a common tale is the story of Genie Wiley
Perhaps a common tale is the story of Genie Wiley who was isolated for 13 years and abused. When Genie was finally released from her abusers in 1974. Genie who was tied to a potie chair and did not have any contact for 13 years when released showed a dysfunction in cognition, especially in language. It is safe to assume that with the isolation and no play, Genie’s cognitive functioning was left unused and became vestige. However, years following, Genie who has been in contact with psycholinguists show that she has had an improvement in speech and spelling. Hence, for a child who is the company of other children, they are likely to imitate words, phrases and even senstence that help in their language development as they grow. Language is the core element upon which another person can express their emotions, feelings, and needs.
Pretend plays assist children in developing social skills that is important for executive function in the outside world. After language development, the next big step for a child in the playground is how to communicate to peers, listen, reply, add information, negotiate, and cooperate. When children play games like hide and seek, they build social skills required to maintain friendships, uphold team work, and even foster collaboration.
Implications
Because of the proliferation of technology in Canada and the rest of the world, we see that many children do not have or create enough time for unstructured play. Today, most children including adolsecents are immersed in digital world where the most of their play is derived from electronic manipulations. As such, children are missing out on outdoor games such as tree climbing, bike riding, running. Experts continue to warn on this emerging trend claiming that Canadian children are lacking out on the essential playtime that is responsible As experts tell, physical activity is an important component of the first six years of development for a child. Further, the first three years of brain development is the hallmark of growth. Hence, as children grow, physical activity is an invaluable tool to help in concentration, attention, social skills, innovation and cognitive performance. k