Parents must continually be interested in preschool developmental milestones, because these can present principal indications as to the development of your child in a number of areas and how they measure up to to other children of similar age.
This is not intended to concern parents, but to serve as an early warning technique to make possible them to get involved 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 struggling in development in a given area, the methods of enhancing and pushing through these areas are few and far between! My main importance is to impart a positive, low cost and successful method of training any deficiencies in preschool visual development, and given that vision is the main sense in learning, I can almost certainly make sure that I can present targeted therapies to assist any child who shows any deficiencies in these developmental milestones.
Anyway, here are some broad 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 be expecting 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 steps, jump from a step, hop, walk on his toes, pedal a tricycle, play with make-believe friends, have a large vocabulary and use 3-4 word sentences and his speech must be 3/4 comprehensible. Over the next year his speech will become fully discernable.
Other developmental milestones take in starting to ask ‘why’ questions, telling stories, remembering nursery rhymes, appreciating special events, and comprehending every day routines.
Your three year old will now start to play considerately with other children in small groups, share his toys and improve friendships. Playtime will include structured games and imagination activities.
Most children take one nap during the afternoon of about 1 hour in length (he will cease 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 schedule and has developed the suitable 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 uncomplicated 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 must be fully discernable. Over the next few years he will be able to count to ten, know 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 understandable.
This is a time of growing independence and children at this age require to be considered more responsible. To help foster this sense of responsibility, now is a good time to begin providing your child an allowance. The amount is not very important, but is usually 50¢ to $1.00 per year in age and should be used for special things that your child wants. Managing an allowance will help to educate your child about the value of money and the importance of saving. Whilst it is also key that your child begin to have standard age appropriate chores (setting or clearing the table, taking out the garbage, cleaning their room, etc.) around the house, these must probably not be tied to their allowance. Positive support is key for completed chores, and failure to finish chores can be punished by removal of a privilege (TV, video games, etc.). Permitting your child to have a choice of which chore to do at times 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 Job Of Vision
All through the above mentioned developmental milestones vision plays a major role, even for things like gross motor development, counting and recognizing letters. Vision development needs developing visual skills, and if a child demonstrates any inabilities in these areas, their learning prospects 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 series of therapies which will dramatically improve your child’s learning ability, whether they are behind their classmates or not. Usually such therapies would cost thousands of dollars, but I have decided to produce them in a format you can do at home for a fraction of the cost you would normally pay.
So, don’t leave your child struggling with preschool developmental delays. Check out preschool vision and discover how uncomplicated it is to help your child in their preschool development.
