Children need social skills, self-help skills, physical skills, language and communication skills, and cognitive skills for their development.
Babies need to develop 'Gross Motor Skills' in the first six months of life. These skills involve physical movement in response to stimulation (floor play, toys etc), and specifically entail time on the stomach, rolling, crawling, physical strength, movement in space, balance, hand-eye co-ordination, judgement and control of muscles.
Babies need tummy time during wakeful periods to develop their neck muscles while lifting and turning the head to look around them. Access to toys allows them to reach and grab toys, perhaps stimulating them to crawl or creep if the toys are out of reach. Time on their back is also significant, in that babies learn to kick their feet or roll on to their stomach.
At one month old, babies must learn to follow a moving object. Firstly, they learn to follow from left to right, and can then be taught to follow an object up and down or diagonally. Failing to do this will create an inability for them to read later on. We move our eyes across a page to read; thus tracking is important in a baby's development.
In the beginning, a baby's attention span is short and he/she easily gets tired. However, while teaching your baby these skills, he/she is learning attention skills.
The abilities of tracking and turning the head to a sound involve 'Cognitive Skills', in that babies concentrate in small blocks. These are also known as 'Receptive Skills' because babies are passive while responding to a stimulus.
'Fine Motor Skills' commence in the first ten weeks of a baby's life when parents play with the baby's hands. These kinds of skills include the use of the hands to pick up small objects, to hold a pencil correctly, to colour-in well, to use scissors, to write, to have hand-eye co-ordination, to develop mouth and tongue muscles, to have motor skills, and to move the eyes.
To arouse 'Fine Motor Skills' you can tickle your baby's chest so he/she can try to get your hands. After this development, your baby needs to clasp hands above the chest area. This will occur with stimulation.
There is so much learning within the babies' growth when they focus on stimuli, recognise it, desire the object, then try to reach for it. This occurs in only the first several weeks of life.
Go To Page: 1 2
| Here's the follow-up discussion on this article: | View all related messages |
For a complete listing of article comments, questions, and other discussions related to Lucy Appadoo's Youth Learning a Second Language topic, please visit the Discussions page.