What is Early Stimulation?
It is also known as timely stimulation and its objective is to give the child a broad array of experiences, which will serve as a channel in which learning develops. The intention of early or timely stimulation is not to pressure or push the child forward in order to develop abilities or knowledge, rather, its intention is to optimize development; it is based on the belief that all learning is based on previous experience; as such, the goal is to provide children with these previous experiences which will ensure the most meaningful learning.
Early stimulation should begin spontaneously at home. Contact between mother and child from the time of birth is fundamental, because it gives the child many experiences that are very important for his or her knowledge of the world. Four months is considered to be the appropriate age at which to begin early stimulation, since prior to that the child is adapting to his or her home, the people around him or her and the world in general.
It is important that this stimulation follow an order that is coherent with the child’s development, beginning at home, becoming familiar with his or her space, the people around him or her, his or her pets and toys. In time, stimulation can begin outside the home.
The importance of early stimulation
From before birth children make neuronal connections, this is known as sinapsis. This connection process continues until the child is six or seven years old, and after that, no more such circuits will be created. It is for that reason that we must take advantage of this moment in order to achieve the most connections possible through stimulation, so that in the future the circuits can regenerate and allow the child to acquire new knowledge.
How does it work?
Babies participate and learn actively in the world. They experiment, and in this way they learn the function of objects and situations; and they can make their own interpretations. The baby comes to discover his or her surroundings as he or she experiences how the world affects his or her body, hence the importance of the involvement of the senses in learning. When the child touches, smells or tastes something, he or she begins to explore and understand the cause and effect, just as when he or she throws something, and does it repeatedly. With these actions, the child sees the consequences of his or her actions.
From birth until they are two years of age a child is in what is called the Sensory Motor Period, which means that they come to know and learn about their world through the senses; the child compiles information about his or her experiences, which he or she will apply in reality later on.
That is why it is so important to work with textures, colors, food, smells, games, songs and other activities in our classes that optimize this learning and converts it into something tangible and meaningful for the children.
Four areas of development are recognized in a baby’s learning process:
- Socio-affective, which has to do with the child’s ability to socialize and know him- or herself;
- Motor, which refers to small and large movements that a person makes with his or her body;
- Cognitive, where you take into account knowledge acquisition, and the ability to reason and resolve problems; and finally,
- Linguistics, which refers to acquiring and perfecting language, as well as the ability to communicate as a human being.
It is important to keep in mind that any activities related to early stimulation should have clear objectives and take into account the four areas of childhood development; in addition, there should be a balance of activities in the four areas so that the child’s development is integral and in this way we avoid overstimulation, which could end up producing results contrary to what was intended.
In teaching a new language to children between 0 and 3 years of age, the following points should be taken into account:
It is recommended that it be done in small groups or individually, since at this age children don’t have the same ability to concentrate as older children. Additionally, the child is just learning the rules of social conduct, like sharing, awaiting his or her turn, and asking for things instead of grabbing them, among others that could become distractions during the lesson. On the other hand, the child’s level of attention and understanding depends to a large extent on how physically close the teacher is to the child when communicating with him or her, and a small group or individual class makes appropriate closeness possible.
