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Lesson objectives:To gain an overview of child development To explain why caregiver-infant interactions are important in early relationshipsTo evaluate caregiver-infant interaction theories and researchChild development1What is child development?Take a couple of minutes to think about the following:In what way is a baby different from an adult?In what way is a young child (2-4) different?How does an older child (4-10) differ?How does a teenager differ from an adult?What questions might we ask when studying child developmentThinking of these differences between children and adults, what might you want to research? Take 5 minutes to think of some ideas with your partner and then explain them to the group.How do we research child development?There are two main ways of carrying out research studies in child development:Cross sectional: describes a study where there are two or more groups of different individuals, allowing data to be collected relatively quicklyLongitudinal: describes a study that takes place over an extended time period; The same individuals are seen at different ages.Early relationshipsIn this topic we are going to look at why early relationships are important and what the long term effect is of missing out on these.What does a baby need from its first relationships?

Early relationships caregiver/infant interactionWatch the video and think about what is happening.

Caregiver-infant interactionImmediate physical contactImitationInteractional synchrony (turn taking in converstations)Modified language or mothereseWhat advantage do each of these have for the infant7Melzoff & MooreLook at page 2 of your textbook and read the study. What does this study tell us about interactional synchrony?What criticisms would you make of the study in terms of:MethodologyEthicsHow well it supports the theory

An example of mothereseWatch this example. What is the mother doing?

Evaluation of caregiver-infant interactionRead the evaluation on page 3To what extent might caregiver-infant interaction be said to be a learned response? What effect does culture have on caregiver-infant interaction?