4.5 – Ages & stages – helping your own children
How old are your children? Can you think of ways that you can help them achieve developmental milestones in each area of development? – Physical, Social; Emotional, Intellectual, Communication and Speech.
For example: George is one; his mum waggles his teddy in front of him to encourage him to crawl and holds his hands to help him toddle and feeds him a healthy diet (Physical). She takes him to Toddler Group and to the park and comforts him when he cries because he doesn’t want to get off the swing (Social/Emotional). George’s mum reads him stories, plays with blocks and counts cars with him (Intellectual) and she talks to him, helps him to name things (cat, car, ball) and encourages him when he attempts to speak (Communication & Speech).
How you would encourage your children in each of these areas? Write your answers in your worksheet.
| Area of development | |
|---|---|
| Physical | |
| Social / Emotional | |
| Intellectual | |
| Communication and Speech |
Development quiz
How well do you know the stages of a child’s development? Choose what age you think a child will be able to do the following:
It is our job to help our children in terms of their growth and development. We do this mostly without thinking about it, for example counting steps as children walk down them or supporting them when they are playing football and cheering ourselves hoarse! However it is useful to know the stages of development and think about additional things we can do to help them.
Children are unique and will develop at different rates and many things can affect their development, as mentioned before if you are at all worried talk to your health visitor, GP or the school.
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