7 Decades of Independence & 7 Domains of Development.

On the occasion of 75th Independence Day, let’s celebrate the progress of our nation and its children. The change didn’t happen overnight. It took time.

Same goes for your child’s development. Their development won’t happen overnight. They require a warm and nurturing environment that directly impacts their physical, social-emotional, cognitive and language development.

You must remember that every child has a different pace and time when they start showing emerging skills like gross motor skills. If your child has started holding neck up, grasping objects in hand or sitting up straight, but hasn’t started walking yet, it doesn’t mean he won’t. Even if he has delays, his emerging skills can be enhanced.

This is where our child experts can help. From speech therapists, occupational therapists to special educators, child psychologists and physiotherapists, they are dedicated to helping your child reach their full potential by enabling them to overcome their challenges!

In this series of 7 blogs, we will cover each developmental milestone. But first, let’s introduce 7 major developmental milestones of early childhood to understand what all domains your child must attain for normal functioning.

1. GROSS MOTOR DEVELOPMENT – This is where your child starts using his big muscles when he crawls, stands up for the first time, starts walking, using his leg and arm muscles.
2. FINE MOTOR DEVELOPMENT – Developing hand-eye coordination is the key focus here and your child learns to use specific muscles in hands such as pincer grip to colour, cut with scissors, tear paper are all activities which reinforce this development.
3. LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT – This majorly involves speaking, reading and writing that comes from teaching alphabets and phonetics. Learning the ABC’s, the “magic” words like “please” and “I’m sorry”, and the wonder of a simple thank you note are all prime examples.
4. COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT – Although your child is in development mode, cognitive skills usually develop around 5 years of age that involves the ability to memorise, focus, learn and solve problems.
5. SOCIAL EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT – This skill helps children understand, analyse and respond to social situations while being in control of their emotions. ‘Giving a smile, making eye contact, being polite, communicating clearly and effectively, etc’ are few examples of social and emotional development.
6. ADAPTIVE DEVELOPMENT – Potty training is a significant milestone in this. Learning to dress and eat on their own, as well as tie their own shoes and brush their own teeth, are all examples of becoming less reliant on Mom and Dad.
7. MORAL VALUES – Remember how your parents taught you to say good morning when you wake up, to fold your hands in respect, to respect oneself as well as others, and to understand the difference between right and wrong? Well all of that comes under this milestone.

Learning is a fluid process that never stops. The domains are equally important, interrelate and overlap as learning occurs.

Stay Tuned for the next series that will talk about Gross Motor skills that usually emerge in early childhood.