Understanding What Child Development And The Related Milestones Are
Child development is the formative period during which a child’s physical, cognitive, emotional, and social abilities develop. This period continues until early adulthood. The child passes through various developmental milestones in sequential periods and progresses from dependence on parents/guardians to increased independence. Children develop various skills in five primary areas of development:
5 Primary Areas Of Development
1. Language & Speech Development
By twelve months, children begin to utter some words. They understand the language and able to say it. By two years, as their word power increases, they name the things around including some parts of their body- they may learn to say things like nose, mouth, eyes, etc. And between three to five years of age, they say most of the words correctly and string correct sentences.
2. Emotional and Social Development
A child’s interaction with the world around starts quite early. For instance, a six-month-old baby smiling at you is interaction. When they give a flying kiss, they are interacting and so too when they play games in kindergarten. The level of interaction and their understanding increases with age.
3. Cognitive Development
Cognitive skills relate to the ability to learn, understand, remember, solve problems, think, etc. When your child asks you “why,” when you ask her to do something, she is using her cognitive ability.
4. Development of Gross Motor Skills
When a child uses a group of large muscles, to sit, walk, run, balance, he is developing gross motor skills.
5. Development of Fine Motor Skills
A child is using her fine motor skills when she uses her hands or a spoon to eat, draw, dress, play, write, and do many other things. She used her group of small muscles to pull a chair, holding a pencil, or play with toys.
About Developmental Milestones
A pediatrician uses developmental milestones to decide how a child is doing. A developmental milestone is a set of functional skills that most children have in a specific age range. Learning to walk is one such major milestone which is achieved between the ages of 8 to 15 months, and it differs from child to child. It is also sequential, meaning a child develops a new skill after reaching an earlier milestone that works as a building block for the next one. Generally, you observe that a child does not walk before learning to crawl, hold something, and stand.
A child’s brain develops rapidly between the ages of 1 to 5, and the growth continues after that. The cognitive skills of a child improve during this period, and she learns to think, problem-solve, explore, analyse, and learn new skills. Milestones are for you to know how your child learns and grows at a certain age, given the broad time-frame to learn different skills.
Factors that Matter
Most parents are anxious about how their children will succeed during adolescence and adulthood. Research studies identify two factors that determine the growth and success trajectory of your child.
- Genes – This is considered a crucial factor and often referred to as “it is in the genes.” It is the baggage of genetic material received from parents at the time of conception. Genes determine the traits and characteristics the child will have. For example, a child’s eyes, complexion are a part of genetic inheritance. However, the new science of epigenetics shows that genetic activity can be controlled by environmental signals and our perception of these signals.
- Environment – This is a key factor that affects the universe of a child’s experiences while interacting at home, school, and playgrounds, etc. A nurturing environment helps the child to be more sociable in thinking and action and vice versa.
We at Clovel Childcare and Early Learning Centres, provide a very nurturing environment for children to learn and grow. For any information about our services, give us a call at 02 9199 0294 or fill in this contact us form
Thanks for reading,
Clovel Childcare
1300 863 986
