Preschool Developmental Milestones- What Are They And How Can You Facilitate Them?

Parents must constantly be interested in preschool developmental milestones, because these can offer principal indications as to the development of your youngster in a number of areas and how they compare to other children of comparable age.

This is not calculated to concern parents, but to serve as an early warning system to permit them to intervene early to improve development in preschoolers in areas such as vision, speech and language, gross and fine motor, sequencing and consequently on.

The real problem is that, if you discover that your child is slower in development in a given area, the methods of enhancing and pushing through these areas are few and far between! My most important importance is to offer a positive, low cost and successful method of training any deficiencies in preschool visual development, and given that vision is the dominant sense in learning, I can practically guarantee that I can give targeted therapies to assist any child who shows any struggles in these developmental milestones.

Anyway, here are some universal milestones which could give you useful information as to how your child is developing.

3 Years

At this age your child is becoming more self-reliant and you can expect him to dress himself, button clothes, brush his teeth with assistance, stack 9-10 blocks, draw circles and squares, use scissors, walk up steps by alternating his feet, jump from a step, hop, walk on his toes, pedal a tricycle, play with imaginary friends, have a large vocabulary and use 3-4 word sentences and his speech must be 3/4 understandable. Over the next year his speech will become fully comprehensible.

Other developmental milestones take in starting to ask why' questions, telling stories, recalling nursery rhymes, appreciating special events, and understanding every day routines.

Your three year old will now begin to play cooperatively with other children in small groups, share his toys and progress friendships. Playtime will take account of structured games and imagination activities.

Most children take one sleep during the afternoon of about 1 hour in length (he will stop taking naps between 3-6 years of age) at this age and are able to sleep all night. If not make sure that your child has a good bedtime routine and has developed the proper sleep associations.

Four Years

At this age you can expect your child to dress himself, brush his teeth without help, play board and card games and follow easy rules, name 4 colors, hop, walk down stairs alternating feet, talk in 4-5 word sentences, sing songs, listen to stories, shares things impulsively, count to 4, and his speech should be fully discernable. Over the next few years he will be able to count to ten, realize letters of the alphabet, and be able to learn his phone number and address.

Five Years

At this age you can expect your child to dress himself, brush his teeth without help, play considerately with other children, play board and card games and follow the rules, name colors, hop, walk down stairs alternating feet, skip, talk in 4-5 word sentences, sing songs, listen to stories, shares things on impulse, recognize some letters of the alphabet, print letters, recognize his phone number and address and his speech must be fully discernable.

This is a time of growing independence and children at this age want to be thought of as more responsible. To help foster this sense of responsibility, now is a good time to begin giving your child an allowance. The amount is not very important, but is usually 50 to $1.00 per year in age and must be used for special things that your child wants. Managing an allowance will assist to instruct your child about the value of money and the significance of saving. Though it is also important that your child begin to have standard age appropriate responsibilities (setting or clearing the table, taking out the garbage, cleaning their room, etc.) around the house, these must probably not be shackled to their allowance. Positive reinforcement is important for completed chores, and failure to finish chores can be punished by loss of a privilege (TV, video games, etc.). Allowing your child to have a decision of which chore to do sometimes helps with compliance.

Encourage self esteem and a positive self image in your child by using positive reinforcement and frequent praise for things that he has achieved. Encourage your child to be inquisitive, explore and take on new challenges.

The Function Of Vision

All through the above mentioned developmental milestones vision plays a major role, even for skills like gross motor development, counting and recognizing letters. Vision development requires developing visual skills, and if a child demonstrates any deficiencies in these areas, their learning future could be severely affected, and yet teachers and parents are typically at a loss to recognize what to do to assist.

As a Behavioral Optometrist for over 20 years, I have developed a special program of therapies which will significantly get better your child's learning ability, whether they are behind their classmates or not. Generally such therapies would cost thousands of dollars, but I have decided to release them in a layout you can do at home for a tiny proportion of the cost you would normally pay.

So, don't leave your child struggling with preschool developmental delays. Check out preschool vision and find out how uncomplicated it is to assist your child in their preschool development.