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Three Stages of Infancy
August 28, 2007
The purpose of play is to go out and be happy...to lay down cares and have fun for a while.
-William Dorn

In Exchange’s Beginnings Workshop Book: Child Development, J. Ronald Lally contributed the article, “Brain Research, Infant Learning, and Child Care Curriculum.” In this article he talks about the three stages of infancy:

“Throughout all of infancy, infants are searching for a sense of security, are drawn to exploration of surroundings, and are carving out their own special identity. How they express these interests varies as they move through three distinct developmental stages. The young infant prospers from and seeks out secure contacts with trusted adults. The mobile infant who is starting to crawl uses this store of security as a base for this stage's overpowering interest in exploration. As children mature in late toddlerhood to older infants, they become fascinated with how they might control their exploration, with the mine of things, the me and not me, and with many forms of identity distinctions. Therefore, the type of care given should change when the child's stage changes. Treating the 18-month-old infant the same as a six month old just doesn't work.”




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Comments (2)

Displaying All 2 Comments
Gwen Morgan · August 28, 2007
Wheelock College
Lincoln, MA, United States


Thank you, Xchange for spreading
Ron Lally's distinctions through the early childhood world, where they are badly needed. Our babies change before our eyes, and we need to adapt as rapidly as they change, to support their growth. I'd like to suggest that there are some other distinctions. A two year old is not a three-year old. We have a tendency to classify some twos as advanced toddlers, and then to "promote" all the others to age three. That two year old year is an important one, and we should have the sensitivity to adapt to our changing twos. The fact that some pretty serious problems are
created by adults who don't make these adaptations should alert us to our own need to grow in our work with twos and their parents.

Edna Ranck · August 28, 2007
Westover Consultants Inc.
Bethesda, Maryland, United States


Sometimes I wonder if parents and others who appear to ignore infants and toddlers just don't realize how important and necessary verbal and facial interaction is with very young children. I feel so bad when I see an adult, often a parent, simply act as if the child wasn't there. This often occurs on public transportation, in the supermarket, or on a park bench. The adult doesn't communicate anything except silence, leaving the child mute. Let's teach the adults to "talk" to babies!



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