Every Child is Different
Parents often worry if their child is developing typical to their age. At IDEA ELC we tailor our curriculum to children’s stage of development, which is influenced by age but isn’t necessarily the only deciding factor on the curriculum content they are taught. We then differentiate our targeted teaching by personalizing activities. Some parents see things that other children have done and ask why their child hasn’t done them too. We firmly believe that it’s not one size fits all. Our talented teachers know if each child needs to acquire further or new skills, consolidation or challenge. We track their progress and attainment closely.
‘Typical Development’
Typical development for children from birth to 12 months. During this period of growth you might notice your child doing the following things:
Social and Emotional Development:
- Enjoy being held and cuddled
- Respond to familiar people by smiling, cooing and babbling
- Imitate people’s actions
- Explore toys by using their senses
- Pay attention to sounds and movement
- Enjoy playing peek-a-boo
Cognitive Development:
- Learn about objects by using all of their senses
- Visually follow and respond to moving objects and faces
- Like objects with contrasting colours and patterns and those with gentle movement and sounds
- Watch their mirrored images appear and disappear
- Imitate adult movements and language sounds
- Enjoy activity boxes
Physical Development:
- Gain control of and move their heads from side to side
- Play with hands and feet
- Reach for, grasp, shake, mouth and explore objects they can hold
- Move objects from one hand to the other; bang objects together
- Roll over
- Sit on a blanket, propped at first and then without external support
- Crawl to explore
- Pull themselves to standing and cruise by holding on to furniture
- Roll, hold and throw balls
- Pick up finger foods
Cognitive Development:
- Learn about objects by using all of their senses
- Visually follow and respond to moving objects and faces
- Like objects with contrasting colours and patterns and those with gentle movement and sounds
- Watch their mirrored images appear and disappear
- Imitate adult movement and language sounds
- Enjoy activity boxes
Language and Literacy Development:
- Ask for care and attention by crying, laughing and smiling and through other vocalisations
- Vocalise to themselves, other people and toys
- Understand and respond to gestures, facial expressions and changes in vocal tone
- Understand and respond to their names and to very simple, familiar requests
- Take turns babbling, talking and singing with others
- Use gestures to communicate, such as pointing and head shaking
- Enjoy listening to simple stories, rhymes and songs
- Use their senses to explore books
To find out more about how we track children’s development from the day they begin with us at 9 months old, please visit www.ideaelc.ae to book a tour and meet our Teaching Team.
