self-esteem – ECI – Module 1: Atypical Development

How Development in Early Years Influences Development in the Elementary Years

Atypical early child development in the social and/or emotional arenas¹ is likely to be also present as the child grows older. If not effectively addressed, social and emotional difficulties will turn into more serious behaviors. Atypical behaviors may signal caregivers about issues that need immediate attention and that are not part of a phase the child will “come out of ” on his or her own.

Some of the concerns about atypical social and emotional behaviours evolving into serious issues in the middle/adolescent school years include: A child not growing emotionally at par with other children his age, or “stunted emotional growth”;
A child showing cruelty to others and/or to animals;
A child having extremely low self-esteem;
A child being dependent on others to feel good about self;
A child at higher risk for suicide attempts;
A child being unsafe about personal and intimate relationships (i.e., promiscuity);
A child engaging in risky, unsafe and/or criminal behaviors, including drug and alcohol use; truancy, and/or dropping out of school.

Children who continue to display atypical social and emotional skills beyond the early childhood years may end up being diagnosed with oppositional defiant disorder or conduct disorder.

1 see References

Articulation

The development of articulation¹ follows a sequence that takes several years to complete. Some speech sounds, such as “l” “r” , “s” and “i“, are especially difficult to learn how to say, or to pronounce (see full Glossary) (Fig. 1) and some children do not master the ability to make these sounds correctly until they are seven or eight years old. Other speech sounds (e.g., “th” as in “this” and “zh” as in “pleasure”) are developed later on, by age 8. In order to find out which speech sounds develop at which age, please look at the Speech Sound Development Chart.

Figure 1. The illustration shows what needs to happen inside the child’s body for pronunciation or articulation to happen

Some signs of articulation difficulties include:

Understanding of the child’s speech by only those who know the child well, by age 4;
Taking a long time to speak or answer questions;
Showing frustration when speaking (e.g., crying);
Avoiding to join in or to speak in groups or any social situation and conversations (because of speech difficulties);
Confusing and substituting sounds after age 6 (e.g. “wabbit” for “rabbit”);
Missing word beginnings or endings of words (e.g. “kool” or “schoo” for “school”);
Missing parts of words, or syllables (see full Glossary) in longer words (e.g. “cacuta” for “calculator);
Saying certain speech sounds in some situations but not others (e.g. saying “s” in school but not “s” in bus): this is a serious red flag.

A child’s self-esteem² (see full Glossary) may suffer when growing up with speech difficulties. That is because these difficulties are obvious and may draw other people’s attention to them. Children with speech delays need a little bit of extra time when asked questions, so that they can be calm as they respond to questions. This prevents the child from feeling he/she draws the attention of others. The earlier a child receives professional help to work on his or her speech difficulties, the more chances for them to succeed in their language skills.

1 see References

Figure 1. The illustration shows what needs to happen inside the child’s body for pronunciation or articulation to happen

1 see References 2. References on child self-esteem on Kids Health, available at http://kidshealth.org/parent/emotions/feelings/self_esteem.html.

1 see References
2. References on child self-esteem on Kids Health, available at http://kidshealth.org/parent/emotions/feelings/self_esteem.html.