Developmental Signatures - Waldorf Research Institute

The Special Nature of Early Childhood Learning
Early childhood learning unfolds in a continually changing relationship to
physical development. On the one hand it happens to and through the physical
body, and on the other hand, the physical body is formed and structured through
this learning. A young child opens himself up to all the influences and impressions
of the environment with all of his senses. At the same time, the child cannot help
but incorporate these experiences into a still pliable physical constitution. In a
way, the world inscribes itself into the physical body. A familiar example of this is
gaining the ability to speak. An infant’s speech organs are such that any language in
the world can be articulated. Over time, as the child actively acquires the mother
tongue, he forms the tools for speech, all the way down to the anatomical structure,
to meet the certain characteristics of that particular language. (The accent of a
foreigner is a tell-tale sign of this phenomenon. And we are all familiar with the
difficulties adults encounter in forming the sounds when trying to learn a new
language.)
In contrast to the
school-age phase, this
phase of life is therefore an
implicit, indirect process
guided not by reflection and
thought, but by activity and
perception. All of the young
child’s mental activities are
still completely directed to
the outer world, connected