What are critical and sensitive periods in child development?
Sensitive periods generally refer to a limited time window in development during which the effects of experience on the brain are unusually strong, whereas a critical period is defined as a special class of sensitive periods where behaviors and their neural substrates do not develop normally if appropriate stimulation …
What is the sensitive period in brain development?
When the effect of experience on the brain is particularly strong during a limited period in development, this period is referred to as a sensitive period. Such periods allow experience to instruct neural circuits to process or represent information in a way that is adaptive for the individual.
What are sensitive periods in regard to language development?
Language. The sensitive period for spoken language is from 7 months to 3 years of age. It begins when the child first creates sounds by mimicking mouth movements, and progresses over time, as they learn to form words and simple sentences. The sensitive period for learning to write is from 3.5 to 4.5 years of age.
What is sensitive period in Montessori?
Montessori sensitive periods refer to a period of time when a child’s interests are focused on developing a particular skill or knowledge area. During what Maria Montessori describes as the child’s absorbent mind, birth to age 6, is when most sensitive periods occur.
What are the characteristics of the sensitive period?
Montessori identified eleven different sensitive periods occurring from birth through the age of six: order, movement, small objects, grace and courtesy, refinement of the senses, writing, reading, language, spatial relationships, music, and mathematics.
What is a sensitive period Montessori?
Through her years of study and observation, Maria Montessori discovered what she called “sensitive periods.” Sensitive periods are developmental windows of opportunity during which the child can learn specific concepts more easily and naturally than at any other time in their lives.
Is early childhood a critical or sensitive period for language learning?
Rather, language learning can occur after the onset of adolescence but may be incomplete. The period between infancy and adolescence, therefore, may be a sensitive period for language learning—language can be acquired more easily during this time—rather than an absolutely critical period.
What are the characteristics of sensitive period?