INFLUENCE OF SOCIAL INTERACTION ON INFANT DEVELOPMENT

THE INFLUENCE OF SOCIAL INTERACTION ON INFANT DEVELOPMENT 

Children learn essential behaviors that they need in life at an early age. The early years of a child are essential in the development and wellbeing of a child. A child’s future relationships are influenced by the interaction with their parents or guardians and peers. Social interaction helps create an emotional attachment. Children are born without a clue of how anything works. However, the brain develops with time. Social interaction aids in the growth of the infant’s brain development.

A parent’s or a guardian’s interaction with a child is essential. An infant will easily imitate actions even before learning how to communicate via speech. “Baby brains lay the groundwork for forming words long before they speak.” (Kuhl &Imanda, 2014). The brain of an infant will process actions, facial expressions, words and sounds. A child might imitate immediately after the action while in other instances the infant might remember the action or sound later and imitate it. this is known as a deferred imitation. The brain processing the action or word and remembering it later is a sign of brain development and learning.

Parentese is a special way of talking to children. Children find it interesting hence capturing their attention. Caregivers use simple words and exaggerate the sound. It helps improve the development of the brain and learning.” Parentese speech influences early spoken words recognition.” (Garcia-Sierra, Ramirez-Esparza, &Kuhl, 2017). One on one infant-directed speech is most effective. The child’s attention is less likely to wander. One on one communication helps the child process facial expressions, body language and words easily as compared to an audio or a video. When young infants hear a word they tend to focus on rhythm and melodies in the voice. The use of parentese will interest a child and the brain will process the words easily leading to imitation which is a sign of brain development and learning.

Peer interaction is one of the most important forms of social interaction. A child can learn social behaviours important in life through playing with their peers. This helps them become more responsive to unfamiliar faces. Peer interaction enables a child to learn important social skills and values that help understand society and how to behave. A child can learn how to respect, help, love, appreciate, forgive and understand others through peer interaction. Peer interaction is associated with happiness and less stress which helps in the development of the brain and communication.

Back and forth, also known as contingency is another form of social interaction important in the development of a child. “A child’s first introduction to other people is through the back and forth interactions they have with their caregivers.” (Kuhl, &Imanda, 2014) A child learns from the responses of the caregiver. For example, when a child gives their caregiver something and the caregiver responds by saying thank you they learn what to do or say when they are given something. Infants will also learn how to react to things by observing the emotions of an adult. For example when a caregiver changes the dipper of a child and wrinkles their nose, the child will most likely wrinkle their nose when they have poop. Infants also learn from interactions between two people that do not involve them. For instance, when someone extends their hand for a handshake and the second person grabs the hand for a handshake, the child will learn how to respond to a handshake. This is part of learning and development of the brain.

Physical touch is a crucial aspect of social interaction. “Touch and sense of one’s own body are essential in infant development and mental health.” (Kuhl, &Meltzoff). Touch between the child and caregiver can be soothing and comforting. “The first sensory input in life comes from the sense of touch while a baby is still in the womb.” (Field, 2014). The gentle touch gives babies a sense of security easening their minds. For example, when a baby wakes up, they’ll start crying until the caregiver picks them up. The gentle touch calms them, enabling development in their brains.

It is safe to say that social interactions greatly impact infant brain development and learning. Children that experience healthy social interactions are seen to be more efficient in building relationships and learning later on in life. Peer interaction is very important to an infant’s brain development. Caregivers should be careful with their actions and the words they use in the presence of a child since the child can easily imitate them. It is important for a child to socially interact since it improves their mental health.

References.

Field, T. (2014). Touch. MIT press.

Garcia-Sierra, A., Kuhl, P. K., & Ramirez-Esparza, N. (2017). Look who’s talking NOW! Parentese speech, social context, and language development across time. Frontiers in phsychology, 8, 1008.

Kuhl, P. K., &Meltzoff, A. N. (2014). Exploring the Infant Social Brain: What’s going on in there? Institute for Learning and brain sciences University of Washington.