Vygotskian Development Theory regarded social interactions as pivotal in cognitive development. Cognitive abilities are considered to be socially constructed, which means that skills like learning, attention, and memory should be developed through culture-specific tools (Karpov, 2014). Vygotsky believed that adults play a mediatorial role in child development from birth to the age of six years, engaging children in age-appropriate activities and teaching them the psychological tools needed to act independently eventually.
Birth to One Year
The Emotional Interactions between Infants and Caregivers
Emotional interactions and attachment to caregivers are crucial for infants’ successful development. In this regard, adult mediation is not limited to satisfying children’s physiological needs, which would prevent them from developing attachment; instead, it involves building emotional connections as well. As Karpov (2014) states, numerous studies have shown that the baby’s attachment to caregivers helps them prepare to transition to the next age-appropriate activity. Adult mediation enables the development of emotional interactions with infants through comforting, soothing, nurturing, and providing pleasure. The caregiver’s specific cues and signals activate the baby’s attachment behaviors. Hence, while gratifying the primary physiological needs of infants, the adult develops a mutual emotional bond between them.
Infants’ Transition to Object-Centered Activity
Adult mediation in the context of emotional interactions with infants is closely related to their transition to the object-centered activity. According to Karpov (2014), infants gain more interest in exploring and manipulating objects from the age of six to twelve months. At this point, emotional connection with caregivers is no longer the dominant motive for the baby and their attention shifts to the toys and items introduced by the adult.
In other words, the infant’s positive emotions are now associated with the objects rather than the caregiver, and more initiative can be observed in their behavior. As Karpov (2014) states, the lack of infant-caregiver attachment results in the child’s decreased interest in objects and associated crying, motionlessness, and joylessness. Hence, the emotional interaction with the adult is crucial for the baby to transition to this object-centered developmental stage.
The Development of Infants’ Means of Communication with Adults
It is crucial for adults to establish their mediatorial role for children’s exploration since it affects infants’ development of the means of communication. According to Karpov (2014), any mutual activity identifies the need for communication means between the child and the adult, and the transition from one activity to another can cause changes in such means. In this regard, the caregiver builds up the verbal communication skills from the beginning of their interactions with the baby by talking to them. As the adult names objects while playing with the infant, it improves the child’s passive vocabulary growth. Furthermore, encouraging the baby to use language to get the desired toy helps them transition to using words instead of gestures.
One Year to Three Years
Children’s Joint Object-Centered Explorations with Adults
Starting from the first year of life and until the age of three years, children have a strong interest in object-centered explorations. As Karpov (2014) indicates, while playing with toys, shaking, and throwing different objects, children learn to understand their physical properties and behavior in different situations. However, an adult’s help is not required to discover objects’ characteristics, and such explorations on their own are not crucial to the infant’s development. Creating a context for joint child-adult activities is more important since it provides an opportunity for the caregiver to mediate the infant. The proximal rather than actual level of cognitive development is enabled through object-centered explorations with adults.
Children’s Transition to Sociodramatic Play
Between the second and third years of life, the social meanings of objects begin to play an essential role for children. At this point, older infants begin to discover the world of social roles and relationships, which leads to the transition from object-centered explorations to sociodramatic play. The adult mediation is crucial at this stage since children require help and guidance to learn the social meanings, which cannot be read from objects, in contrast to their physical characteristics (Karpov, 2014). Besides, the social roles involve not only the actions that a child can observe but also the reasons for certain behaviors, which need to be explained through sociodramatic play.
The Development of Children’s Language and Symbolic Thought
Adult mediation is essential for children’s language acquisition and mental processes development. According to Karpov (2014), the phenomenon of “language explosion” can be explained by the child’s need for more elaborated help from the caregiver as the explorations become even more complicated (p. 52). Adults facilitate the process of language learning, which, in turn, contributes to the development of symbolic thought in children. The mediatorial role of caregivers enables children to reenact the actions they observe, engaging in expressing symbolic thoughts and using objects to imitate processes through playing, drawing, talking, singing, and so forth.
Three Years to Six Years
Two Avenues for Mediation of Sociodramatic Play
Adult’s mediation in sociodramatic play is beneficial for children’s cognitive, emotional, intellectual, and social development. According to Karpov (2014), the two primary avenues for mediation are explaining social roles and relations to children and helping them acquire play skills. Both approaches promote the child’s proximal development despite the difference in methods. As Karpov (2014) claims, caregivers should explain social roles to children “by providing relevant experiences such as field trips, classroom visitations by people in different occupations, and stories about different jobs” (p. 62). Similarly, teaching play skills involves asking children questions and providing guidance, suggestions, and clarifications.
Sociodramatic Play’s Promotion of School Readiness
Sociodramatic play is a critical preschooler activity that promotes school readiness. In particular, it provides an efficient context for children’s development of essential skills and practicing behaviors that define their future success at school and in adult life. According to Karpov (2014), Sociodramatic play engages children in age-specific activities and interactions with other participants, such as peers, adults, or both. Moreover, social interaction is an integral part of such an activity, which distinguishes it from a dramatic play.
Adults’ Promotion of School Readiness by Mediating Age-Specific Activities
Promoting school readiness is one of the crucial tasks that adults need to accomplish through age-appropriate activities. As Karpov (2014) notes, they can include constructive play, fairy tale retelling, playing with dollhouses, water, or sand, board and outdoor games, motor activities such as jumping and running, and many others. School readiness comprises a wide range of skills, and adults’ mediating role helps children acquire them starting from birth to the school entrance age. Age-specific activities and children’s participation in them contribute to the development of cognitive, social, and emotional development related to a person’s future success. Adult mediation promotes skill acquisition and improves the effectiveness of preschool activities.
Reference
Karpov, Y. V. (2014). Vygotsky for educators. Cambridge University Press.