Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-c4f8m Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-25T04:49:02.777Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The uncontrollable nature of early learning experiences

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 November 2017

Katelyn Kurkul
Affiliation:
Department of Human Development and Human Services, Merrimack College, North Andover, Massachusetts 01845. kurkulk@merrimack.eduhttp://www.merrimack.edu/live/profiles/481-katelyn-kurkul-edd
Kathleen Corriveau
Affiliation:
Department of Human Development, Boston University, Boston, MA 02215. kcorriv@bu.eduhttp://www.bu.edu/learninglab/

Abstract

Early learning experiences shape the development of the behavioral constellation of deprivation (BCD) proposed by Pepper & Nettle (P&N). There is considerable variability in early learning experiences across diverse socioeconomic status (SES) backgrounds, particularly when it comes to language. Here, we discuss how early learning experiences are beyond the control of the individual and subsequently contribute to behaviors in P&N's constellation.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Barrett, A. E. & Turner, R. J. (2005) Family structure and mental health: The mediating effects of socioeconomic status, family process, and social stress. Journal of Health and Social Behavior 46(2):156–69.Google Scholar
Blum-Kulka, S. (1997) Discourse pragmatics. Discourse as Social Interaction 2:3863.Google Scholar
Brooks, R. & Meltzoff, A. N. (2005) The development of gaze following and its relation to language. Developmental Science 8(6):535–43.Google Scholar
Brooks, R. & Meltzoff, A. N. (2014) Gaze following: A mechanism for building social connections between infants and adults. In: Mechanisms of social connection: From brain to group, ed. Mikulincer, M. & Shaver, P. R., pp. 167–83. American Psychological Association.Google Scholar
Butterworth, G. (2003) Pointing is the royal road to language for babies. In: Pointing: Where language, culture, and cognition meet, ed. Kita, S., pp. 933. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Camaioni, L., Perucchini, P., Bellagamba, F. & Colonnesi, C. (2004) The role of declarative pointing in developing a theory of mind. Infancy 5(3):291308.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chouinard, M. M., Harris, P. L. & Maratsos, M. P. (2007) Children's questions: A mechanism for cognitive development. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development 72(1):vii–ix, 1112.Google Scholar
Corriveau, K. H., Kurkul, K. E. & Arunachalam, S. (2016) Preschoolers preference for syntactic complexity varies by socioeconomic status. Child Development 87(5):1529–37.Google Scholar
Fernald, A., Marchman, V. A. & Weisleder, A. (2013) SES differences in language processing skill and vocabulary are evident at 18 months. Developmental Science 16(2):234–48.Google Scholar
Hackman, D. A. & Farah, M. J. (2009) Socioeconomic status and the developing brain. Trends in Cognitive Sciences 13(2):6573.Google Scholar
Hart, B. & Risley, T. R. (1992) American parenting of language-learning children: Persisting differences in family-child interactions observed in natural home environments. Developmental Psychology 28(6):1096–105.Google Scholar
Hart, B. & Risley, T. R. (1995) Meaningful differences in the everyday experience of young American children. Paul H. Brookes.Google Scholar
Heath, S. B. (1983) Ways with words: Language, life and work in communities and classrooms. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Kurkul, K. E. & Corriveau, K. H. (2017) Question, explanation, follow-up: A mechanism for learning from others? Child Development. Available at: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/cdev.12726/full.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Neuman, S. B. & Celano, D. (2006) The knowledge gap: Implications of leveling the playing field for low-income and middle-income children. Reading Research Quarterly 41(2):176201.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rowe, M. L. (2012) A longitudinal investigation of the role of quantity and quality of child-directed speech in vocabulary development. Child Development 83(5):1762–74.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rowe, M. L., Pan, B. A. & Ayoub, C. (2005) Predictors of variation in maternal talk to children: A longitudinal study of low-income families. Parenting: Science and Practice 5(3):259–83.Google Scholar
Shonkoff, J. P. (2011) Protecting brains, not simply stimulating minds. Science 333(6045):982–83.Google Scholar
Snow, C. E. & Uccelli, P. (2009) The challenge of academic language. In: The Cambridge handbook of literacy, ed. Olson, D. & Torrance, N., pp. 112–33. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Storch, S. A. & Whitehurst, G. J. (2001) The role of family and home in the literacy development of children from low-income backgrounds. New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development 2001(92):5372.Google Scholar
Wagner, T. (2014) The global achievement gap: Why even our best schools don't teach the new survival skills our children need and what we can do about it. Basic Books.Google Scholar
Walden, T. (1993) Communicating the meaning of social events through social referencing. In: Enhancing children's communication: Research foundations for intervention, ed. Kaiser, A. P. & Gray, D. B., pp. 187–99. P. H. Brookes.Google Scholar
Williams, D. R., Yu, Y., Jackson, J. S. & Anderson, N. B. (1997) Racial differences in physical and mental health: Socio-economic status, stress and discrimination. Journal of Health Psychology 2(3):335–51.Google Scholar