The Neo-Vygotskian approach to child development is positive stratagems of education, which are resource-oriented and presents the society with the view of the child as an empowered individual with a will, apparent ability, and unique skills, as opposed to the traditional implication of weaknesses or deviations associable to early childhood development (Karpov, 2005). According to Karpov (2005), the theory emphasizes on the development of knowledge that occurs socially during communication.
Knowledge is what people possess by working together because as people communicate, they are constructing a reality over claims, which is the required or anticipated acquaintance. The Neo-Vygotskian approach over development indicates that children are not in a position to build high mental functions independently; therefore, adults mediate the functions to them during interactive social activities.
1. What are the determinants of the development of toddlers’ ability to perform at the symbolic level?
In the development of children, the adult needs to develop a learning environment with tasks, context, and identifiers. Symbolic level means that the child develops habits that relate to objects. A good example is a reaction by repeating an action to achieve pleasurable results (Flick, 2006).
The key determinants of development at this developmental stage are the coordination between apprehension, vision, and coordination. The toddler can respond with amusement to the interaction with friends and family members. There is a distinction between means and ends.
2. What are the major accomplishments that accompany the successful formation of leading activity in toddlerhood?
Neo-Vygotskian approach observes social situations over development. This has currently changed terms to âleading activity,â which plays a major role during toddlerhood as an essential aspect for successfully forming leading activity (Karpov, 2005).
During this age, there are distinct but interconnected types of regular plays such as the social-dramatic plays by the leader, a play based on the social setting, play at the quantitative level of development as well as the rule-based play. All the types of plays provide a social transformation of the child for actual fundamental development.
These social aspects of development mean a continual change over the toddlersâ activities. During the stages of development, the identification of the initial activity precedes other corresponding progress to establish the most important formations. Toddlerâs development and learning involve mental development mediated by adults through interaction.
Concrete operations associable to this stage include serialization or the ability to sort out things in terms of sizes or shape. Transitivity involves the ability to characterize elements in serial order. The classification of objects requires the ability to identify various objects depending on their shapes, appearance or size.
Decentralizing entails the ability to pick up various aspects of a task to solve it. Lastly, reversibility is the ability to understand and practice some aspects of solving a problem. This means that successful formation of leading activity in toddlerhood requires consciousness, cognitive and conceptual intelligence.
3. What are the negative consequences of failure in leading activities formation in toddlerhood?
Development does not progress smoothly due to various unpredicted gaps. Considering the general domain of knowledge acquisition, psychological ideas, as well as modularity of the mind, emphasizes leading activities in toddlers. The human mental development is not a behavioral development program with a basis on biological revolution.
The behaviors depend on the chronological evolution or the progress of the historical events. Lack of leading activities in toddlerhood takes different forms at personal levels. There are various common psychological and social consequences, but they highly depend on the cultural setting. The consequences include shyness, incompetency, immaturity, lowered self-confidence, dependence, withdrawal, fear and isolation.
References
Flick, U. (2006) An introduction to qualitative research. Sage Publication.
Karpov, J. (2005). The Neo-Vygotskian Approach to Child Development. Cambridge University Press.