Tag: developmental milestones

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1.3 Adaptive: Sleep Patterns

Sleep Patterns

Adaptive (Self-Help) Development: Typical Sleep Patterns in Infants, Toddlers And Young Children1

Newborns spend a good portion of their time sleeping. As months go by, they spend more hours awake. However, sleep and rest continue to be essential for the healthy physical and emotional development of infants, toddlers and older children. Recent research has also connected good sleep patterns to cognitive skills development. In fact, those children with poor sleeping habits who do not get the minimum 10 hour sleep per night may experience stunted growth and development in children in preschool ages. These children may also be more irritable and cranky when they are awake―very much like adults who have difficulties with their sleep!

Sleep habits and a family’s’ cultural background and beliefs are connected. Different families hold different views of nighttime sleep. They can also hold different views on the “correct” way a baby is put to sleep, where they sleep and for how long they are left asleep.

  • For example, some parents may prefer keeping their babies in the same room and sleep with them, instead of having a special room for the baby; some families try to keep their babies awake for most of the day with short naps on and off, instead of fostering mid-morning and mid-afternoon naps.

Night waking happens at different stages. It’s important for parents to realize there are different reasons a baby may wake up during the night. Parents react and respond differently to night waking based on why the infant or child is up.

  • For example, if a baby is distressed, in pain or hungry, a natural response for the parent will be to pick the baby up, soothe them, feed them, comfort them and gently put them back to bed.

By the time they between 6 and 9 months old, most babies are not hungry when they wake up during the night. At this stage, the recommendation from experts in baby sleep is for parents to give baby a chance to calm themselves down before picking them up, unless the parents learn, through the baby’s cry, that they might be in pain or discomfort. For babies who are not hungry, in pain or discomfort, self-soothing and self-regulation are important skills they need to develop early in life. These skills will help them be able to take good care of themselves when they are older. For some children, it could be more difficult to learn this type of independence if they are not given the opportunity to calm themselves down when they are babies. Giving the baby a gentle pat on the back or singing to them after a couple of minutes of cry generally help babies to calm down. At the same time, parents may want to pick the baby up if crying persists and gets louder. Between 9 and 12 months, most babies are sleeping through the night, or an average of six to eight hours, non-stop.

As babies and toddlers grow older, they may require less continuous sleep. Most babies will benefit from one or two naps per day. As they enter the early childhood years, they may need just one nap (or no naps at all) during the day.

It’s important not to force a baby to eat or play when they are tired or sleepy. Babies will most likely not enjoy these activities and may end up associating these activities with “feeling cranky or tired”, which may cause them to avoid these activities in the future.

Difficulties with sleep have also been linked somewhat to the baby’s temperament. Babies  with predominantly “difficult temperament” may have difficulty with regular/irregular feeding or changing habits.

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1.3 Communication: Pragmatics

Pragmatic Language

Communication Development: Pragmatic Language1

Pragmatic language is the social reason we use language, or the “practical’ aspect of language. We use language to communicate our thoughts and ideas to those around us. We also use language to explain and wonder about things, and try to make sense of the world around us.

Some pragmatic milestones include the following:

  • making eye contact with others (unless not culturally appropriate)
  • learning to take turns
  • using a tone of voice that mirrors that of adults (e.g. using different intonation when telling something, when asking a question, when excited , upset or scared)
  • modulating intensity of voice as needed (e.g. inside vs. outside voice)
  • using language to label things (e.g. it’s a dog)
  • using language to protest something (e.g. it’s not fair)
  • using language to express emotions (e.g. I feel happy/sad)
  • using language to express opinions (e.g. well, I don’t like it one bit!)
  • answering questions (e.g., it wasn’t me…)
  • telling others about experiences, briefly at first, then in detail (e.g., I saw that movie; I went to the movies with my older brother and his girlfriend)
  • staying on topic in a conversation (e.g., brings examples or ideas on the same topic)
  • moving to a different topic in a conversation (e.g., understands that topic of conversation has changed)
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1.3 Social and Emotional Development: Emotional Skills

Emotional Skills

Emotional development is a broad term that describes how a child develops, displays, regulates and understands feelings and emotions. The development of a child’s self-concept and self-esteem (see full Glossary) are part of emotional development.

Emotional development includes the development of emotional regulation, learning how to soothe and calm oneself. This process starts early, with parents or caregivers providing young children with the comfort they need when distressed; for example, crying, hurt, scared and needing comfort.

  • At first, children need their parents to calm down. Later, they do it mostly on their own. Most parents know what to do, for example rocking their baby back and forth, and do not need to be taught how to soothe their children. It  is something that comes naturally.
  • Some children may take more time to soothe than others. Their parents may find it harder to read their children’s emotions.  These children tend to be a bit more irritable than others, but this does not mean that these children cannot be soothed. It’s important for parents to know that this may be their child’s temperament. Parents should not feel guilty if their child is not easy to comfort and should do their best to comfort their child regardless of how irritable they are or how difficult it’s to read their emotions.

Children should develop certain skills and reach certain developmental milestones, in order to become emotionally competent and stable adults. The most important of these emotional milestones/skills, including self-concept, are listed below:

  • establishing eye contact with others
  • establishing and maintaining eye contact with others
  • smiling, and later laughing
  • enjoying being handled
  • smiling at familiar people
  • knowing the difference between familiar people and strangers
  • enjoying daily routines (such as bathing and feeding)
  • responding to name being called
  • recognizing self in mirror
  • using parent or other familiar adults as a 
    social reference (see full Glossary)
  • playing, alone in solitary play (see full Glossary), and later, with others in parallel (see full Glossary) AND cooperative play (see full Glossary)
  • engaging in pretend play (see full Glossary)
  • displaying basic emotions
  • exploring their surroundings
  • having a “favorite” or “best” friend
  • displaying complex emotions
  • recognizing feelings and emotions in self and others
  • showing pride in achievements
  • making positive statements about self or showing a strong self-esteem (see full Glossary)
  • showing guilt over mistakes and/or having done something they should not have done
  • avoiding dangerous situations that may place them or others at risk
  • describing their own feelings and emotions
  • describing feelings and emotions in others

Vignette

Johnny was a term baby like his sisters, but was not an easy baby like them. He had trouble sleeping and reflux problem. But Johnny’s parents knew that each baby is different. They did not compare the children. They loved and accepted him. His needs were met and he was given what he needed to grow and thrive. He turned into a happy and fulfilled boy.

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1.3 Social and Emotional Development: Social Skills

Social Skills

Social development is a broad term that describes how a child relates to others around them. The ability to share, to take turns, to understand someone else’s perspective, and to carry on a conversation with people a child knows and with strangers, with children their own age, and those older and younger, are  all part of social development.

Babies and children are social beings. Babies are born social. As they grow older, they learn how to act in socially acceptable ways. They learn how to do so by watching others around them.

  • For example, a child watching their parents being kind to others will likely develop a sense of kindness.
  • In contrast, witnessing violence, and especially at home on an ongoing basis, increases the chances that a child will use violence as an adult.

Children develop and refine their social skills mostly by watching others. A child’s culture and family structure will heavily influence what is viewed as socially acceptable behavior and what is viewed as as socially unacceptable behavior.

  • For example, children who are always teased may grow up thinking that teasing is a socially acceptable behavior; although feeling hurt, they might tend to tease others.
  • In contrast, children whose opinions are listened to and valued will most likely listen to and value the opinion of others.

Children’s environment plays an important role in shaping their social skills. Parents may not always be able to protect their children from outside circumstances, but they are able to provide them with a safe haven, inside the walls of the home. This safe haven is what helps children become healthy well-adjusted adults. Home stability and safety are key elements in the development of social and emotional development and the child’s overall well-being.

Children need to develop certain skills and achieve certain milestones in order to turn into socially competent grown-ups.

The following are the most important social skills/milestones that children need to achieve

  • establishing eye contact with others
  • establishing and maintaining eye contact with others
  • smiling, first as a response, then to familiar persons (one of the first signs of attachment), then laughing
  • enjoying daily routines (such as bathing and feeding)
  • establishing joint attention (see full Glossary) with others
  • establishing joint action (see full Glossary) with others
  • participating in simple turn-taking games (e.g. peek-a-boo)
  • playing alongside other children, or parallel play (see full Glossary)
  • making choices
  • imitating simple actions of others (e.g. clapping hands, waving bye-bye)
  • sharing (when being asked)
  • sharing spontaneously
  • saying “no” (first in perhaps socially “unacceptable” and then in socially acceptable ways)
  • playing with other children, or cooperative play
  • trying to comfort those in distress
  • asking for permission before using something that does not belong to them
  • putting toys (and other things) away, when asked
  • following simple rules (e.g. no jumping on furniture)
  • following complex rules (e.g. not hurting others’ feelings)
  • performing simple chores
  • answering the phone
  • conversing with someone on the phone
  • imitating complex actions of others (e.g. vacuuming, shaving, putting on make-up)
  • imitating complex expressions of others (e.g. honey, I’m home)
  • engaging in pretend play
  • having meaningful  conversations with peers, and then with adults in their family and home circles (for a few minutes)
  • negotiating with peers, and then with adults, in their family and home circles, and finding solutions to conflicts
  • choosing own friends
  • defending themselves and/or what is of their property in socially acceptable ways
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1.3 WHAT IS DEVELOPMENT?

What is Development?

The early intervention dictionary defines development as “the lifelong process of growth to maturity through which an individual acquires increasingly complex abilities” (EID, page 111). Every child has a unique developmental path that is influenced both by their biological make-up and by the environment in which they live.

There are some key points to keep in mind when thinking about child development. They are:

    • Child development (CD) exists on a continuum. Some children develop fast and early. Others children the same age develop slower, both in quality and quantity. They reach developmental milestones (Fig. 1) (see full Glossary) later than others, or not at all. If they do reach a certain developmental milestone, they may not master it the same way typically developing children do.
milestones
Fig. 1: This image shows examples of baby motor milestones, or skills that develop at certain ages

The development of most children falls in the middle part of the continuum. The children whose development falls on either the lower OR upper parts of the continuum as usually described as developing “atypically”.

  • The development of the children whose development falls on the lower part of the continuum is somewhat slower than that of others their age. The development of children whose development falls on the upper part of the continuum is somewhat faster than that of others their age.
  • Development starts from the inner body and goes to the outer body; for example, children usually develop or gain control over their arms, before their fingers.
  • Development also starts from top to bottom; for example,children cannot have good control over their legs if they do not have good control over their heads.
  • Development is gradual and usually follows a predictable sequence. Children usually learn how to sit before they learn how to walk. They learn how to say individual words, before they speak in sentences.  Every skill a child acquires will later be used as a foundation for more complex skills. Learning how to stack rings in the correct order is a great feat on its own for both the child and the parents. At the same time, this skill that is seen as a game is also paving the way for other skills, for example motor, cognitive and academic skills.
  • Child development experts often divide development into several areas or domains. The most common division (and one that will be used throughout this course) is the following: cognitive development, social/emotional development, communication development, motor development and self-help development
  • Child development experts also understand that all areas of development are important and inter-connected. A child who cannot pronounce certain sounds properly may not be developing typically, when it comes to communication skills. This may have an effect on their social skills which may impact their self-esteem, a major component of emotional development. A child who needs help to eat, and may use a special tool to eat, because of delayed fine-motor skills, may feel anxious about this situation, which may impact their social and emotional skills. It’s important to note that this child may be quite comfortable with the special tool that they use to eat, and what is making them uncomfortable is the reaction that they may see from those around them.

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