Early Childhood

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Maternal ChildBaby Steps for a Brighter Future

• Early Childhood
• Developmental Milestones
• Warning Signs

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Presenters

• Nanette Massey, MOT, LOTR,
• Occupational Therapist, Assistant Professor
  Clinical Intake Coordinator,
• Childrens Center, LSUHSC-S
• David Irwin, Ph.D., CCC-SLP,
• Speech-Language Pathologist, Professor and
  Director of Childrens Center, LSUHSC-S
• Elizabeth Guice, Ph.D., LMFT,
• Marriage Family Therapist,
• Assistant Professor Clinical,
• Childrens Center, LSUHSC-S

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Pre-Test Post-Test
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This presentation will

• Investigate concepts and skills that children
  should develop across domains from birth to three
  years of age
• Provide some ideas regarding interventions
  supports for you to use as you make your own
  observations of child development play.
• Identify red flags in the developmental process

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YEAR ONE

• What is it they might be learning right now?
• What other activities will give them a chance to
  practice what they are learning?

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YEAR ONE birth to three months

• What the baby can do
• I am getting to know you
• the other people who
• love and care for me
• What you can do?
• Talk sing to the baby
• Hold your baby

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YEAR ONE birth to three months

• What the baby can do
• I am beginning to use my
• body to make things happen.
• What you can do
• Give your baby something to reach for and hold
  onto a finger or a toy
• Watch to see how your baby is discovering his
  body

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Questions about babies play

• My three-month-old seems
• to only be interested in
• interacting with me or
• playing for a few minutes
• at a time.
• Is this normal?

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• Young babies have a fairly short attention span.
  They are easily overwhelmed and usually only
  play (interact with you, make eye contact,
  and/or play with toys) for brief periods of time.
  

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YEAR ONE three to six months

• What your baby can do
• I am learning to control
• my body
• What you can do
• Place your baby in different
• positions to help develop new skills
• like rolling, creeping, and crawling

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YEAR ONE three to six months

• What your baby can do
• I communicate using sounds, actions, and facial
  expressions
• What you can do
• Watch an respond to your babys signals

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Questions about babies play

• My six-month-old hates her jack-in-the-box, the
  same toy my son loved. In fact, she is so afraid
  of it that Ive had to put it away. What does
  this mean?

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• It sounds like for your daughter, the loud, fast,
  and surprising movement of the jack-in-the-box
  may be too much for her. Look for other toys
  that offer a similar cause and effect experience
  as the jack-in-the-box such as rattles or toy
  pianos where she can press a key and hear a tone
  

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YEAR ONE six to nine months

• What your baby can do
• I am learning to solve problems
• What you can do
• Comment on what your baby does
• to make things happen
• Let your baby explore interesting
• objects

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YEAR ONE six to nine months

• What your baby can do
• My personality is
• starting to show
• What you can do
• Notice how your baby likes to play and explore
• See how your baby reacts to sounds, sights and
  social activity

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Physical Skills

• Children use their whole bodies
  when they play. This helps them develop
  the muscle strength, balance, and
  coordination
• they need to learn from and
• explore the world around them

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Thinking Skills

• As they play and interact with loved caregivers,
  babies develop thinking
• skills such as
• Cause and effect
• Object permanence

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Communication Skills

• Sounds
• Gestures
• Facial Expressions

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Social Skills

• Babies develop social skills as you delight in
  their discoveries and make them feel important,
  loved, and competent. You help your baby develop
  positive social skills by
• Responding to her cries and attempts at
  communication
• Respect her unique needs temperament

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YEAR ONE nine to twelve months

• What you can do
• Help your child take the
• next step in her play

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YEAR ONE nine to twelve months

• What your baby can do
• I can creep and crawl
• I am beginning to start waking
• What you can do
• Give your baby lots of time and a safe place to
  practice new skills
• Make a trail of toys in a child-safe place

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YEAR ONE nine to twelve months

• What your child can do
• Beginning to walk and explore
• Able to express happy, mad, and sad
• Imitates others
• Enjoys books
• Trust that needs will be met

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FIRST YEAR

• What you can do
• Name and/or label feelings experiences
• Encourage the baby to explore
• Read books and point to pictures
• Talk, sing songs, say rhymes
• Be responsive, gentle and protective of the baby

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Question about babies play

• My ten-month old really likes to do things with
  her hands. She will look at and handle a toy
  over and over again. She is not really into
  crawling around like other kids in the play group
  we attend.
• Should I worry?

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• Every baby has his or her own preferences for how
  to explore the world.
• For your little observer, look for engaging toys
  that will build on her desire to explore with her
  hands. Think about shape sorters, textured
  blocks, and other toys that encourage handling
  observation.

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Developmental Milestones Birth to 12 months

• Your baby learns what her body can do.
• Your baby learns about her feelings
• Your baby learns about people, objects, and how
  things work
• Your baby learns to communicate and relate to
  others

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Year 2 12-15 months

• What your baby can do
• I love to imitate.
• I copy actions Ive seen other people do, like
  stir a pot or talk on the phone.
• What you can do 
• Join in your childs play.
• If you see her putting a blanket on her toy bear,
  ask Does Teddy need a bottle before bed?
• Give her objects to play with that she sees in
  real life,
• Like plastic dishes, a toy telephone, a small
  dust broom.

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Year 2 12-15 months

• What your baby can do
• Im starting to talk and understand so much more.
• I may use some words like duhduh for dog.
• I can show you what I want through my actions.
  I may bang my high chair when I want more food.
• If you ask me to, I can point to a body part or
  a picture in a book
• What you can do
• Choose books about things that interest your
  child
• like animals or other children.
• Build your childs vocabulary.
• If she points to or says bus, you can say The
  school bus is driving down the street.
• Name the people, places, and things that your
  child sees each day
• Thats a garbage truck taking our trash.

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Year 2 15-18 months

• What your baby can do
• Im using my body to explore and learn.
• I am walking and may be running and climbing.
• I can scribble with a crayon and build a block
  tower.
• I can feed myself.
• What you can do
• Encourage your child to use his fingers and hands
  to explore.
• Let him scribble, tap a toy piano, or hold a
  bubble wand.
• Play baby olympics.
• Create some safe challengeslike climbing over a
  stack of pillowsfor your child to master.

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Year 2 15-18 months

• What your baby can do
• I am beginning to understand my feelings and
  others feelings too.
• I may try to comfort someone who seems sad.
• I repeat sounds and actions that make someone
  laugh.
• My feelings can be hard for me to handle. I
  may start having tantrums and will need your help
  to calm down.
• What you can do
• Read books that talk about feelings.
• Connect what you are reading to your childs
  experiences That little boy in the book felt
  sad saying good-bye to his daddy, just like you
  do sometimes.
• Stay calm during tantrums.
• Take deep breaths, count to 10, or whatever helps
  you to not react. Staying calm helps your child
  recover more quickly

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Year 2 15-18 months

• What your baby can do
• Says mama, dada, and up to 8 additional words
  and some 2-word sentences (Big ball).
• Explores things and curious about people
• What you can do?
• Offer safe and trusting relationship
• Talks, listens, and responds to toddler
• Use words to tell toddler what comes next Ex
  Catch ball now What do you do? Throw ball
  

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Year 2 18-24 months

• What your baby can do
• I am learning new words every day.
• I may say as many as 50-100 words by my second
  birthday.
• What you can do
• Turn your childs words and phrases into
  sentences.
• When he says, More milk, you can say You want
  more milk in your cup.
• Talk as you read.
• Ask your child questions about the pictures and
  stories you read together

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Year 2 18-24 months

• What your baby can do
• I need help to begin learning self-control.
• I understand no but I still cant control my
  feelings and actions.
• I may get frustrated when I cant do something
  by myself. Please be patient with me!
• What you can do
• Put your childs feelings into words.
• I know youre really mad that I turned the TV
  off. Its okay to feel mad. Instead of TV, would
  you like to read or play with blocks now?

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Year 2 18-24 months

• What your baby can do
• I am a little scientist, always testing things
  out!
• I love to fill and dump and open and close
  things to see how they work.
• I may start to sort objects. I might put all my
  trains in one place and all my cars in another.
• What you can do
• Help your child practice sorting.
• Ask your child to help you sort the laundry by
  putting socks in one pile and shirts in another.
• Encourage lots of exploration.
• Fill and dump with water or sand. Make an indoor
  sandbox of dry oatmeal or fall leaves.

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Year 2 18-24 months

• Build your childs vocabulary through repetition.
  
• Notice how your child uses his actions to
  communicate.
• Nonverbal communication is very important.
• Talk together with your child.
• The more you talk with your child, the more words
  he will learn.

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Year 2 18-24 months

• Physical Development
• As toddlers become more adept at using their new
  balance, coordination and muscle strength, their
  physical skills will become more complex as
  wellmoving from walking to running, jumping,
  climbing, dancing, and pedaling.
• When toddlers play, they have the chance to
  practice new tricks and to learn more about
  what their body can and cannot do, all under the
  supportive (and supervisory) eye of a loved
  adult.

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Year 2 Tie Social/Language

• Social and Language Skills
• Toddlers develop social skills as you show your
  enjoyment in spending time with themthis makes
  them feel fun to be with, loved, and special. 
• Through play, you can help your child practice
  turn-taking, sharing, and cooperation.  
• At this age, playing with peers often means
  parallel play, in which children play next to,
  but not with, another child. This is normal and
  is an early friendship-building experience, as
  children watch and imitate others

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Year 3 24-30 months

• What your toddler can do
• I can use my body to get me places.
• What you can do
• Go on a neighborhood walk.
• Play balance games.

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Year 3 24-30 months

• What your toddler can do
• I am using language to tell you what I am
  thinking and feeling.
• What you can do
• Ask your child about his ideas.
• Acknowledge feelings and teach social skills.

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Year 3 24-30 months

• What your toddler can do
• I want to have friends (but I dont like to
  share).
• What you can do
• Give your child plenty of opportunities to play
  with others.
• Discuss the idea of sharing frequently.

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Year 3 24-30 months

• What your toddler can do
• I am really enjoying pretend play.
• What you can do
• Use pretend play to teach your child how to
  handle challenging situations.

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Year 3 TANTRUMS

• My 28-month-old son screams until I give into his
  tantrums. What can I do?

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• Acknowledge his feelings
• Offer choice
• Use humor

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Year 3 30-36 months

• What your toddler can do
• My body helps me do big kid stuff now!
• What you can do
• Let your child scribble with markers or crayons.
• Provide opportunities to enhance physical
  development.
• Child proofagain.

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Year 3 30-36 months

• What your toddler can do
• I use language to express my thoughts and
  feelings.
• What you can do
• Introduce new words to build your childs
  vocabulary.
• Ask more complex questions.
• Be patient with Why questions.

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Year 3 30-36 months

• What your toddler can do
• My friends are very important to me.
• What you can do
• Help children with sharing and turn-taking.
• Help children to be sensitive to differences
  among people.

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Year 3 and Play

• Development is best promoted through play.
• Make play a social activity.
• Let your childs imagination be your guide.
• Use play to help your child learn about the
  larger world.

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Warning Signs

• Causes for Action, Not Alarm
• Developmental milestones give a general idea of
  the changes you can expect as a child gets older.
  Because each child develops in his/her own
  particular manner, it is impossible to predict
  exactly when or how a given skill will be
  mastered. Parents and caregivers should not be
  alarmed if a childs development takes a lightly
  different course.
• The presence of a red flag or the inability to
  do something most children already can - should
  not incite panic. However, you should alert the
  parent and pediatrician immediately if a child
  displays any of the following signs of possible
  developmental delay for her or his age.

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Warning Signs

• MOTOR RED FLAGS
• Your childs motor skills are regressing
• Your childs limbs seem stiff
• Your childs muscles seem floppy or loose
• Your child favors one hand or side of his body
• Your child seems very clumsy
• Your child has trouble grasping and manipulating
  objects
• Your child drools and has difficulty eating

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Warning Signs

• Social/Emotional for Infant
• Resists holding
• Difficult to comfort console for prolonged time
• Sleeping or eating difficulties (too much or too
  little)
• Is failing to thrive
• Rarely makes eye contact and avoids w parents
• Has limited ability to regulate emotions

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Warning Signs

• Social/Emotional Toddler or Preschooler
• Shows little preference for or excessive
  dependence on the parents or other primary
  caregivers
• Does not show apprehension about strangers
• Appears excessively irritable or fearful
• Lacks interest or curiosity about people or
  playthings
• Fails to explore environment
• Sad and withdrawn more than usual
• Has excessive fears that do not respond to
  reassurances

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Warning Signs

• Communication for Infant
• Does not startle to loud noise
• Does not maintain eye contact with caregivers
• Not babbling by 8 months
• Not responding to first name by 10 months
• Lacks turn takingdoesnt share interaction
  with family
• Excessive drooling or eating problems

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Warning Signs

• Communication Toddler Preschoolers
• No words can be understood by family or friends
  by 15 months
• Limited use of vocabulary (less than 20 words by
  18 months)
• Lacks 2-word sentences by 26 months
• Difficulty playing with other children
• Lacks 3-word sentences by 36 months
• Difficulty with turn taking in a
  conversationtalks very little or totally
  dominates all conversations
• Shows little interest in books pictures to tell
  a story

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Referral?

• Louisiana has an early intervention program that
  offers evaluation treatment
• EarlySteps Name of Louisianas Early
  Intervention Program
• Provides services children birth to 3 years (2
  years, 11 months)
• See next page for contact information (by
  geographic region)
• http//www.dhh.louisiana.gov/offices/?ID334
• Call 1-866-earlysteps (327-5978)

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Post-Test Review /QA

• Lets review your post-test
• This is designed for your review. Results do not
  have to be shared with anyone.
• Questions?
• Thank you for attending.
• For further information you can contact the
  Childrens Center at 318-813-2960.