SPEECH AND LANGUAGE SKILLS
ARE YOUR CHILD'S SPEECH AND LANGUAGE SKILLS AGE APPROPRIATE?
To find out whether your child's speech and language skills are developing age appropriately visit the College of Audiologists and Speech Language Pathologists of Ontario website and click on to "Self-Evaluation - Children" at:
If you have any concerns after reviewing this information, please feel free to contact our referral and intake coordinator at 625-6799.
IDEAS TO HELP YOUR TODDLER WITH SPEECH AND LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT:
Use single words to name objects and actions during activities and play.
Talk about the experiences as they are happening, as this gives your speech the most meaning.
Repeat labels often so that your child can learn them.
Imitate your child's attempts at speech by repeating his word using the correct pronunciation. This not only shows interest and confirmation, but also gives him a good model.
Keep your language simple and easy to understand by using short 2 or 3 word utterances. If your child is using single words, expand his attempts by imitating and adding another word to make his meaning clearer.
When playing with your child, get down to his level and see him face to face. No only will he be able to see your face, which is especially helpful for learning some sounds, but you will be able to see exactly what he is interested in.
To help your child practice speaking skills, pause for 10 seconds after you have spoken to allow your child a turn.
Be aware that gestures and facial expressions are also a means of communicating. Give your child the word he needs to match his actions before responding to his non-verbal requests.
Remember all children develop at different rates and have different abilities, so use caution when applying developmental milestones, and consult with a speech-language pathologist for information and suggestions specific to your child.
GROSS MOTOR SKILLS (Age 3-4)
ARE YOUR CHILD'S GROSS MOTOR SKILLS AGE APPROPRIATE?
By 3 years of age, does your child:
Kick a ball by swinging his/her legs forward, without holding on?
Jump forward with both feet leaving the floor at the same time?
Walk upstairs, using only one foot on each stair, the left foot on one step and the right foot on the next? He/she may hold on to the railing or wall
Stand on one foot for at least 1 - 2 seconds without holding on to anything?
While standing, throw a ball overhand by raising his/her arm to shoulder height and throwing the ball forward at least 3 feet away?
Ride a tricycle using pedals?
By 4 years of age, does your child:
Catch a large ball with both hands? You should stand about 5 feet away and give your child 2 or 3 tries
Jump forwards a distance of 8 inches from a standing position, starting with his/her feet together?
Walk up and down stairs, using only one foot on each stair, the left foot on one step and the right foot on the next? He/she may hold on to the railing or wall when walking down stairs, but not for walking upstairs.
Without holding on to anything, stand on one foot for 3 to 5 seconds without losing his/her balance and putting his/her foot down?
While standing, throw a ball overhand in the direction of a person standing at least 6 feet away? To throw overhand, your child must raise his/her arm to shoulder height and throw the ball forward.
Hop up and down on either the right or left foot at least one time without losing his/her balance or falling?
IDEAS TO HELP YOUR CHILD WITH GROSS MOTOR ACTIVITIES
3 Years of Age
Three year olds are learning more about what their bodies can do
- Jump down from a step
- Hop
- Stand on one leg
- Walk up and down stairs
- Throw, roll and bounce balls
- Push along on a trike
Parents can help:
Play with your toddler
- Play catch, tag, chasing games
- Take him/her for walks, to parks, to playgrounds
- Draw
4 Years of Age
Four year olds are learning more about their body and what it can do:
- Run faster
- Climb higher
- Balance, skip, carry, build
Parents can help:
Make your children's world as big as possible
- Take children along to parks, barns, shopping, playgrounds, walks, drives, beaches, libraries.
Toys for active play
- Tricycle
- Bats, balls, skipping rope
Walking, running, jumping, playing and exploring the outdoors is fun for both kids and parents
FINE MOTOR SKILLS (Age 3-4)
ARE YOUR CHILD'S FINE MOTOR SKILLS AGE APPROPRIATE?
By 3 years of age does your child:
Build a tower of 6 - 8 medium to small blocks?
After watching you line up three blocks and place a forth block on top, does your child do the same thing?
String 2 - 4 medium size beads?
Twist the lid off a small jar or turn knobs?
Hold a pencil or marker in their fingers (not fist)?
Usually use the same hand to hold a spoon or pencil?
Draw shapes after watching you draw? For example - a straight horizontal line, a straight vertical line, a circle.
Snip into paper with child size scissors?
Undress himself/herself, except for fasteners (buttons, zippers, etc.)?
By four years of age does your child:
Hold a crayon with his/her thumb and first 2 or 3 fingers the majority of the time with the same hand?
Draw a person with 3 or more body parts?
Draw shapes from a picture? For example, a straight horizontal line, a straight vertical line, a circle.
Draw a cross after watching you draw one?
Stack 8 - 10 small blocks?
Build a bridge with 3 blocks and a wall with 4 blocks after watching you build them?
Complete a simple 3 - 8 piece puzzle?
Cut a paper in half on a more or less straight line, using child size scissors?
Follow 3 different directions using the words under, between, and middle, without being given help by pointing?
Dress and undress himself/herself with minimal assistance including buttons and zippers?
IDEAS TO HELP YOUR CHILD WITH FINE MOTOR ACTIVITIES
3 Years of Age
Three year olds are learning to be independent and to do things for themselves:
- Dress, undress
- Eat
- Use the toilet
- Make simple choices
More about using their hands:
- Build block towers
- Draw lines and scribble
- Cut paper with safe scissors
- Do easy puzzles
Parents can help:
Toys for messy play:
- Sand with pails, shovels, containers, and spoons
- Shallow wading pool
- Bubbles to blow
Arts and crafts:
- Crayons
- Finger paints and play dough
- Glue chalk
Toys for quiet play:
- Puzzles
- Blocks and large beads
- Nesting and stacking toys
- Little cars
- Animal and human figures
- Boxes and paper bags to sort things into and carry them around in
Toys for pretending:
- Old clothes for dress-up
- Small tools
- Brooms
- Toy dishes
- Dolls
- Stuffed animals
Books:
4 Years of Age
Four year olds are learning to do many things for themselves:
- Wash their faces
- Put on boots
- Get a drink
- Climb in a car
To use their imaginations:
- Invent imaginary friends
- Make up stories
Parents can help,
Let your children help you:
- Doing small chores
- At the grocery store
Things for make-believe play:
- Magnifying glass (for detective)
- Capes (for super heroes)
- Cardboard boxes (for doll houses)
- Dress-up clothes
- Hand puppets make from mittens
Toys for quiet play:
- Construction toys
- Building sets
- Puzzles
- Easy games
- Magnetic numbers and letters
- Small cars, trucks and figures
- Wind up toys
Music toys:
- Drums, xylophone, tambourine
- Pots and pans
Arts and crafts:
- Clay, play dough
- Finger paints
- Watercolours
- Safe scissors
- Glue crayons and markers
- Blackboard and chalk
FINE AND GROSS MOTOR SKILLS
To find out if your child's fine and gross motor skills are developing within normal limits for his/her age you can visit the following web sites:
Pathways Awareness Foundation is a national non-profit organization dedicated to raising awareness about the benefit of early detection and early therapy for children with physical movement differences. This is a great site for your infant or toddler Visit their site at: www.pathwaysawareness.org
Medem Network is a physician-patient communications network. Visit their site at: www.medem.com. Go to the Medical library and click on "Children's Health" for growth & development information about your child from birth and up.
Can Child is the centre for childhood disability and research located at McMaster University. Visit their site at: www.canchild.ca
O . T. works is Canada's Occupational Therapist resource site put out by the Canadian Association of Occupational Therapists. Visit their site at: www.otworks.ca
If you have any questions or concerns please feel free to contact one of the Centre's occupational therapists, or physiotherapists at 623-4381.
The following activities can help to enhance fine, gross and visual motor skills in your infant, toddler and preschooler. Keep in mind that learning occurs when you are having fun.
Encourage a variety of fine and gross motor play and activities
For your infant activities that encourage bringing hands together and reaching for dangling toys are excellent.
For the infant toys should be small enough to fit in little hands and safe for the mouth. Toys that can be held with two hands are great.
Crawling is a great activity to develop and strengthen your child's hands, arms and legs.
Use baby equipment (infant swings, exersaucers, jolly jumpers) sparingly since time on the floor is crucial for proper development.
Infants develop strength by moving. Provide him/her with various positions. place your infant on his/her tummy to play throughout the day.
For the toddler play with balls, sand and water play, blocks and pegboards, simple puzzles, large chunky crayons, finger-paints, play doh, riding and push toys.
For your preschooler tongs and clothespins are great for building hand muscles and developing scissor skills.
Activities that require a pincer grasp will help build the muscles needed for pencil grasp. Putting pennies in a bank, play with marbles, small peg pegboards to name a few.
For preschoolers encourage jumping, hopping, running, riding a tricycle and climbing on play equipment.
Take advantage of community programs such as swimming, music, skating, gymnastics, dancing, soccer and Tai Kwan Do. Those programs that include parents can be a lot of fun for the family and will give you ideas for things to do with your infant, toddler or preschooler
Don't forget to stimulate your child's sensory systems, at every age, with lots of movement, sights, sounds, and smells.
The following activities can help enhance fine motor and printing skills in your school-age child. The more fun the activity is, the more likely they are to cooperate! This is only a start. Feel free to use your imagination and your knowledge of your own child's interests to expand on these ideas.
Printing/writing activities
- keep a daily and/or travel journal
- write letters and thank-you notes to friends and relatives
- write shopping lists
- crossword and other word puzzles
- write poems or short stories
- use sidewalk chalk
- draw/write on blackboard
- tape mural paper to the wall and let your child draw, write, etc. with various media (pencils, markers, crayons, pastels, paint)
- Use non-traditional media to practice print and cursive letter formation
- shaving cream
- plasticine flattened on a cookie sheet
- hand lotion on tin foil
- form letters in the sand
- make letters out of Wikki Stix, Silly Putty, play dough etc.
Household chores
- washing and drying dishes
- cooking and baking activities (stirring, measuring, rolling out dough for cookies or pizza, tossing salads, etc.)
- squeezing sponges to wash walls, floors, or the car
- weeding the garden
- polishing silver or shoes
- folding laundry
- opening jars
- using spray bottles (e.g. to wash mirrors or windows)
- sewing
- beadwork
Other
- play games such as Boggle that require printing
- play card games-don't forget to have your child shuffle and deal the cards
- ball activities
- skipping rope
- playing with Legoes and other building blocks
- building models
- spinning tops
- playing marbles
- dressing/undressing dolls
The following activities can help in the gross motor development of your school age child. This is just meant as an example of games. Let your imagination guide you as well in your play with your child. Try different games out and adapt it according to the abilities of your child. It is important that it is fun and the children feel successful in the game!
1. Balancing
- Walking and when 'stop' is called out the child has to freeze in that position
- Walking over a rope which can be put down in different shapes
- Standing on one foot and write a word or a letter in the air with the other leg - a second person guess what is written in the air
- The game 'statue': the child balances on one or two feet - a second person moves the arms, the head, etc. like a statue. The child tries to hold this 'statue' as long as possible
- The game 'twister'
2. Jumping
- Jumping over a moving rope (like a snake or a swing movement)
- Jumping over and off obstacles (ropes, steps, curbs, etc)
- Jumping high to reach for a line on the wall.
- Hopscotch
3. Rolling a ball
- The game 'Bocce'
- For children unable to throw a ball for rolling activities, such as bowling or bocce, use a ramp to ensure success.
4. Throwing and catching
- Use beanbags, scarves and rolled up socks to assist catching with two hands.
- A ribbon attached to a ball helps to slow it down and makes it easier to catch it.
- A large thrown ball that is soft and lightweight, such as a balloon or a beach ball, reduces the fear of catching.
- Receive a bounce pass
- Use different catching devices e.g. bucket, plastic scoop, velcro glove (using tennis balls and Velcro pads)
5. Kicking
- Use large light balls (balloons, beach balls)
- Place beanbags on students' feet and ask them to try to kick them off
6. Walking
- walking with music
- walking with a map
- treasure hunt
- walk to play grounds
More ideas to become active can be found as well in the brochure 'Canada's Physical Activity Guide' which can be found on the internet www.healthcanada.ca/paguide or at George Jeffrey Children's Treatment Centre.
Getting your child involved in sports in the community is an excellent way to develop a healthy and active lifestyle.
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