10.19.2010
I’m sure in a parallel universe somewhere I work as a child development researcher, doctor or analyst. I find development of any kind to be fascinating but especially that of children. One of the most interesting classes I ever had was one on child development. Learning all about the different stages of discovery for a child and how it’s tied to one’s brain is amazing. It, of course, helps to also understand some of the more “annoying” behaviors of children. Well, the ones that aren’t associated with a parent’s lack of parenting, that is.
The topic of reading is a huge issue for me and I highly encourage for any moms to refer to the chart that I copied below. For more info, I also encourage visiting the site from which I got this which is in my footnote.
Developmental Milestones of Early Literacy[1]
6-12 Months
Motor Skills: reaches for book, book to mouth, sits in lap, head steady, turns pages with adult help
Cognitive Skills: looks at pictures, vocalizes, pats pictures, prefers pictures of faces
What Parents Can Do: hold child comfortably; face-to-face gaze, follow baby’s cues for “more” and “stop,” point and name pictures
12-18 Months
Motor: sits without support, may carry book, holds book with help, turns board pages, several at a time
Cognitive: no longer mouths right away, points at pictures with one finger, may make same sound for particular picture (labels), points when asked, “where’s...?”, turns book right side up, gives book to adult to read
What Parents Can Do: respond to child’s prompting to read, let the child control the book be comfortable with toddler’s short attention span, ask “where’s the...?” and let child point
18-24 Months
Motor: turns board book pages easily, one at a time, carries book around the house, may use book as transitional object
Cognitive: names familiar pictures, fills in words in familiar stories, “reads” to dolls or stuffed animals, recites parts of well-known stories, attention span highly variable
What Parents Can Do: relate books to child’s experiences, use books in routines [and] bedtimes, ask “what’s that?” and give child time to answer, pause and let child complete the sentence
24-36 Months
Motor: learns to handle paper pages, goes back and forth in books to find favorite pictures
Cognitive: recites whole phrases, sometimes whole stories, coordinates text with picture, protests when adult gets a word wrong in a familiar story, reads familiar books to self
What Parents Can Do: keep using books in routines, read at bedtime, be willing to read the same story over and over, ask “what’s that?”, relate books to child’s experiences, provide crayons and paper
3 Years and Up
Motor: competent book handling, turns paper pages one at a time
Cognitive: listens to longer stories, can retell familiar story, understands what text is, moves finger along text, “writes” name, moves toward letter recognition
What Parents Can Do: ask “what’s happening?”, encourage writing and drawing, let the child tell the story
No comments:
Post a Comment