Every mother experiences stress when raising a child and worries about the success of their development. This brochure outlines the milestones in a youngster’s development from six months to five years of age and possible deviations in which some delays can be noticed. One of the main indicators of the profitable development of a toddler at the age of 6 months is their successful attempts to sit up on their own. At the same time, the mother should notice their conscious reaction to the world around them and the faces of his parents. With the support of the mother or special devices, children move their legs and make effort to crawl at this age. From the perspective of brain development, they respond to their name and learn the first syllables. At this age, a deviation is observed if the child does not respond to others and does not actively try to move. To help with development at this stage, parents can introduce the first natural complementary foods and buy educational games by age.
Between the ages of 7 and 9 months, mobility increases and babies crawl, sit and move freely. Brain activity allows them to point at objects that parents name and actively use speech, even if it is incomprehensible. If the child is silent and does not show interest in toys and other objects, parents may have a cause for concern (Hustad et al., 2019). Mom should talk a lot with the child so that they can remember the speech and use development cards to teach subjects.
The next serious stage lasts from 9 months to a year and a half. During this time, children learn to walk with support and, at the age of one and a half, walk boldly without the help of their parents. As for brain development, the child is able to show parts of his body, say his name and name simple surrounding objects, and shows interest in educational toys. A deviation in this stage can be a speech delay and the child’s inability to remember simple words. Parents need to constantly teach the child new words and show different objects. Nutrition plays a key role when the baby has more and more food, and not mother’s milk or complementary foods.
Under the age of two can be characterized as the rapid development of speech in a child. Brain development includes vocabulary which is about 300 words, and the child actively uses it (Morgan et al., 2018). Moreover, at this time, children are most actively interested all things around and ask their parents many questions. The baby walks and runs, climbs stairs without the help of parents and holds cutlery (Vigliocco et al., 2018). By the age of three, children begin to increasingly copy adults and adopt their model of behavior and this is the main indicator of brain development. Sometimes they quarrel with other children and refuse to share toys, but they like to spend time with other people. Children are confident in their physical abilities, try to dress and undress. Deviations can be noticed if the child refuses to spend time with other children and constantly plays alone. To help in development, the mother must patiently answer all the questions of the child, thereby stimulating him to explore the world.
Between the ages of four and five, children begin to coherently and understandably describe things and stories that have happened. From the perspective of brain development, they use complex sentences and are constantly interested in new things. Children pronounce many sounds correctly and try to improve their speech. Deviations can be indicated by their unclear and confused speech, the inability to name objects. At this stage, the mother prepares lean, protein-rich food for the baby, which strengthens his orphanage. Parents constantly read books to children and watch educational cartoons together. For a more detailed discussion of development, parents can refer to Wiley Online Library, Journal of Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging and Translational pediatrics journal.
References
Hustad, K. C., Sakash, A., Broman, A. T., & Rathouz, P. J. (2019). Differentiating typical from atypical speech production in 5-year-old children with cerebral palsy: A comparative analysis. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 28(2S), 807-817.
Morgan, S. E., White, S. R., Bullmore, E. T., & Vértes, P. E. (2018). A network neuroscience approach to typical and atypical brain development. Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging, 3(9), 754-766.
Vigliocco, G., Ponari, M., & Norbury, C. (2018). Learning and processing abstract words and concepts: Insights from typical and atypical development. Topics in Cognitive Science, 10(3), 533-549.