Sensitive period: what is it in psychology. A sensitive period is not a recurring opportunity What is a sensitive period

Each person has unique variations of genetic programs that are implemented in different life circumstances. Human development is a complex uneven process. FROM early age the person is going through sensitive periods.

Sensitive period - the time range that is most sensitive and favorable for the development of a particular function or ability of the body. It is at a specific age stage of development that it is necessary to pay attention to a certain area, developing the qualitative component of the child's abilities.

The concept of “sensitive period” was introduced by M. Montessori: “The more subtly developed the feelings of a person, the more developed his aesthetic sense. People with undeveloped senses look for gross and strong stimuli to get pleasure. Sensory education develops the ability to perceive the subtlest shades of the surrounding world, helps to focus on the details and thus collect material for the imagination.

In the first year of life, a child learns to explore the world with the help of tactile and auditory sensations. Therefore, the development of the sensory sphere becomes the main thing. A high level of development of the sense organs and a certain degree of their differentiation are possible only with special training. The Wunderkind Home Development School contributes to the maximum opportunity for the development of the baby’s sensory sphere, developing toys from different materials: soft (“pyramid”, “ball”, “cube sorter” and others), hard material (“funny hammer”, “ matryoshka”, etc.), the development of auditory sensations (“musical rug”, “musical sets”).

In early childhood (from 1 to 3 years) is a sensitive period for the formation of speech. It is formed quite quickly, at first the child, listening to adults, accumulates a passive vocabulary, and by the age of three an active vocabulary appears, speech acquires an objective meaning. The child learns not only to respond to the words spoken by another person, but also perceives the mood of people, expresses his emotions and feelings. This is a wonderful age when he speaks directly, without offense, about what he wants and what he does not want; speaks the language of feeling, using the orientational mechanics of "pleasant-unpleasant" instead of "right-wrong". The child is able to perceive the grammatical norms of the language, only because of the lack of some words a false impression is created that there is a specific "childish" language with special grammatical norms.

From 1.5 - 2.5 years - this is the age when the child begins to manipulate small objects, which indicates the development of fine motor skills, muscles of the hand, fingers, and the hand is preparing for writing.

At the age of 2.5 - 3 years, the child often talks to himself - this is a great opportunity to hear in the loud speech of the child the logic, consistency or inconsistency in his thoughts and everything that he is talking about. this moment thinks, speaks immediately. It's not a very long stage. speech development: gradually the monologues become internal.

During the game with the child, it is necessary to reason, explain, come up with stories and stories together, which also contributes to the development of not only speech, but also imagination. To develop this skill, the Wunderkind company has developed toys: puzzles “Bears. Cheerful family", "animal world", pyramid "cow" and others.

At preschool age (3-7 years), the child is included in adult life, into the world of various relationships, activities. The child realizes the power of his own thought, correctly expressed through speech and, therefore, understandable to others. Children themselves choose the theme of the game, determine the lines of its development, decide how they will reveal the roles, where the game will unfold, etc. Each child is free to choose the means of embodying the image. But the most important thing is that in the game the child embodies his view, his ideas, his attitude to the event that he is playing.

Children of this age are keenly interested in the symbolic designation of sounds - letters, circle letters with pleasure, etc. They can work with a movable alphabet, laying out next to each other letters denoting individual sounds, their combinations - up to simple words.

Play is a feature of this age. He is experiencing desire actively participate in the field of activity that is inaccessible and unknown to him. From this, role-playing is born.

First, the director's game appears, and simultaneously with it, or somewhat later, figurative role-playing appears. Later, there are games with rules (role-playing games), which are filled with content, where special conditions and a plot are created by the child himself. The Wunderkind company offers a whole series of toys for role-playing: "Dollhouse", "Knight's Castle", "Little Farmer" and many others that will help the kid to realize his ideas, try on new social roles.

The creative nature of the role-playing game is determined by the presence of an idea in it, the implementation of which is associated with the active work of the imagination, with the development of the child's ability to display his impressions of the world around him.

The sensitive period makes it possible to maximize the development of the child's abilities at a certain age, paying attention to the qualitative development of abilities: up to a year - tactile and auditory sensations, from one to three - speech, the ability to express the child's thoughts and feelings, from three to seven - communication and interaction skills with people. A feature of human development is that each new knowledge, skills and abilities are superimposed on the previous ones, so it is important to “have time” to invest as much as possible in the child.

At an early age, it is difficult to recognize sensitive periods, but it is very important to have time to start developing those skills that human nature gives. The main thing is to create the necessary conditions, in which the child will be able to show his abilities, not limit the actions of the child (the sensitive guidance of an adult is important), give the opportunity for free creative manifestation. Sensitive periods do not end at the age of 7, they are typical for primary school age, adolescence, youth, etc. However, in early age period foundations are laid that a person uses even at an older age!

Note to parents:

The child will never again learn anything with such ease as in the corresponding sensitive period of his development.

Sensitive periods are universal and individual at the same time, so the art of observation plays a special role in tracking the progress of a child's development.

Knowledge about the time of onset of the main sensitive periods, it is necessary to arrange for the child the opportunity to exercise his senses, skills social life, speech, etc.

Adult speech should be literate, clear and precise. More than ever, the child needs to be told as many stories as possible, containing all the richness and variety of words and grammatical structures. mother tongue; stories that are examples of good style and different in genre.

If the child during this time could not or did not have time to master the relevant skills, he will have to do this later with great difficulty.

Teachers and parents - should be able to determine the sensitive period in which the child is;

The very idea of developing certain rules that make life in a group comfortable for everyone was born from the discovery of sensitive periods by Maria Montessori. Sensitive periods - these are periods of special sensitivity that occurs in the development of children. These fundamental stages of development are beyond the control of the adult. But if the child did not have the opportunity to develop in accordance with the directives of his periods, then he missed the only opportunity to naturally acquire a certain ability. And he won't get that opportunity again. It turned out that during these periods the child is able to learn certain things without serious effort. These segments in a child's life are short and go away forever.

In the process of development of all children, sensitive periods occur, but the time of their occurrence, the duration and dynamics of the course are different for different children.

Speech development period (0-6 years)

Order perception period (0-3)

Sensory Development Period (0-5.5)

The period of perception of small objects (1.5-2.5)

Period of development of movements and actions (1-4)

Period of development of social skills (2.5-6)

The period of speech development

It lasts on average from 0 to 6 years, and begins even before the birth of a child (recall the natural need of mothers to talk to their unborn child, to sing songs to him).

Let us characterize the most important stages within this period, indicating the approximate age of their onset.

Ages 0 to 4.5 months:

The child is already able to feel speech as something special. Recall that at this age, the child's consciousness is not yet able to separate into separate pictures the image of the world, the image of himself and the image of his interaction with the world. All the child's impressions of the world around him are tangled into a single ball, in which, however, the red thread stands out brightly - speech.

Therefore, children are able to look at the speaker's mouth, turn their head towards the source of the sound of speech. If this does not happen, there is a possibility that the baby has hearing problems, and this symptom is a very good reason to see a doctor. Early diagnosis of child development, developed in the Munich Children's Center, allows you to save many children doomed to it from inevitable deafness.

Children learn to imitate sounds.

At this time, they constantly spit out something, inflate bubbles from saliva, which is an excellent evidence of the beginning of the training of the muscles of the speech apparatus.

The child independently begins to arrange the sounds he utters one after another, building their various sequences, listening to the melody of his native language.

Around 1 year of age:

The child consciously pronounces the first word; for the first time in his life there is a verbal expression of thought.

But at the same time, the child finds himself in a situation of frustration: while perfectly imagining that speech means something, he cannot, however, use this “knowledge” due to a lack of words. He wants to talk, but he can't yet.

The way out of this situation looks natural - from the indicated age and up to about 2 - 2.5 years, an avalanche-like growth of the child's vocabulary occurs.

At the age of about 1.5 years:

The child begins to express his feelings, desires. This is a wonderful age when he directly, bluntly talks about what he wants and what he does not want; speaks the language of feeling, using the orientational mechanics of "pleasant-unpleasant" instead of "right-wrong." The first way of orientation in the world is natural for a person, the second is imposed on the child in the course of "education".

The child is able to perceive the grammatical norms of the language and is able to grammatically accurately formulate a sentence. It is only because of the lack of some words that a false impression is created that there is a specific "childish" language with special grammatical norms.

Two important conclusions follow from this.

The first is connected with a categorical ban on the "lisping" of an adult with a child, on inventing by parents for communication a special, simplified "children's" language. On the contrary, at this age, when the child is most sensitive to the norms of the language, the speech of an adult should be literate, clear and precise. More than ever, the child needs to be told as many stories as possible, containing all the richness and variety of words and grammatical structures of the native language; stories that are examples of good style and different in genre.

The second conclusion is related to the fundamental possibility of further speech development of the child in a bilingual environment, when he has the opportunity to master two languages at once. Moreover, normally you can be sure that there will be no internal confusion with languages, and Russian words will not be used in German grammatical constructions.

At the age of 2.5 - 3 years, the child often talks to himself. His so-called egocentric speech is an excellent and only opportunity to hear the logic, consistency or inconsistency in his thoughts in the loud speech of the child, because everything that he is thinking about at the moment is immediately let out. This is not a very long stage in speech development: monologues gradually become internal, and in the future it will be possible to judge the features of a person’s thinking only indirectly.

At the age of 3.5 - 4 years:

The child begins to use speech purposefully and consciously. This means that with the help of speech he solves his problems and can, for example, ask a friend to close the window, rather than go himself. The child realizes the power of his own thought, correctly expressed through speech and therefore understandable to others.

Children of this age are keenly interested in the symbolic designation of sounds - letters, they are happy to circle letters from rough paper, etc.

They can work with a movable alphabet, laying out next to each other letters denoting individual sounds, their combinations - up to simple words.

Therefore, at the age of 4 - 4.5 years, the next serious step in the child's speech development looks quite natural: he begins to spontaneously write single words, whole sentences and short stories. And this despite the fact that no one taught him to write by letter. There was an indirect training of his intellectual and motor abilities.

Finally, at the age of about 5, the child learns to read without coercion and independently: this is what his logic of speech development leads to. Since the process of writing is an expression of one's own thoughts in a special way, and the process of reading involves, in addition to distinguishing letters and the ability to put them into words, also understanding the thoughts of other people that are behind these words. And this is more difficult than expressing your own thoughts.

Let us note the main idea of Maria Montessori, which must always be kept in mind: if children have to do something outside the framework of the corresponding sensitive period, i.e. under duress (learning to read, write, etc.), then they come to the result later or do not come at all.

Sensitive period of order perception

This sensitive period is not described in detail anywhere except in the works of Maria Montessori. Recall her famous phrase: "The true essence of the mind is to give order" to the chaotic impressions emanating from the surrounding world.

This period lasts from 0 to 3 years, and the stage of the highest intensity of its course occurs on average about 2 - 2.5 years.

It should be noted right away that for a child, order means something different than for an adult. Montessori says: "For a child, order is the same as for us the floor on which we walk, and for the fish - the water in which it swims. In the early childhood The human spirit takes from the surrounding world the orienting elements that are needed for the subsequent mastery of the surrounding world.

We can only roughly imagine what happens to a child in the absence of order, if we remember how difficult it was to change the usual way of life, the usual guidelines "in connection with the transition to a market economy." But we had a family, a profession, and so on, and this allowed us, at the very least, to stay afloat. The child does not initially have anything stable.

To help a child understand the chaos of the world can, first of all, the external order. It not only substantiates the domination of man over things, but also contributes to the fact that on its basis a child at this age builds an internal order in himself. It can be said that in the later life of a person, the internal order - order in thoughts, actions, law-abidingness, and the level of self-regulation of behavior in general - will be developed to the extent that his environment was orderly at the age of 0 to 3 years.

Montessori emphasizes that at the age of 2 - 2.5 years, the child experiences a characteristic love, or rather, a real passion for observing his usual order, loudly expressing his indignation if it is violated by adults. And since this happens almost constantly, we have formed the image of a 2.5-year-old child as a capricious, incomprehensibly demanding creature.

And he urgently needs order, and especially in three areas: in his environment (indoors), in time and in the behavior of adults in relation to him.

Let's take a closer look at the requirements for maintaining order in each of these three areas.

1) Order in the environment.

Its observance allows the child to understand the following:

- In relation to objects. We are talking about structuring the child's environment (most often, objects in his apartment) in such a way that it corresponds to the basic patterns in the relationship between objects: dishes - in the kitchen, shoes - in the hallway, clothes - in the closet, toys - always in its place in a special box; besides, the child sleeps, eats in the same place, has his own corner, eats from his own dishes, and so on. That is, a kind of "prepared environment" is created (similar to the one that is formed in the Montessori school), demonstrating a culturally justified relationship between objects, things in everyday life.

It should be noted that the child is very happy if he finds familiar things in the same place again and again. And therefore it is necessary that every morning he sees, for example, his toys neatly stowed and in the same place - even if they were scattered in the evening. At this age, it is senseless to demand from the child to observe the order himself, because he is only still forming his own image of the order. And parents can help him in this, maintaining the external order around him.

In addition, it is very difficult for a child at this age to get used to the changed environment (we are talking about moving to another place of residence, about the first trip to kindergarten, etc.). The consequences of such stress subsequently usually do not go unnoticed.

- Order in relation to people to objects.

And again, it is desirable that this attitude be culturally conditioned: indeed, it is usually customary to sit on a chair; at the table - eat, handling cutlery appropriately; open the door with your hand, not with your foot; drink coffee in the kitchen, not in bed, etc.

To comply with this, parents have to step on the throat of their own creativity, stop freely handling various things, household items and master the generally accepted methods of dealing with them, gradually becoming "professionals" in raising their own child.

2) Order in time.

It is extremely important for a child to feel the rhythm of his day. Everyone has his own, and is usually established during the first year of life through joint activity and concessions from both sides - from the child and from the parents: it is necessary that the daily routine suits everyone. After that, the task of the parents is to maintain this individual regimen during the second and third years of the child's life.

To realize one's own rhythm of the day means to start the course of the "inner clock"; to feel that there is a great law of time, which is more important than subjective desires and whims. In particular, mom or dad, if they work, cannot come home earlier than a certain time, no matter how much the child wants - but, on the other hand, the child also has the right to know the exact time of their arrival and be sure of their punctuality.

There is another aspect concerning the observance of order in time - more precisely, order in the sequence of events. For example, sequences in events when reading fairy tales already known to the child. Many of us have noticed that at this age, often a child will show displeasure if the narrator makes a mistake in the sequence of events, especially if something is invented anew. The kid is not against the creativity of adults in general - he just needs to acquire stability in the world; and if Little Red Riding Hood behaves as always, then you can be sure of the future!

3) The order in the behavior of adults in relation to the child.

For a child of this age, it is most important to feel the order in the following aspects of the behavior of adults towards him:

The requirements that adults place on a child should be constant (unchanging) and not depend on today's mood. It is desirable that they were substantiated: ideally, they were scientifically substantiated (by knowledge of the individual course of the sensitive periods of their own child, for example), in reality, they were substantiated at least by common sense (understanding that it is impossible to demand from a child what he is not yet in age). able to do).

The requirements for the child must be specific (concern with one thing) and line up in a certain sequence; ideally - to form a behavioral algorithm. In the latter case, after repeated repetitions of the same sequence of actions (for example, those associated with going to bed: wash, make up the bed, undress, put clothes neatly, etc.), this algorithm becomes the internal property of the child, and it is enough for an adult to give a common name ( "Getting ready for bed?") so that the child, without humiliating urging on with words (he knows what to do next!) Can act independently.

The requirements that are imposed on the child must be observed by the adults themselves. Since the child will still learn what he sees, this thesis can be left without any psychological comments.

In conclusion, we note that the level of formation of a "sense of order" in a child is one of the main criteria for readiness for Montessori kindergarten, and for kindergarten in general. We see that the responsibility for this lies with the parents and depends on how competently and fully they were able to satisfy (intuitively or consciously) when creating the environment the child's natural craving for order.

The internal image of order that has developed in a child by the age of 3 will be a model in his later life. Is it worth subsequently looking for other reasons why in a Montessori group a child, despite the professional work of a teacher, with difficulty, sometimes for years, learns to maintain external order! The same applies to the level of "internal order" (order in thoughts, actions, etc.).

In difficult cases (developmental delay, pedagogical neglect, etc.), a child of 3 years and older must undergo a course of individual Montessori therapy before entering the Montessori group, the task of which is to prepare the child for kindergarten. With the help of special methods, the Montessori therapist manages to make the most of the “outflow” of the past sensitive period.

Sensitive period of sensory development

It lasts on average from 0 to 5.5 years. This period in the development of the child is described not only in the works of Maria Montessori, so we will make only a few special remarks.

Of course, healthy child in principle, he can see, hear, smell, taste, and so on. But a high level of development of the sense organs and a certain degree of their differentiation are possible only with special training. Sensory Montessori material provides the best opportunity for this.

With the help of a special method of working with sensory Montessori material, a “stereognostic feeling” (the term of Maria Montessori) is also developed, with the help of which, at a certain level of development of the sense organs, a person is able to recognize the essence of an object by its severity, temperature, size, surface structure without involving vision. (sometimes in life this is necessary). And the training of this feeling occurs, for example, when a child in a half-mask tries to insert cylinders of different sizes into their place in the block.

In what order do these shorter periods alternate?

There are basically two answers to this question. The first involves the creation of a theoretical model based on average statistical data, which is quite difficult to use in the practice of education: all children are different.

The second answer is given by Maria Montessori, and it lies in the very organization of the activities of the Montessori group in kindergarten. We are talking about the so-called "free work" of children, when they have the opportunity and ability to freely realize their cognitive activity.

Simply put, under conditions of free choice and with the ability to choose (which the Montessori teacher should take care of), the child himself can approach the material that is internally necessary for him right now. Under these conditions, the Montessori teacher, observing the choice of the child, has the opportunity to determine the level of his current development and outline the prospects for work in the zone of his proximal development, in advance offering the child to get acquainted with the relevant didactic material.

Sensitive period of perception of small objects

Lasts an average of 1.5 to 2.5 years. This period is difficult to miss, and often it gives adults a lot of excitement: the child manipulates buttons, peas, etc. endangering their own health. Indeed, usually adults do not see anything useful in this interest and do not provide the child with the opportunity to master adequate ways to realize this cognitive need.

But in fact the child is interested in the problem of the whole and the part; he takes pleasure in the fact that before his eyes, when it hits the floor, a porcelain cup breaks up into several parts, which, in turn, consist of even smaller parts. Thus the child feels that the world is divisible and consists of smaller and smaller parts.

And adults are able to give a positive connotation to this process, providing the child with the conditions for an adequate reaction of interest in small objects. For example, with the help of special exercises: stringing more or less small objects on a thread (chestnut fruits, beans with holes made in them, etc.); disassembling and assembling models from the constructor (which allows the child to experience not only the process of analyzing the whole into its constituent parts, but also the synthesis of these parts of the whole).

Sensitive period of development of movements and actions

It lasts on average from 1 to 4 years, and its importance for the overall development of the child cannot be overestimated. It is thanks to the movement and the increased ventilation of the lungs of the child that accompanies it, the blood is saturated with oxygen, sufficient to supply those brain cells that are involved in the development of all mental functions. Thus, all educational techniques and methods (including the class-lesson system) that restrict the freedom of movement of a child at a specified age are, without exaggeration, a crime against his natural development. From this follows the conclusion about the danger for the development of the child of an inactive lifestyle, which is inherent in many modern families (passion for watching television programs, etc.)

The course of this sensitive period is also heterogeneous: during it there are moments in time when the child focuses his attention on certain movements and actions. And if at the beginning of the period the child is interested in movements (he has a need to feel the capabilities of his body, for which he tries, for example, to open the door with a push of his foot or move heavy things, and washing the table causes pleasure due to the process itself, and not the result), then subsequently he becomes interested in more and more complex actions, for the performance of which it is necessary to have a certain level of coordination, freedom and expressiveness of movements.

It should be noted that the natural desire of the child to move a lot, of course, was taken into account by Maria Montessori when creating her methodology for working with didactic material. For example, a place for working with the material is chosen far enough from the shelf where it is usually stored so that the child has the opportunity to satisfy his need for movement before work by transferring the material and its individual parts.

Another example is the second stage of a three-stage lesson on expanding vocabulary, when the child is given various assignments that take into account his need for movement.

Finally, the absence of desks and the presence of a special movement zone, where the child at any time, without interfering with others, can react to excessive tension in movement, once again confirm the special role that Maria Montessori assigns to satisfying the child's natural need for motor activity.

Sensitive period of development of social skills

At the age of 2.5 - 6 years, the child begins to take an active interest in forms of polite behavior. Mastering other (impolite) ways of behavior happens by itself, since there is a yard, inscriptions on the fences and "guys who openly smoke at bus stops." We all have had to deal with this: the child imitates what he saw and experienced at home, on the street, and reproduces it unconsciously in his behavior.

This is the time when the child needs to be helped to learn cultural forms of communication so that he feels adapted and confident, being in a society of various people. A child at this age quickly learns forms of communication and wants to use them. He wants to know how to politely ask the other not to interfere, how to introduce himself to a stranger how to say hello, say goodbye, ask for help, etc.

To master polite forms of communication are exercises in the skills of social life, which are described in the works of Maria Montessori and her followers.

Adults need to know that the child will never again learn anything with such ease as in the corresponding sensitive period of his development.

Sensitive periods are universal and individual at the same time, so the art of observation plays a special role in tracking the progress of a child's development.

Knowledge about the timing of the main sensitive periods, it is necessary to arrange for the child the opportunity to exercise his senses, social life skills, speech, etc.

"Prepared environment" and Montessori didactic material, therefore, are not something artificial, but create optimal conditions for the natural course of development of each (unique and unrepeatable!) child.

The comparison of children with flowers is not only related to poetry. It has practical meaning. The gardener takes care of the flowers and trees, the parents carefully raise the child, wanting to get good fruits.

Trees need to be watered, trimmed, dug, fed, and all this must be done at a strictly defined time. There are also periods in the development of the child when he is most sensitive to certain “influences”. During these periods, it is not difficult for him to learn something new, everything happens as if by itself. Whereas in other periods the same skill, the same information is either acquired with difficulty or not acquired at all.

This feature in the development of children was noticed by Konstantin Dmitrievich Ushinsky, who said that timeliness is one of the main principles of education. Observing children, teachers noticed that at a certain age, the formation of certain qualities and functions of the psyche occurs very quickly and efficiently. This is especially noticeable in the example of speech: in early childhood, a child masters speech with unusual ease, so naturally that many take it for granted. However, it is worth skipping a few favorable years, and the development of speech will become extremely difficult.

Such favorable conditions for the development of a child in one direction or another, characteristic of a certain age, are not due only to external influences - upbringing or the environment surrounding the child. They are connected with internal processes, with the peculiarities of the development of the psyche, with the activity of the child's brain.

This is how any person works - at different periods of life, he pays attention to different aspects of the world around him. A young person perceives the world in a completely different way than a mature or elderly person. In a child, the psyche is only being formed; it changes much faster than in an adult. For correct formation different parties psyche, its different functions require a different range of sensations, impressions, different information coming from the outside world. Because of this, the perception, thinking of the child, everything that relates to the analytical activity of the brain, at one time or another become especially susceptible to strictly defined sensations, impressions, and information. This susceptibility, "age sensitivity" is called sensitivity or sensitivity(from the Latin word sensus - sensation, feeling).

Sensitive periods of development- age intervals of individual development, during which the internal structures are most sensitive to the specific influences of the surrounding world.

Researchers began to work closely with sensitivity in the first half of the 20th century. Lev Semenovich Vygotsky wrote:

During this period, certain influences have a sensitive effect on the entire course of development, causing certain profound changes in it. In other periods the same conditions may turn out to be neutral or even have a reverse effect on the course of development. Sensitive periods coincide quite well with what we have called... optimal terms of study.

Very detailed sensitive periods of development of children preschool age studied by Maria Montessori, Italian teacher, author of the famous methodology early development child.

The essence of her methodology is to provide children with maximum freedom, unobtrusively help their development within each sensitive period (special didactic materials are used for this).

Types and properties of sensitive periods

In the development of a preschooler, the following sensitive periods can be distinguished (based on the classification of P. Epstein):

The period of development of a "sense of order" (from 0 to 3.5 years)
The period of development of movements and actions (from 0 to 4 years)
The period of perception of small objects (from 1.5 to 4 years)
Social skills development period (from 2.5 to 6 years)
The period of refinement of feelings (from 2.5 to 6 years)
Speech development period (from 0 to 6 years)
Writing period (3.5 to 4.5 years)
Reading period (from 3 to 5.5 years)
The period of development of spatial relations (from 4 to 6 years)
The period of development of musicality (from 2 to 6 years)
Development period mathematical representations(from 4 to 6 years old)

There are other classifications, as a rule, more concise. So, for example, the period of speech development (from 0 to 6 years) includes an interest in writing and reading, and feelings and spatial relationships can be attributed to the general period of sensory development (from 0 to 5.5 years).

It should be added that school-age children and adolescents have their own sensitive periods. For example, at the age of 10-11 years there is a peak of cognitive interest (the interests and hobbies of a child at this age are especially diverse). The sensitive period for the development of mental abilities is 4-10 years.

AT primary school children are sensitive to learning activities: they are diligent, diligent, receptive, uncritically accept the teacher as the highest authority, and his words as the truth. Their mind is aimed at learning, imitating, repeating the necessary actions after the teacher. At this age, the correct, positive one is easily developed.

Adolescents over 14 years of age are sensitive to the development of their inner world. This is a huge, not always noticeable inner work: the search for oneself, one's place in the adult world. The emotional sphere is enriched, the teenager learns to manage himself, the sense of responsibility sharply increases.

In general, the sensitive periods of school-age children and older have not been studied well enough. And yet we can say for sure: the conventional wisdom that with age the child's abilities increase, the internal conditions for his development become more and more favorable, is not true. The general characteristics of sensitive periods are well researched; they confirm this conclusion.

Properties of sensitive periods:

Versatility. Sensitive periods are directly related to human ontogenesis, therefore they are characteristic of all children without exception, regardless of cultural, social, racial, or any other differences.
Individuality. The time of occurrence, intensity and duration of sensitive periods are individual for each child. The classification indicates the average values.
expressiveness. If the beginning of a sensitive period can be difficult to notice, then the peak of its intensity can amaze inexperienced parents. The child begins to relate to the activities necessary for him with an extraordinary passion; his interest is concentrated on the chosen subject so that he ignores all other elements and qualities of the environment. He shows miracles of industriousness and energy, long and intensive work does not cause him fatigue. The sensitive period is expressed so clearly that it is difficult not to pay attention to it.
Temporality. With the end of the period, the “window of opportunity” closes forever, regardless of the extent to which the child has been able to use them.

Brief description of sensitive periods in the development of a preschooler

Periods of development of speech, reading and writing

The baby perceives and "absorbs" the sounds that he hears from other people. He tries to repeat them (at the same time training his vocal apparatus), experiments and, finally, after frequent repetitions, he understands the connection between the word and the object that denotes it.

Accumulating auditory, visual, motor experience causes the formation of speech centers of the brain. It has been established that speech centers do not develop or develop poorly if during this period the child is surrounded by people with speech defects (deaf-mute parents) or is completely deprived of human society (children raised by animals). It is impossible to make up for the lack of speech impressions at a later age.

The child's brain "processes" absolutely everything that it perceives, regardless of the complexity of lexical and grammatical structures. The degree of development of his speech centers depends on how rich, beautiful, correct speech a child hears during this period.

The periods of speech development in children have been studied very well, and a lot of materials can be found on this topic. It is curious that the child's interest in reading (and the corresponding sensitive period) usually occurs later than the interest in writing - the graphic reproduction of speech signs. This must be taken into account when working with a child.

Until now, there is no consensus in pedagogy on best age to start learning a foreign language. Observations show that in bilingual families, where different languages surround the child from early childhood, are used freely by family members, there are no problems with mastering both languages at once. Grammatical constructions, pronunciation, vocabulary are assimilated equally well. In cases where the second language is being studied, but does not surround the child in Everyday life, the results are controversial. K. D. Ushinsky believed that until the child fully mastered his native language, it would be a mistake.

It is believed that the sensitive period study foreign language - 5-10 years. Normally, a five-year-old child speaks his native language at a very high level. His speech is correct and rich, his vocabulary is high, often he can read, and quite fluently. It is well established that after 10 years, the basic neural networks necessary for the formation of speech no longer develop.

The period of development of the "sense of order"

Getting out of infancy, the baby has an urgent need to explore the world around him. He begins to establish connections between objects and people around him. He builds on these connections to advance his research further and further. Agree that you can only rely on something permanent, unchanging, such as the earth on which we rely when walking (we believe that the earth's gravity will not disappear under any circumstances). In early childhood, the child is very sensitive to order.

The meaning of order for him is not entirely about keeping the environment clean and the toys decorously standing in their places. Order is constancy, which means predictability and security. There are always pajamas in the top drawer of the chest of drawers, mother always reads a fairy tale before going to bed, shelters, kisses and wishes good night, the world constant and predictable, so everything is in order, the baby feels. The child will protest, it is worth breaking the usual ritual or putting some thing in an unusual place.

Order-consistency must be maintained with respect to:

Things, home furnishings
Daily routine and daily rituals (morning procedures, meals, bathing, going to bed)
Requirements that adults make to a child

As an “image of order”, “outright disorder” (from the point of view of an adult) can also be fixed. In this regard, the child is important constancy, not purity. If scattered things, toys are the norm of life in a family, then such constancy will not harm the development of a “sense of order” (but, of course, it will bring up slovenliness). Inconstancy is much more dangerous - in this case, the child will not only feel uncomfortable, but will transfer the external disorder into his inner life.

The period of development of movements and actions

Small children are exceptionally mobile, everyone knows that. But it is not obvious to everyone that movement for a child is an urgent need, and not pampering and a whim. Movement is directly related to brain development. The child's body insistently requires physical activity. Running, fussing, noisy games and walks should be perceived by adults as an undoubted blessing. The more time a child spends in motion, the better it grows.

The norms adopted by the state suggest that a healthy preschool child should walk 4-4.5 hours a day (2 hours in the morning before lunch and in the afternoon). The walk can only be canceled if the wind speed is more than 15 m/s and the air temperature outside is below 15 degrees (for children under 4 years old) and below 20 degrees (for children 5-7 years old). At the same time, the second half of the walk according to the norms is given to outdoor games.

Four and a half hours a day, not including morning exercises and home games!

The period of perception of small objects

All parents notice the peak of this period, because small objects, to which the child is literally “drawn” at this time, are dangerous for him.

The reason for this craving is an interest in the composition of objects and in how the parts and the whole relate. In addition, manipulation of small objects improves fine motor skills, which is directly related to the development of speech. Wise nature "knows" about this and directs the child in the right direction.

In order to protect the child and get the most out of the sensitive period, it is necessary to create conditions for the study of small objects. Give him a string of beads on a strong fishing line, sew different buttons to a piece of fabric. Offer your child special exercises, such as stringing nuts, large buttons, sorting peas, beans, beans, assembling and disassembling models with small details.

Period of development of social skills

It is interesting to watch children in the sandbox. Children under 2 years old play “each by themselves”, and if they notice an interesting toy from a neighbor, they calmly come up and take it away. The neighbor is not upset if he has something to do, however, the first kid is not very upset if he failed to take possession of the toy.

This is not the case for children over 2 years of age. They are already aware of themselves as individuals, and understand that other people are also individuals. A heightened sense of ownership provokes tears, conflicts and even fights. From this age, children begin to actively learn communication skills.

During this period, it is extremely easy to teach a child etiquette. He trusts adults to such an extent that he literally copies their behavior, gestures and words (which often makes adults smile). One has only to slightly direct the child in the right direction, explain some rule of politeness and practice, as the baby will begin to please his parents with good manners.

Children of this age are spontaneous, sociable without embarrassment and any deliberateness. Offer: “Go to the boy and ask him for a typewriter like this: “Please lend me this typewriter for a while, play,” and the child will come up and repeat your phrase exactly. Or: “Come up to the girl and say: “Hello, let's go on a swing together?” - You will be surprised how naturally the same question sounds from the mouth of the baby.

As often as possible, talk with your child about other people, analyze situations from everyday life, logically justify the rules of behavior. At the same time, remember that these rules are also obligatory for parents - practice should confirm the theory.

In the case when a child behaves ugly, screams, fights, takes away toys from other children, it will be correct to work out the conflict situation on the spot. To do this, you need to calm the baby, then show how to correct what he was wrong about (for example, come up, console the victim, apologize) and do it. In conclusion, it is good to discuss what could be done so that both sides of the conflict feel good.

It is curious that in a classroom equipped according to the Montessori method, all educational materials are presented in the singular. It's made on purpose. When several children want to work with the same material, they will have to negotiate, give in to each other. So they learn to build relationships, to cooperate.

The period of refinement of feelings

Feelings are not just intermediaries between the child and the outside world. They are the basis of thinking, because it is the processing of sensations that causes the formation of the first connections between brain neurons. The finer, richer the sensory experience of the child in early childhood, the more flexible his thinking will be.

Maria Montessori paid special attention to the sensory development of children. She has created a unique set of educational materials that help children train their senses: sight, hearing, touch, smell, taste, stereognostic sense (the ability to recognize an object by touching). Moreover, Montessori believed that the essence of such training is not just that the child recognizes the color, shape, and other qualities of objects in the world around him, but that he refined his feelings, that is, he practiced attention, comparison, acquired the skills of recognition.

The emotional sphere, creative imagination, artistic taste, the ability to see beauty also belong to the realm of feelings. The subtlety of feelings has a positive effect on all spheres of human life.

Today, many parents realize the importance of early childhood development. What we have learned about sensitive periods, on the one hand, confirms this idea. On the other hand, the desire of parents almost from the cradle to load the baby with serious foreign language classes, sports, dancing, reading and other subjects useful for his future seems to be controversial.

It is more correct to listen to nature in order to give the child the maximum number of opportunities for development in a favorable period, to create conditions in which the formation of different aspects of the child's psyche will be optimal. For this:

Watch your child. Remember that a child's commitment to any activity or object is a sure sign that he is at the peak of the corresponding sensitive period.
Try not to miss the time, because favorable periods pass irrevocably. Prepare in advance for the onset of the next period: prepare the environment, select didactic material, think over ways to practice.
Remember that sensitive periods are individual. In different children, their terms may be different, and the severity of the peak of the period may also be different. Assuming the onset of the period, engage with the child in. Then it will be easy to notice the beginning of the period.
During the beginning and peak of the period, try to give the child as much study material as possible. At this moment, do not be afraid to overload it - the speed of perception and processing of the material corresponding to the period increases 10-15 times (compared to normal time).
Don't fight nature; Don't force your child to do something. The result is likely to be mediocre. On the contrary, classes within favorable period will bring not only magnificent fruits, but will bring joy to both the baby and his parents.

Never again does a child manage to learn something so quickly, fully and joyfully, except during the appropriate sensitive period.

Maria Montessori

Age sensitivity is “an optimal combination of conditions inherent in a certain age period for the development of certain mental properties or processes.” "Premature or late in relation to the period of age sensitivity, training may not be effective enough, which adversely affects the development of the psyche."

These mean lines are all that can be gleaned on this topic from the domestic dictionary of psychology (Psychology. Dictionary under the general editorship of A.V. Petrovsky and M.G. Yaroshevsky. - M .: Polit Publishing House, lit. - 1990 ). And advice like: "Read the primary sources, raise the research of psychologists on this topic!" - can hardly be considered useful for practitioners - teachers, educators, and even more so, parents. It is not their task. This is the problem of academic science, which is fundamentally unable to refract rich knowledge in a practically useful form.

Another thing is the work of Maria Montessori on this topic, which is in no way inferior to academic research in terms of the level of reliability of the results and absolutely surpasses them in terms of the level of use in real practice education.

What does Maria Montessori and her true followers say about sensitive periods in the development of children from 0 to 6 years old?

sensitive periods name the periods of special susceptibility of children to certain methods, types of activity; to the ways of emotional response, behavior in general, etc. - up to the fact that each character trait develops most intensively on the basis of some internal impulse and for some narrow period of time. In accordance with the "cosmic plan" of development, sensitive periods serve to ensure that the child has the fundamental opportunity to acquire the internally necessary knowledge, skills, behaviors, etc.

A person never again manages to acquire some knowledge so easily, so joyfully to learn something, as in an appropriate sensitive period.

Sensitive periods last for a certain time and pass irrevocably - regardless of whether the child has managed to fully use their conditions for the development of any of his abilities.

From the outside, an adult cannot influence the time of occurrence and the duration of sensitive periods. But, according to M. Montessori, any adult can, or rather must:

to know about the existence of such periods in the development of the child, to know their features, because otherwise he risks devoting his life to the struggle against the nature of the child, which he sincerely considers pedagogy;
observe, notice the manifestations characteristic of the most intense stages of the course of a particular sensitive period, which is necessary for an accurate assessment of the current level of development of the child;
anticipate the onset of the next sensitive period and prepare the appropriate environment (didactic material) so that the child has what he especially needs at the moment.

From this point of view, the "prepared environment" of the Montessori school is the optimal solution to the problem - it always has everything around the child that he may need to achieve any of his cognitive interests.

Sensitive periods have a few more basic characteristics.

They are universal, that is, they arise during the development of all children, regardless of race, nationality, pace of development, geo-political, cultural differences, etc.

They are individual when it comes to the time of their occurrence and duration in a particular child. Hence, the very idea of a frontal approach to teaching children (especially those under the age of 6), as well as the existence of all educational programs, in addition to individual ones, looks wild: firstly, the biological age of 5 does not mean that the child is psychologically appropriate for this age; secondly, the average start time and the dynamics of the course of a certain sensitive period does not at all guarantee that every child goes through it in this particular mode.

This gives rise to the fundamental possibility of functional diagnostics of the development of children, i.e., the determination of its individual characteristics with the aim of further rehabilitation of this development.

The course of each sensitive period is characterized by:

a more or less slow (sloping) onset, which is quite difficult to notice if you do not assume the possibility of its onset and do not work with the child in his "zone of proximal development";
the stage of greatest intensity (maximum point or plateau), which is the easiest to observe;
more or less slow (sloping) decline in intensity. Some sensitive periods occur at about the same time, but have the highest intensity at different moments.

Let us turn to the characteristics of the main sensitive periods in the development of children from 0 to 6 years.

Sensitive period of speech development

It lasts on average from 0 to 6 years, and begins even before the birth of a child (recall the natural need of mothers to talk to their unborn child, to sing songs to him).

Let us characterize the most important stages within this period, indicating the approximate age of their onset.

From 0 to 4.5 months of age:

The child is already able to feel speech as something special. Let us recall that at this age the child's consciousness cannot yet separate into separate pictures the image of the world, the image of himself and the image of his interaction with the world. All the child's impressions of the world around him are tangled into a single ball, in which, however, the red thread stands out brightly - speech.
Therefore, children are able to look at the mouth of the speaker, turn their heads towards the source of the sound of the speech. If this does not happen, there is a possibility that the baby has hearing problems, and this symptom is a very good reason to see a doctor. Early diagnosis of child development, developed at the Munich Children's Center, can save many children doomed to it from inevitable deafness.
Children learn to imitate sounds.
At this time, they constantly spit out something, inflate bubbles from saliva, which is an excellent evidence of the beginning of the training of the muscles of the speech apparatus.
The child independently begins to arrange the sounds he utters one after another, building their various sequences, listening to the melody of his native language.

Around 1 year of age:

The child consciously pronounces the first word; for the first time in his life there is a verbal expression of thought.
But at the same time, the child finds himself in a situation of frustration: while perfectly imagining that speech means something, he cannot, however, use this “knowledge” due to a lack of words. He wants to talk, but he can't yet.

The way out of this situation looks natural - from the indicated age and up to about 2 - 2.5 years, an avalanche-like growth of the child's vocabulary occurs.

At the age of about 1.5 years:

The child begins to express his feelings, desires. This is a beautiful age when he directly, without blunt words, says what he wants and what he does not want; speaks the language of feeling, using the orientation mechanics "pleasant-unpleasant" instead of "right-wrong". The first way of orientation in the world is natural for a person, the second is imposed on the child in the course of "education".
The child is able to perceive the grammatical norms of the language and is able to grammatically accurately formulate a sentence. It is only because of the lack of some words that a false impression is created that there is a specific "childish" language with special grammatical norms.

Two important conclusions follow from this.

The second conclusion is related to the fundamental possibility of a child's further speech development in a bilingual environment, when he has the opportunity to master two languages at once. Moreover, normally you can be sure that there will be no internal confusion with languages, and Russian words will not be used in German grammatical constructions.

At the age of 3.5 - 4 years:

The child begins to use speech purposefully and consciously. This means that with the help of speech he solves his problems and can, for example, ask a friend to close the window, rather than go himself. The child realizes the power of his own thought, correctly expressed through speech and therefore understandable to others.
Children of this age are keenly interested in the symbolic designation of sounds - letters, they are happy to circle letters from rough paper, etc.
They can work with a movable alphabet, laying out next to each other letters denoting individual sounds, their combinations - up to simple words.

Finally, at the age of about 5 years, the child learns to read without coercion and independently: this is what his logic of speech development leads to. Since the process of writing is the expression of one's own thoughts in a special way, and the process of reading involves, in addition to distinguishing letters and the ability to put them into words, also understanding the thoughts of other people, which is behind these words. And this is more difficult than expressing your own thoughts.

We note the main idea of Maria Montessori, which must be constantly kept in mind: if children have to do something outside the framework of the corresponding sensitive period, that is, under duress (learning to read, write, etc.), then they come to the result later or not come at all.

Sensitive period of perception of order.

This period lasts from 0 to 3 years, and the stage of the highest intensity of its course occurs on average about 2 - 2.5 years.

It should be noted right away that for a child, order means something different than for an adult. Montessori says: "For a child, order is the same as for us the floor on which we walk, and for fish - the water in which it swims. In early childhood, the human spirit takes from the surrounding world the orienting elements that are needed for the subsequent mastery of the surrounding world.

We can only roughly imagine what happens to a child in the absence of order, if we remember how difficult it was to change the usual way of life, the usual guidelines "in connection with the transition to a market economy." But we had a family, a profession, etc., and this allowed us, at the very least, to stay afloat. The child does not initially have anything stable.

To help a child understand the chaos of the world can, first of all, the external order. It not only substantiates the domination of man over things, but also contributes to the fact that on its basis a child at this age builds an internal order in himself. We can say that in the future life of a person, the internal order - order in thoughts, actions, law-abidingness, and the level of self-regulation of behavior in general - will be developed to the extent that his environment was orderly at the age of 0 to 3 years.

And he urgently needs order, and especially in three areas: in his environment (indoors), in time and in the behavior of adults in relation to him.

Let us consider in more detail the requirements for maintaining order in each of these three areas.

1) Order in the environment.

Its observance allows the child to understand the following:

In relation to objects. We are talking about structuring the child's environment (most often, objects in his apartment) in such a way that it corresponds to the basic laws in the relationship between objects: dishes - in the kitchen, shoes - in the hallway, clothes - in the closet , toys - always in their place in a special box; besides, the child sleeps, eats in the same place, has his own corner, eats from his own dishes, and so on. That is, a kind of "prepared environment" is created (similar to the one that is formed in the Montessori school), demonstrating a culturally justified relationship between objects, things in everyday life.

It should be noted that the child is very happy if he finds familiar things in the same place again and again. And therefore it is necessary that every morning he sees, for example, his toys neatly stowed and in the same place - even if they were scattered in the evening. At this age, it is senseless to demand from the child to keep order himself, because he is only still forming his own image of order. And parents can help him in this, maintaining the external order around him.

In addition, it is very difficult for a child at this age to get used to a changed environment (we are talking about moving to another place of residence, about the first trip to kindergarten, etc.). The consequences of such stress subsequently usually do not go unnoticed.

Order in relation to people to objects.

2) Order in time.

To realize one's own rhythm of the day means to start the course of the "internal clock"; to feel that there is a great law of time, which is more important than subjective desires and whims. In particular, mom or dad, if they work, cannot come home before a certain time, no matter how much the child wants - but, on the other hand, the child also has the right to know the exact time of their arrival and be sure of their punctuality.

There is another aspect concerning the observance of order in time - more precisely, order in the sequence of events. For example, sequences in events when reading fairy tales already known to the child. Many of us have noticed that at this age, it is not uncommon for a child to show displeasure if the narrator makes a mistake in the sequence of events, especially if something is invented anew. The kid is not against the creativity of adults in general - he just needs to acquire stability in the world; and if Little Red Riding Hood behaves as always, then you can be sure of tomorrow!

3) The order in the behavior of adults in relation to the child.

For a child of this age, it is most important to feel order in the following aspects of adult behavior towards him:

The requirements that adults place on a child should be constant (unchanging) and not depend on today's mood. It is desirable that they were substantiated: ideally, scientifically substantiated (knowledge of the individual course of the sensitive periods of their own child, for example), in reality - substantiated at least by common sense (understanding that it is impossible to demand from a child what he is still unable to do).

The requirements for the child must be specific (concern with one thing) and line up in a certain sequence; ideally - to form a behavioral algorithm. In the latter case, after repeated repetitions of the same sequence of actions (for example, those associated with going to bed: wash, make the bed, undress, put clothes neatly, etc.), this algorithm becomes the internal property of the child, and the adult needs only give a common name (“Getting ready for bed?”) so that the child, without humiliating urging with words (he knows what to do next!) Can act independently.

The requirements that are imposed on the child must be observed by the adults themselves. Since the child will still learn what he sees, this thesis can be left without any psychological comments.

In conclusion, we note that the level of formation of a "sense of order" in a child is one of the main criteria for readiness for a Montessori kindergarten, and for kindergarten in general. We see that the responsibility for this lies with the parents and depends on how competently and fully they were able to satisfy (intuitively or consciously) when creating the environment the child's natural craving for order. The internal image of order that has developed in a child by the age of 3 will be a model in his later life. Is it worth subsequently looking for other reasons why in a Montessori group a child, despite the professional work of a teacher, with difficulty, sometimes for years, learns to maintain external order! The same applies to the level of "internal order" (order in thoughts, actions, etc.).

In difficult cases (developmental delay, pedagogical neglect, etc.), a child of 3 years and older, before entering a Montessori group, must undergo a course of individual Montessori therapy, the task of which is to prepare the child for kindergarten. With the help of special methods, the Montessori therapist manages to make the most of the "outflow" of the past sensitive period.

Sensitive period of sensory development

It lasts on average from 0 to 5.5 years. This period in the development of the child is described not only in the works of Maria Montessori, so we will make only a few special remarks.

Of course, a healthy child can, in principle, see, hear, smell, taste, and so on. But a high level of development of the sense organs and a certain degree of their differentiation are possible only with special training. The Montessori sensor material provides the best opportunity for this.

With the help of a special method of working with sensory Montessori material, a “stereognostic feeling” (the term of Maria Montessori) is also developed, with the help of which, at a certain level of development of the sense organs, a person is able to recognize the essence of an object by its severity, temperature, size, surface structure without the use of vision (sometimes in life it is necessary). And the training of this feeling occurs, for example, when a child in a half-mask tries to insert cylinders of different sizes into their place in the block.

In what order do these shorter periods alternate?

Simply put, under conditions of free choice and with the ability to choose (which the Montessori teacher should take care of), the child can himself approach the material that is internally necessary for him right now. Under these conditions, the Montessori teacher, observing the choice of the child, has the opportunity to determine the level of his current development and outline the prospects for work in the zone of his proximal development, in advance offering the child to get acquainted with the appropriate didactic material.

Sensitive period of perception of small objects

Lasts an average of 1.5 to 2.5 years. This period is hard to miss, and often it gives adults a lot of excitement: the child manipulates buttons, peas, etc. with a threat to his own health. Indeed, usually adults do not see anything useful in this interest and do not provide the child with the opportunity to master adequate ways to realize this cognitive need.

And adults are able to give a positive connotation to this process, providing the child with the conditions for an adequate reaction of interest in small objects. For example, with the help of special exercises: stringing more or less small objects on a thread (chestnut fruits, beans with holes made in them, etc.); disassembly and assembly of models from the constructor (which allows the child to feel not only the process of analyzing the whole into its constituent parts, but also the synthesis of these parts of the whole).

Sensitive period of development of movements and actions

It lasts on average from 1 to 4 years, and its importance for the overall development of the child cannot be overestimated. It is thanks to the movement and the increased ventilation of the lungs of the child that accompanies it, the blood is saturated with oxygen, sufficient to supply those brain cells that are involved in the development of all mental functions. Thus, all educational techniques and methods (including the class-lesson system) that restrict the freedom of movement of a child at a specified age are, without exaggeration, a crime against his natural development. This also leads to the conclusion about the danger for the development of the child of an inactive lifestyle, which is inherent in many modern families (passion for watching television programs, etc.)

Another example is the second stage of a three-stage lesson on expanding vocabulary, when the child is given various assignments that take into account his need for movement.

Finally, the absence of desks and the presence of a special motor zone, where the child at any time, without interfering with others, can react to excessive tension in movement, once again confirm the special role that Maria Montessori assigns to satisfying the child’s natural need for physical activity.

Sensitive period of development of social skills

To master polite forms of communication are exercises in the skills of social life, which are described in the works of Maria Montessori and her followers.

In conclusion, let us once again formulate the main conclusions that we, parents and teachers, need to remember:

Adults need to know that the child will never again learn anything with such ease as in the corresponding sensitive period of his development.

Sensitive periods are universal and individual at the same time, so the art of observation plays a special role in tracking the progress of a child's development.

Knowledge about the timing of the main sensitive periods, it is necessary to arrange for the child the opportunity to exercise his senses, social life skills, speech, etc.

The article was written on the basis of the theoretical developments of the AMI Montessori trainer, Ms. Solzbacher (USA).

Article editor:

Vera Berezova

WHEN WE HELP A CHILD LEARN TO WALK, TALK, READ, WRITE, WE TEACH HIM GOOD MANNERS, BOTH US AND THE CHILD WILL BE MUCH EASIER IF WE ACT WITH NATURE, WITH THE PLANNED RHYTHM AND PACE. LEARNING AT A GOOD MOMENT WILL BRING THE BIGGEST RESULT. ONE AND THE SAME CHILD AT ONE AGE WILL ABSORB LIKE A SPONGE, AND AT ANOTHER - PUSH KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS OUT OF HIMSELF. WHY? GETTING ACQUAINTED WITH SENSITIVE PERIODS OF DEVELOPMENT.

When we help a child learn to walk, talk, read, write, we teach him good manners, it will be much easier for us and the child if we act in harmony with nature, at the same time with the inherent rhythm and pace. Learning at the right moment will bring the greatest results. The same child at one age will absorb like a sponge, and at another age will push knowledge and skills out of himself. Why? We get acquainted with the sensitive periods of development.

Sensitive (or sensitive) means "sensitive". What sensitive periods of child development? These are the periods most favorable for the impact of environmental factors. In other words, these are bursts of susceptibility. In order to get the highest yield of carrots in the garden, we will take into account the timing of sowing, thinning and top dressing. Similarly, in raising a child, it is necessary to take into account the boundaries and features of sensitive periods of development. It is better not to fight with nature, but to act together with it, and then we increase the chance for the most productive development of the baby.

“Never again does a child manage to learn something so quickly, fully and joyfully, except during the appropriate sensitive period,” said Maria Montessori.

It is very important to teach the child certain skills during the sensitive period. If he remains without the influence of the external environment, then the period favorable for learning will pass without benefit for the child.

Sensitive periods are also called windows. The windows are gradually closing, and after a certain age, it is almost impossible for a person (and a living organism in general) to master this or that skill or mental function.

The term itself belongs to the famous Soviet psychologist Lev Semenovich Vygotsky. The sensitive period of development, according to Vygotsky, means that during this period “certain influences have a sensitive effect on the entire course of development, causing certain profound changes in it. In other periods the same conditions may turn out to be neutral or even have a reverse effect on the course of development.

In general, sensitive periods of development are characteristic of any living organism.

FIVE PERIODS OF SPEECH DEVELOPMENT ACCORDING TO VYGOTSKY:

Replenishment of vocabulary: 1.5-3 years.
The same period is characterized by the development of motor skills.
Acquaintance with letters: 3-4 years.
The beginning of conscious speech.
Interest in music, mathematics: 4-5 years.
Concepts of size, color, shape. Active perception of writing.
Development of social skills, interest in communication: 5-6 years.
Writing and reading.
Re-surge in language ability: 8-9 years.
The development of the imagination. The perception of culture.

Thus, it can be noted that the sensitive period for the ability to read is the period of 5-6 years. At this time, the child will most quickly master the ability to read.

The concept of sensitive periods is more deeply developed by the Italian educator Maria Montessori. The boundaries of sensitive periods are given approximately, and it is important to consider that they are individual for each child. The periods do not have clear boundaries, but are layered one on top of the other, while some periods gradually end, and some continue for a long time.

SENSITIVE PERIOD FOR SPEECH DEVELOPMENT: FROM 0 TO 6 YEARS

0-4 months: The baby responds to speech by turning his head, imitating sounds.

1-1.5 years: Listens to the melody of the language, pronounces the first words.

2-2.5 years: Avalanche-like accumulation of vocabulary. Expression of desires and emotions. The beginning of mastering the grammatical norms of the native language.

2.5-3 years: The child thinks aloud, egocentric speech. Speaks his thoughts.

3.5-4 years: Conscious use of speech.

4-4.5 years: The child uses speech to solve his problems.

5 years: Interest in letters, work with a movable alphabet. Spontaneous writing is an expression of one's own thoughts. The child learns to read - i.e. understand other people's thoughts.

SENSITIVE PERIOD FOR PERCEPTION OF ORDER: FROM 0 TO 3 YEARS

The child needs order in the environment, in time, in the behavior of adults. Maria Montessori was sure: "For a child, order is the same as for us the floor on which we walk, and for a fish - the water in which it swims." The child has his own bed, his own place for toys. He knows that the shoes are in the hallway, and the dishes are in the kitchen. The kid is indignant if the mother put on her father's slippers or if the grandmother drinks from her mother's cup - because the order is violated.

Order in time no less important. The daily routine is established in a child, as a rule, in the first year of life. He knows that after breakfast a walk follows, and before going to bed he is bathed. The child is literally obsessed with consistency, and, listening to the same tale, does not tolerate a rearrangement of words and any changes. At this stage, he will not appreciate the creative processing of his favorite poems, but requires their exact repetition. A sense of order gives rise to a sense of security and immutability in him.

Next, we move on to order in relationships. The requirements of adults must be constant and specific. It's important for adults to be consistent. Why today you can’t eat sweets until you finish the soup, but tomorrow, when guests come, you can? The order of the future life of the child will be determined by the order in his environment at the age of 3 years.

SENSITIVE PERIOD FOR SENSORY DEVELOPMENT: 0 TO 5.5 YEARS

According to Montessori, sensory education is the basis of thinking, serves as the basis of vocabulary, mathematical perception, writing, and aesthetic development. Cognition of the surrounding world by touch, refinement of sensory perception. Great importance is given to the accumulation of the child's experience of working with materials of various shapes, colors and textures in order to develop visual, auditory and especially tactile sensations.

SENSITIVE PERIOD FOR SMALL OBJECTS: 1.5 TO 5.5 YEARS

Manipulation of small objects. After a year, the child is literally fascinated by crumbs, buttons, grains of rice, peas. It is very useful to provide him with activities such as stringing buttons or chestnuts on a thread, assembling a designer. The concept of whole and part. Collecting pyramids, flipping through books, mosaics. It is known that speech lives at the fingertips, and the baby must be encouraged to engage in activities that stimulate the sensitivity of small fingers (picking cereals, playing with beads, modeling small parts from dough).

SENSITIVE PERIOD OF MOVEMENTS AND ACTIONS: FROM 1 TO 4 YEARS

The brain develops along with the body. At an early age, mental development goes hand in hand with physical and sensory development. “Every movement of a child is another fold in the cerebral cortex.” If the natural mobility of the child is fettered, this will adversely affect not only physical health, but also on mental development, and threatens with psychological stiffness.

SENSITIVE PERIOD OF DEVELOPMENT OF INDEPENDENCE: FROM 0 TO 5 YEARS

The child gradually masters new skills and is able to hold a glass when drinking by a year, eat independently at 1.5-2 years, and dress independently by the age of three. It is very important for parents to allow the child to do everything that he is capable of doing himself. Unfortunately, we are often in a hurry and dress the baby, because it’s faster, we continue to feed the baby from a spoon, although he already knows how to eat. It is very important not to miss the time of striving for independence. If you constantly seize the initiative in a child under five years old, then he will not become enterprising and independent.

SENSITIVE PERIOD FOR SOCIAL SKILLS DEVELOPMENT: FROM 2.5 TO 6 YEARS

The child learns politeness, joins the culture, learns to interact with different people. Learning forms of communication. The importance of communication with peers, the development of the ability to negotiate. It is significant that in the Montessori environment, materials existed in a single copy so that children learned to wait, ask, thank and cooperate.

In addition to sensitive periods, there are critical periods characterized by violent jumps. If during the critical period the organism is not exposed to the environment, then the consequences for the development of certain functions become irreversible. For example, if a child of the first year of life is not exposed to speech influence, i.e. no one speaks to him, he will never be able to fully speak. This is confirmed by the so-called Mowgli children.

Sensitive and critical periods are also observed in the developmentemotional sphere. For example, it is very important for a child to know the love, affection, attention and touch of an adult from the very first minutes of life. From the first days of birth, he learns to trust an adult. If, instead of love and attention, deprivation, rejection awaits him, if the cry and other expressions of the baby's needs remain unanswered, he becomes withdrawn and distrustful. If from an early age the baby does not know affection and love, then how much effort will need to be made later, how much love will need to be shown so that he believes, thaws and begins to express reciprocal feelings.