Did you know that 80% of a child’s brain develops by the age of three years old? It is during these early years of development that a child’s brain begins to develop memory, language, thinking, and reasoning skills. They learn by imitating the behavior of others, especially adults and older children. It can also be a challenging time as children begin to show defiant behavior and set out to explore the world around them.

During the toddler years, a child’s ability to play pretend emerges. At 18 months, it is a simple ability, such as feeding a doll. By the end of this period (3 years), a child’s ability to pretend play has become much more elaborate. As stated in chapter two, Erikson’s psychosocial theory has eight stages. Erikson claims that human motivation is social. During the first year of life, infants experience trust vs. mistrust. Erikson stated that this was the most important stage in development. If infants learn to trust their caregivers, they will feel confident to explore their world independently. During the second stage, autonomy vs. shame and doubt, ages 1 to 3, toddlers and young preschoolers want to be independent. You often hear them saying, “Me do it.” They get frustrated and may feel shame and doubt when they are unsuccessful. It is important to provide them with opportunities to accomplish tasks independently–for example, providing small pitchers so they can pour their own milk and clothing that they can put on independently.

According to Piaget, toddlers remain in the sensorimotor stage of development through approximately 24 months or two years of age. From 12 to 18 months, toddlers become creative problem solvers. For the first time, they are able to apply entirely new strategies to solve problems rather than simply using combinations of previously used schemes. Their creativity during this stage stems from their use of tertiary circular reactions, in which toddlers make subtle modifications in their behavior so as to explore the effects of those modifications. The ability to utilize tertiary circular reactions provides toddlers with the means to learn from their actions (Piaget, 1955).

The final stage of the sensorimotor period involves the emergence of symbolic representation and the use of mental symbols to represent objects. Toddlers develop the ability to imagine the acts of a sequence of events to discover the outcome. This is the emergence of their problem-solving abilities, which will continue to develop throughout childhood.

Joint attention between caregiver and child is critical during the toddler phase of development. It facilitates cognitive development through a sharing of focus, allowing the toddler to learn how to interpret and understand interactions with others. Caregivers who are sensitive and responsive to a child’s needs and focus with the child on a shared task assist the child in their cognitive development.

First Sentences: Language Development in Toddlerhood

Between 12 and 18 months, toddlers add about three words per month to their vocabularies. After 18 to 24 months, a vocabulary explosion often takes place, which adds a multitude of words at a rapid rate of acquisition. At about 18 months, many children begin to produce sequences of words. They are usually separated by long pauses. By the end of the second year, these sequences give way to true sentences. Toddlers shift from using holophrases (single-word utterances that convey as much meaning as a whole sentence) to actual sentences with multiple words strung together. This shift is one of the tremendous accomplishments of the toddler years.