Separation-individuation is a developmental term that refers to the process by which an infant begins to differentiate himself from his mother or the primary caretaker. This is both a bodily and psychological process that requires many new skills such as the ability to compare himself to others, to conceptualize, to perceive differences and likenesses, to remember, to display a variety of new emotions, and so forth.
This acquisition of new skills, which allows the young child to begin to widen his perception of the way things actually are perceive reality , ultimately leads him to the accomplishment of individuation - the emergence of a separate little "self" that can relate to the world and others from the young throne of autonomy.
This process goes on over a period of about three to four years, and is one of the more wondrous phases of development for parents to witness and facilitate. Like the child's emergence from his mother's womb during the process of birth, separation-individuation is the "psychological birth of the human infant" Mahler, during the early years of life.
There are several steps, or subphases, in the process of separation-individuation that occur fairly chronologically, with some overlap as the child practices what he has learned.
Generally, these steps are referred to as the differentiation phase, practicing phase, and rapprochement. This phase begins somewhere around four to five months of age. Up until that point, the young infant has enjoyed a very symbiotic relationship with her mother, which simply means that she has experienced her mother for the most part as simply an extension of herself.
It's sort of an extended womb-like experience where all the needs of the infant are magically fulfilled when needed. Mother and child are not really different at this point for the infant. Fairly soon, however, the baby begins to discern mommy's face along with the sense of love and warmth that comes from her.
We begin to see the infant smile at mommy in a way that shows some recognition and attachment, and signifies a special bond. Baby can now differentiate between her mommy and others in the environment. It takes her a little longer, however, to begin to differentiate between herself and mommy. We begin to see the initiation of the process of physical differentiation that is facilitated by baby's alternately molding her body toward her mommy's, and then distancing her body by arching away.
Through movement while being held by mommy, the baby is allowed to get the first inklings of having some separation from mommy, however, this is still very tentative. Touch is the primary sensory activity that allows for this beginning differentiation process.
Around six months of age, the process of separation-individuation gets into full swing as differentiation takes on a more exploratory quality. Very simply, baby becomes fascinated with mommy's face as exemplified by pulling on her nose and ears, putting her hands into mommy's mouth, rearing away from her in order to get a better look at her, grabbing her hair, etc.
Remember that children are just not capable of understanding…until they are capable of understanding. Visual stimulation causes new brain cell connections synapses to development in a baby. And repetition strengthens the newly formed synapses. This is how a baby learns. If certain synapses are rarely used, they start to die out. Peek-a-boo games are ones that older children seem to love playing with babies. The older child and the baby get immediate feedback from each other. At what age can a baby play Peek-A-Boo?
Peek-A-Boo can be played with newborn babies and can increase in complexity as your child ages. Children learn the concept of Object Permanence at around 4 months of age, but even a 1-month-old will enjoy the eye contact and parental interaction a game of Peek-A-Boo provides.
Start with hiding your own face for just a few seconds, and show a big, happy face when you reveal yourself. To top. American Examples. Sign up for free and get access to exclusive content:. Free word lists and quizzes from Cambridge. Tools to create your own word lists and quizzes.
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