic patients, marijuana prevents seizures. Marijuana is also a very effective pain reliever.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Hemp, a plant mainly grown for its use as a fiber source, is from the same plant that produces marijuana. It is different because industrial hemp is grown with minute amounts of delta-9 and tetrahydrocannibinol, abbreviated as THC, which is the element in marijuana that gives the ‘high sensation'. Industrial hemp is one of nature's strongest and most versatile agricultural crops. It can be used to produce various things such as textiles, paper, clothing, plastics, cosmetics, food stuffs, insulation, and animal feed. Hemp seeds can be used to make high protein foods and the oil can be used to produce non-toxic paint, varnish, detergent, diesel fuel, ink, and lubricating oil.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  One acre of hemp produces as much fiber as two to three acres of cotton and one acre also produces as much paper as two to four acres of trees. The advantage of using paper products produced by hemp is that hemp's growing cycle is around one hundred days, while it takes trees years to grow to produce the same amount of paper. Hemp was cultivated in the U. S. until 1937, when the Marijuana Tax Act outlawed marijuana.

Biography of Fernando Botero Essay

Fernando Botero, also named the most Colombian of Colombian artists, has developed a style the world notices as his own. Fernando was born in 1932 in Medellin, Colombia. Fernando came across heavy schooling as a child, which isolated him from traditional art in museums and such cultural institutions. It was his strict school however that brought art to be an interest for Fernando, the school Botero attended was run by Jesuits who were strict and brought little enjoyment into Botero’s life. To find enjoyment Botero began to draw at a young age. At that young age his inspiration was anything that interest him such as bullfighting. Fernando was a great fan of bullfights so he would paint scenes of this then sold them in front of the arena for 5 pesos. He spent nearly two years painting this subject. He had a growing interest in art his entire life; he shared his thoughts, and studied. When Botero was seventeen he worked for the Medellin newspaper, El Colombiano, titled Picasso and the Nonconformity of Art, which showed Botero’s mind and how it is linked with art. Botero is so well known because of his signature style, robust and round objects and characters. Botero tells critics that he is simply attracted to his form without knowing why. He claims that artists never know why artists use a form, he claims the style is intuitive and that the explanation for their style can be rationalized after it’s adopted. Botero is difficult to understand, as he doesn’t share his opinion with his art or even explaining his art. â€Å"He shares his vision with us but not telling us how to feel about it. Navas- Nieves says. We know his works are personal as some of his famous works depict his youth, â€Å"The Bishop†, â€Å"The Nun†, â€Å"The Bullfighter†, and â€Å"The Widow†. It is unknown to all except Botero however if these drawings reflect the beauty with these no proportional, bright colored, exaggerated sized or the turmoil. Botero eliminated brushwork and texture in his paintings as he favored a smoother look. Botero’s works are abstract and are educated by a Columbian upbringing and social commentary. When Colombian children go to church they see all these Madonnas, so clean and perfect. In South America china-like perfection is very much a part of the ideal toilet of beauty. More so even than the polychrome wood sculptures in Spain, Latin American sculptures look like porcelain. So, in contrast to Europe or North America, you connect the notions of art and beauty at a very early age. I grew up with the idea that art is beauty. All my life I’ve been trying to produce art that is beautiful to discover all the elements that go to make up visual perfection. When you come from my background you can’t be spoilt by beauty, because you’ve never really seen it. If you’re born in Paris, say, you can see art everywhere, so by the time you come to create art yourself you’re spoilt – you’re tired of beauty as such and want to do something else. With me it was quite different. I wasn’t tired of beauty; I was hungering for it. † Botero said this knowing he was not raised with art, which is his beauty. The lack of art in his life made him develop such an original style. The church influences Botero, his baroque style was adopted from the church. Botero is the most Colombian of Colombian artists because of his insulation from international trends. Botero once remarked â€Å"A painter can do things a photographer can’t do, because a painter can make the invisible visible. † This thinking lead Botero to create a series of serious paintings about prisoner abuse in Abu Ghraib. Botero, through his paintings in this series allowed us to feel the prisoners suffering. The paintings brought us to the agony of the victims, the humiliation they felt and all the pain was transferred from the painting to us, making us the victim. This series proved moreover Botero’s skill of art. Many critics thought the series was out of Botero’s league claiming that Botero’s style cannot do justice to the seriousness of the subject. Botero proved the critics wrong when he captures the emotion of the victims. The difference between photographs and paintings are that photographs come with a story. Just something that happened. They can be beautiful but paintings show affects and emotion and thoughts and different depictions. Much more thought goes into a painting, which sets the two apart.

Essay about A Life of Celibacy; Buddhism and Sex - 1910 Words

A Life of Celibacy; Buddhism and Sex Buddhism which just may be the most tolerant religion in the world, constitutes teachings that can coexist with almost any other religions. Buddhism began with Siddhartha Gautama who lived in northern India in the sixth or fifth century B.C.E. The religion has guidelines in two forms in which Buddhist followers must follow. These are the Four Noble Truths and the Eight fold Path. Buddha taught that man is a slave to his ego and that the cause of suffering is desire, essentially the way to end suffering is to overcome desire. Buddhist views toward sex are those constituting that it is a natural part of human life, but also something that is associated with craving. As the Buddhist path involves†¦show more content†¦In fact, the Buddhist name for monastic celibacy is brahmachariya in Sanskrit that means ‘Godly conduct . This kind of spiritual pride further devalues both the men and women outside of monastic life. Ironically, the nega tive attitude towards sexuality associated with the brahmachariya life style might actually be viewed as a kind of reversed attachment to sexuality. After all, arent we as attached to that which we try to suppress as we are to that in which we favor? But before evaluating the celibate life style in totally negative terms, we must remember that it is not the only side. The Buddha taught that as long as one is absorbed in sexual activity, one could not be interested in a practicing spiritual life. But when he gave his gradual enlightenment teaching, he also said that the sensation of lust, of sexuality, has pleasure. In this way he did not deny the pleasure. But then, that very pleasure turns into displeasure, and gradually, slowly, as the lust wears out, people begin to fight. Because out of lust arises fear, then greed, and soon anger, hatred, confusion and fighting; all these negative things arise from lust. And therefore these negative things are inherent in lust. Which is somethi ng any human being can confess to, there is a fine line between love and hate, and the same goes for lust. Whether you are heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, is indifferent. As long as you are in it, you will inevitably have theseShow MoreRelatedThe Noble Eightfold Path1926 Words   |  8 PagesBuddhism began with a man named Siddhartha Gautama who had lived in northern India in the sixth or fifth century B.C.E. The religion has its teachings in two forms; these are the Four Noble Truths and the eight fold Path. 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