In my opinion, infant intelligence is not an effective predictor of academic intelligence later in life. An infant’s IQ does not show a direct continuum in the functions thereafter assessed in life. Studies conducted to young infants aged one year and intelligence reports collected from the same individual later in middle childhood or even later in life did not show a direct correlation. Infant intelligence is not a tool enough to predict an individual’s IQ later in life; however, it may be used for certain studies that have a direct correlation. For example, how exposure to a particular chemical on infants affects them later in life. In this case, the effects of the chemical are known hence one can predict the future on such information.
As an infant grows, the ability to adapt and learn from the surroundings decreases with time. The growth and development of a child’s brain significantly affect the intelligence of the child later in life. Social-cultural factors like family, peer groups, education, and training also affect a child’s intelligence as they learn and adapt to their surroundings. Biological factors like nutrition also affect an infant’s intelligence. A child that is well fed will develop the brain much faster and become stronger and vice versa.
The ability of these factors to affect a child’s intelligence indicates that the intelligence of an infant does not predict the level of intelligence of the child later in life. It is dependent on so many factors that they experience as they grow
In my opinion, repeatedly soothing an infant is detrimental to the development of the infant. Due to limitation in speech, an infant expresses their emotions through crying. To calm a child, the caregiver will soothe the infant to relieve its stress. However, theorists suggest that if the soothing continues for a long time, the infant makes it a behavior to cry until its soothed. This is detrimental as the infant does not learn how to overcome their emotions by themselves. An infant who calmed by is introducing novel actions like the drumming of an object; they change their attention hence are able to overcome their emotions. This is beneficial as they learn new activities and are more curious compared to an infant who is always soothed when they cry. However, theorists suggest that as soon as the novel action stops, the child may fall back to emotional stress and continue crying. Despite this fact, they are fast learners and end up being more intelligent as they are introduced to a new action that they tend to learn with time.
According to the attachment theory, infants tend to become attached to the caregivers who give them attention during stressful times. However, in case they do not learn to overcome the stress by themselves, they may end up not learning new things and becoming more curious.