Ages and Stages: Guiding Your Child Through the First Five Years
When watching your children grow throughout the first five years up to kindergarten age, you witness them learning so much. They are always looking around and being alert and when they have their first smile or laugh it melts mom and dad’s hearts. While parents enjoy and celebrate every milestone that young children go through, it is very important to pay attention to those milestones to ensure the child is on track with their developmental skills. After all, 90% of your child's brain physically develops as early as 5 years old. Children develop skills within the following categories: social and emotional, cognitive, language and communication, and gross motor and fine motor. At Little Lukes we pay attention to these categories of development right alongside parents to ensure those milestones are met. Here are general developmental skills we look for in children, ages 1-5.
Child Development Milestones
Developmental
Milestones Before 1 Year
For a checklist on developmental progression for the months leading up to 1 year old, visit our website. (https://www.littlelukes.com/eidevelopmentalchecklist.html)
Developmental
Milestones of 1 Year Old Children
By this age children have started to develop social skills
and emotions. It’s very normal for them to cry when mom and dad exit the room,
show nervousness around strangers or new situations, and play games. In
addition, they should start to imitate sounds and actions of those around them
and respond to simple requests. They should also begin the process of standing
and walking on their own; generally they may only be able to take a few steps
or will hold onto furniture as they walk.
Developmental
Milestones of 2 Year Old Children
By 2, children will begin to show defiant behavior and will
copy things others say and do. They will also become excited or curious when
other children enter the room and will begin to include them in their play. 2
year olds generally can say 2-4 word sentences and should know and be able to
identify the names of familiar entities, such as people, body parts, shapes and
colors. In addition, 2 year old children should begin to kick, throw, climb,
and run.
Developmental
Milestones of 3 Year Old Children
At 3 years old, children will have developed a wide range of
emotions, showing concern and affection without prompting. They should be able
to follow 2-3 step simple instructions and be able to understand location (in,
on, under), age, sex, and ownership (mine, his, hers). At this age children
should also be able to play make believe and begin to use tricycles and walk up
and down the stairs one foot on each step.
Developmental
Milestones of 4 Year Old Children
At 4, children will often rather play with other children
than by themselves, engage in more intricate make believe play, and often not
be able to tell the difference between what is real and not real. 4 year olds
will also be able to have discussions on their interests and disinterests or
tell stories, using very basic rules of grammar. Children of this age begin to
understand the concept of counting, time, and letters. Physical development
increases to being able to catch a ball, stand or hop on one foot, and being
able to pour, cut and mash food (with supervision).
Developmental
Milestones of 5 Year Old Children
By 5 years old, important friendships are established and
children can distinguish between what is real and not real. This is also the
age where children can show a wide range between being very demanding and very
cooperative. 5 year old children will also be able to speak fairly clearly and
begin to understand future tense such as, “we will play at the park tomorrow.”
They will start to learn to write, count to more than 10, use the toilet on
their own, swing, and do somersaults.
How to
Help Your Child Meet These Developmental Milestones
Young children develop and learn so much in just a few short
years. Be sure you are actively making an effort to pay attention and notice
these milestones. The big ones are easy to notice, like taking their first step
or saying their first word. However it’s the ones that are easy to over look
that parents need to make an effort to notice, such as becoming curious when
another child enters the room around age 2.
If you believe your child is delayed in development,
encourage them to do activities that will ease them into the milestone quicker.
For example, to help your baby gain the strength needed to begin learning to
sit up, roll over, crawl, or walk, engage them in “tummy time.”
Early
Intervention
We want to ensure your children are developing successfully.
Little Lukes offers early intervention evaluations, after referral, for 5 areas
of development: physical, adaptive, social/emotional, communication, and cognitive
development. Little Lukes is an approved provider of Speech
Therapy, Occupational Therapy, Physical Therapy, and Special Instructions. If
you believe your child is delayed in meeting typical milestones or your child
would benefit from these services, please refer your child to your county’s
department of health to speak with a service provider on scheduling an
evaluation. For children ages 3-5 years, your school district can help with
referral and evaluation.
For a more complete list of developmental milestones or more information on how to monitor and guide healthy development, please visit the CDC website.
Little Lukes is a leading Syracuse daycare provider with five preschool locations. The early education program includes credentialed and caring staff that specializes in comprehensive infant, toddler and pre-kindergarten development. Children with developmental delays may qualify for preschool services in a home or preschool setting. Additional services include pediatric speech therapy, pediatric physical therapy and pediatric occupational therapy. Preschool locations include Dewitt (East Syracuse), Baldwinsville (Radisson), Oswego, Fulton, and Pulaski. Please contact us at www.littlelukes.com/contact.html
