Language and perception of personal autonomy of 3-4 year old children

Abstract

Language is one of the most important cognitive mechanisms. Without language, the personal autonomy of a child would not be able to develop in early childhood. The aim of the present research was to identify differences in the capacity to name body parts, language-wise, of 30 kindergarten children from an urban area in Constanta country, Romania, based on two criteria, as well as evaluate teachers' and parents' perception of the personal autonomy of the children. While no difference between sexes was identified, children growing up within families where both parents are present portrayed statistically significant better results in naming body parts when compared to children coming from families where one or both parents are absent. Furthermore, a very weak negative correlation was found between children's capacity to name body parts and their teacher's perception of the child's personal autonomy development. However, the parents and teacher seem to agree on how they perceive the personal autonomy of the children, as no statistically significant difference was found between the two categories.