The Parent Education-Infant Development Program of the
Rappahannock Area Community Services Board presents
Your Early Childhood To-Do
List
A guide to everyday
experiences that promote healthy development in the first three years of life
The rate of growth the human brain undergoes in the first
few years of life is hard to overstate. The experiences that a child has in
these early years have a direct impact on the neural connections that are
formed and strengthened during this critical growth phase. When a developmental
delay is evident, these first three years present a literal once-in-a-lifetime
opportunity to use research-based therapies to reduce or eliminate the delay.
This is the work of Parent Education-Infant Development
(PE-ID), a program of the Rappahannock Area Community Services Board. PE-ID’s
team of occupational, physical, speech and other therapy providers work with
parents and young children together in the home to give parents the tools to
help their children through frequent, repeated, play-based exercises that fit
into common daily habits such as diaper changes and feedings.
“Our goal is for the developmental gap we see now to be gone
by the time the child reaches kindergarten,” said PE-ID Program Coordinator Suzanne
Haskell.
It doesn’t take expensive classes or fancy toys to provide
experiences that will help young children build the brain connections that
promote language development, executive function, motor skills and so many
others. Here’s a list of everyday experiences that should be part of children’s
day-to-day lives before they hit preschool.
Share a book with an adult.
Reading aloud to children is an activity with an almost
endless list of benefits. Research
by the American Academy of Pediatrics has linked more frequent shared reading
with a lower risk of social-emotional problems in young children. Shared
reading—and shared play of any kind—also help children develop the ability to
have give and take with other people and children in the course of their
activities. When a child allows you to turn the pages of his or her favorite
book, or to share in the building of a block tower, that child is learning to
share space and experiences, a skill that will be important to success in
school and beyond.
The Central Rappahannock Regional Library’s Grow a Reader
programs are a great resource for finding new ways to share the experience of
books and reading with your child. Visit librarypoint.org/grow-a-reader
to learn about group story times and classes, recommended booklists and the
“1,000 Books Before Kindergarten” reading challenge. The Fredericksburg,
Howell, Salem Church and Porter library branches provide “Learn & Play”
rooms where young children can get hands-on with toys, blocks and interactive
panels that bring early literacy development to life.
Play on the floor with an adult at eye level.
Alison Standring, PE-ID Part C System Manager, says it’s
important for adults to participate in young children’s play. Getting down on
the floor with a child—or if needed, bringing the child to your level on a bed
or couch—is essential to this kind of interaction.
The interactivity of shared floor play helps with emotional,
cognitive and social development, while floor-based movements help children
develop overall strength and fine and gross motor skills. As children get
older, they progress from pushing themselves up on their bellies to the
stooping and squatting that helps build core strength and balance.
Get out of the house.
Young children and even infants benefit from simple errands
outside of the house. Standring recommends taking young children to the grocery
store and narrating the trip, naming each item as it goes into the cart. In
addition, visits to libraries and local parks can provide an opportunity for
children and parents to interact with each other, see new things and explore
with all five senses.
Get messy with food.
There will be plenty of time later for you to insist on good
table manners. In the first three years, children can benefit from messy
eating. “Getting messy with food helps children get familiar with the textures
of things, and just the experience of being messy and getting cleaned up is
important for sensory development,” Standring said. Make this easier on
yourself by setting up mealtime with a placemat or highchair that is easily
wipeable, or a plastic floor covering to prevent stains.
Put (safe) things in your mouth.
As gross as it may seem to us, babies learn a lot about
their world through their mouths. While infants’ hands are still developing the
coordination to grasp and feel, the lips and mouth are full of sensory nerves
that can provide a lot of information. At 3-4 months, most babies start putting
their hands in their mouths. Once they learn to grab things, expect most of
those things to go in the mouth. Parents can protect by keeping items that pose
a choking hazard and toxic items out of reach, but it really is important for
young children to learn about their world in this way. “This is how they learn
about their environment,” Haskell said.
Explore a cabinet.
While any cabinet or drawer that contains medications,
weapons or objects that could cause a child harm should be locked at all times,
parents should consider having a cabinet or shelf in the home that contains
safe items that a child can freely explore. Pots, pans, bowls, cups,
spoons—everyday objects are wonderful items for a child to find and take out of
a cabinet. And while you may see clutter creation, know that the process of
emptying that cabinet or drawer is helping your child develop important physical
and cognitive skills, such as [AS1]
how objects fit inside of each other, how to find a partially hidden object, or
how to reach out and grab an object. This is something to encourage and play
along with.
No need for screens.
Children born in the last three years will likely see
smartphones, tablets and other screens from the day they are born. But these
are not the right tools for the critical brain-building children need to do at
ages 0-3. Here are some important facts to keep in mind regarding screens and
young children:
–
There is no electronic substitute for human
interaction. While many families enjoy the “Ms. Rachel” YouTube videos,
just as previous generations flocked to “Baby Einstein” DVDs, research has
consistently found that young children do not learn language from videos. One
notable study
of the “Baby Einstein” videos found that children who watched the videos
(whether their parents watched it with them or not) did not learn any language
from the video, but when parents were instructed to teach the same words
directly to their children through in-person interactions, children did learn
the words. So, while videos may be a fun way to relax and enjoy family time
together, children need in-person interactions—not a digital substitute—to
reach the important developmental milestones that will prepare them for school.
–
Screen use can alter brain structure. A
2022 study
by researchers at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital found that children whose
caregivers reported higher digital media use demonstrated a reduction in the
thickness of the brain’s gray matter, and lower depth of the “canyons” between
brain folds. These two measures have been linked to language development,
reading skills and social skills such as complex memory encoding, empathy and
understanding facial expressions.
Reach out to us.
PE-ID is a resource for parents of children ages 0 to 3 in
the Fredericksburg region. Visit rappahannockareacsb.org/early-intervention/ to
learn more and see a list of developmental milestones that can help you
determine if your child may be experiencing a delay. Call 540-372-3561with
questions about our services.
