Important developmental areas and their management

By Iram Sharif

Important developmental areas and their management

Infants and toddlers

0 to 3 years age

This developmental area is critically very important for future spending life. There are some important strategies or tips to follow

Check your child’s responses according to developmental age. If not appropriately developed, bring him/her to complete checkup.

Social development. Remain close to your infant/toddler, engage him/her in social responses such as smile, hug, or play. Show your warmth and caring attitude and teach them these interactions with live modeling, use of puppets, cartoons, smiley face drawings, model objects and stickers. Remember that children in this age are very active so they imitate you or other presented things immediately and as accurate as possible. So, what type of medium of instructions are you using? Has of greater importance. Be careful in your presentations and selection of topics or spoken instructions. Pointing, use of signs and gestures are alright but your first preference should be use of spoken media. You should develop small but meaningful activities in this respect and at each step completion, tried to reinforce your child with hi-fi, hugs, and smiles. In the start you will reinforce your child at every step but progressively will reinforce at the end of completed activity.

Speech and language development. Speaking needs the stronger muscles to articulate the production of speech. Less active muscles involve weak coordination.  So the best way will be specialist advice and working on given plan. In home you can use a sweet thing outside the mouth so as your child will try to lick it by moving tongue. This will strengthen the muscles of tongue. Bubble blowing, blowing cheeks, balloons air filling by mouth are activities that can strengthen the muscles of mouth. For language, first deliver the concept to your child what the thing is? For this purpose you can use colored toys, picture book, shapes and objects models. You will design activities in a meaningful way to introduce the target concept.

Visual & Spatial development. With poor vision, one needs to checkup. You introduce your child the big, small, thick and thin objects to identify. In accordance to your child’s vision, select the size of objects.

For spatial skill development teach your child, distance, standing position and direction. You can ask short questions and will deliver brief instructions. For example you can ask where I am. Where is ball? Come to me, look below, you are standing on stair, I am in room where you are? etc. must deliver these concepts in an interesting way so as your child can easily follow without resistance.  

Motor development. Take consultants’ opinions and recommendations will remain first priority to know the extent of recovery. Design some fine motor skills enhancing activities such as use of glasses, strings, and small boxes then sit with your child and teach them how to pick up, hold and then throw small objects into glasses, strings, and small boxes. For gross motor skill development, also design age and development appropriate small activities. Sit, stand, hopping, jumping, running etc. For instance, you can select an area where you can hide some objects. After that you instruct your child to search out these in the targeted time. It will enhance your child’s motor and visuo-motor skills.

Note. One important thing is to have patience and remain calm because it will be a time consuming procedure to develop and enhance a skill to a satisfactory level. Normally developing children can learn these fast than children with developmental disabilities. So do not build your expectations too high. Many parental coaching or training centers are working currently in the country so you can contact with these institutions. You need to relax and counseling with relaxation is a best solution for you.