A beloved, long-awaited child for parents is not only joy, but also responsibility. Indeed, as long as the baby is not able to independently move around, make choices, talk, it is mom and dad who become his support and incentive for development. What information do adults need to know about the psychomotor development of a child in order to be able to respond to difficulties in time?
How to determine the normal development of the baby
The importance of the period of fetal development and birth is great. By the time of birth, many systems and organs are in a state of development, and they are still very far from functional maturity. For a child to survive in a new (aggressive) environment, appropriate care and conditions must be provided.
The child’s adaptation to the environment and its physiological formation are evaluated in the first minutes of birth on the Apgar scale (named after the name of the doctor who created it). Measurements are taken in the first, fifth and tenth minutes of life. If the indicators change upward, the fact of a good adaptation of the baby to the environment is stated. The table shows five indicators of the viability of the body of a newborn: skin color, palpitations, reflexes, respiration, muscle tone. A score of seven to ten points implies a good, timely psychomotor development of the child in the future. If the assessment after the first and second measurements remains low, doctors diagnose impaired development and prescribe appropriate medical support.
The stage of the birth of a child affects the formation of the whole subsequent life of a person, therefore it should not be underestimated.
What does the term “psychomotor development” include?
The maturation of the nervous system and centers of the brain in children passes from birth to seven years. The final physiological formation is completed by youth. In this regard, heterochronism of the development of mental and physical development is noted.
In pedagogy and psychology, the phrase “psychomotor development” implies the timely formation of such characteristics as motility, static muscle function, sensory sensations, thinking, speech, and social adaptation. To compile a reliable picture of the actual development of the child, his indicators are compared with the achievements of a normally developing one-year-old. Scales of normative psychomotor development for each period of a child’s life are developed on the basis of many years of observations by doctors and teachers, based on practical research. However, very often the specialist’s words about the inconsistency of the baby’s development with the standard minimum are smashed against the wall of parents' misunderstanding and protest.
Why is it important to monitor the child's psychomotor development and correct it in time:
- children whose abilities and skills are formed on time (on a scale), are 100% successful in learning, have a good base for becoming a self-sufficient person, are well adapted in the social environment;
- if the deviation in psychomotor development occurs in all respects in the direction of reduction, then in this situation, to align the processes, the help of specialists (often narrow-profile) is needed, the parents themselves are not able to cope with such a problem;
- If the baby’s abilities and skills are ahead of the age norm, you should also not relax, because you need to work with talented children taking into account their individual characteristics.
Periodization of child development
The onset of crisis periods in childhood has a direct correlation with the formation of new skills, the maturation of the nervous system and parts of the brain. In a word, this is an abrupt restructuring of the body, which causes a certain “discomfort” in the baby, and not only for him. Parents have to go through six stages of growing up with their children:
- newborns (adaptation to the environment);
- crisis of one year (associated with a change in position in space, the beginning of walking);
- a crisis of three years (conditionally this period can begin from one and a half to three years, associated with the allocation of a child “I”);
- a crisis of seven years (begins with six and can manifest up to eight years of age, is associated with the formation of verbal and logical thinking);
- puberty crisis (from eleven to fifteen years, has a physiological basis);
- youth crisis (occurs from fifteen and can last up to eighteen years, associated with the formation of personality).
There is a pattern: the better the parents are ready to show new skills in children, the better the crisis stages for pupils proceed. Of course, we must not forget that boys and girls are formed and develop "at different speeds" due to the difference in physiological nature.
The scale of normative physical and psychomotor development of children takes into account all the features of the formation of the child. In most cases, it is enough to pay a little attention to the formation of a particular skill in time, not missing the sensitive period, and the baby will not even remember that he was faced with any problems.
If the baby has a systemic delay in psychomotor development, then the situation cannot be corrected by half measures. Usually this picture is observed with a serious violation of the formation of organic processes, therefore, it is almost impossible to even out the development of a child without the help of specialists.
The formation of the personality of a child up to three years
For ease of use, the scale of normal development of the baby it is placed in almost all "Diaries of the development of the child." There are different types, forms and editions of this manual, but the essence is the same: helping parents.
Communication, speech, thinking and self-care are also formed over a long time and have their own milestones. Psychomotor development up to a year is very active, preparing the child's body for upright posture. By the age of three, the baby is already ready for communication with people around him. In the case of delayed psychomotor development, such an effect, depending on the severity of the disorder, is observed at the age of 4-5 years.
Personal features of a preschooler
From 3 to 7 years, children actively explore the space through outdoor games, various activities and sports. Independent movement makes it possible to study the space and objects of the world. It is worth noting that the level of psychomotor development of preschoolers depends not only on the abilities of children, but also on the desire of an adult to educate children. The skills acquired by the pupils at this time are more social in nature and depend on the correct learning. The role of the adult in the formation of the personality of the child is only growing.
In everyday life, the child becomes more independent, learns self-care skills (washing, dressing, cleaning up after himself, eating properly). With the help of adults, she masters and learns how to independently perform many physical exercises (rides a two-wheeled bicycle, plays tennis and other outdoor games that require coordination of movements). He learns to distinguish between the main sensory standards (form, color, texture, volume, etc.), mastering graphic skills. Under the norm of development by the age of seven, the child masters the figurative side of the utterance (not only understands the figurative comparison, but also uses it independently), knows how to correctly articulate all the sounds of the native speech and intonationally build the utterance.
What does school readiness mean?
Having successfully passed the period of “pochumuchki” and “dreamer”, the child is preparing to enter school. In order to study the characteristics of the psychomotor development of children, psychologists and speech therapists conduct tests, according to the results of which they recommend entering first grade or other training options. Unfortunately, parents rarely heed the recommendations of specialists, hoping for "maybe outgrowing", "a whole summer ahead, growing up," etc.
It is one thing if the baby has 1-2 functions that, with proper pedagogical support, are aligned quite quickly. But if a child is recommended a program to compensate for the delay in psychomotor development in children, then the priority is simply obvious. Again, unfortunately, not for all parents.
The importance of choosing an educational route
Often a violation of psychomotor development is caused by such factors as developing deafness, blindness, dementia of the nervous system, severe diseases of the nervous system (for example, cerebral palsy, an organic form of ZPR), and pedagogical neglect. In such cases, children are recommended different educational routes, which are selected by specialists in accordance with existing problems. It is worth noting that the programs are adapted to teach children with different educational needs, but parents are often not able to assess the real state of things, motivating their refusal with the phrase "my child is not worse than the rest."
In fact, he is no worse and no better, he just has other needs that he will not satisfy when studying in an ordinary school curriculum. Learning in the end for the child at best will be a real hard labor if it does not cause concomitant stuttering. But adults rarely think about this.
Children with special development
The first thing that special children need is for adults to understand this feature and to make demands based on the current situation. There are no identical people, therefore, it is good for one, for the other - it is similar to death. The principle of “being like everyone else” works only to the detriment of the child. The children are all different, but they equally want to experience the joy of victory, touching something new, the unconditional love of their parents. Therefore, adults should weigh the pros and cons? deciding on the fate of a special child.
Junior schoolboy: does he need help
Admission to first grade is, first of all, stress. Expected, controlled, dosed (to a certain extent), but still ... If in a kindergarten a child felt like a fish in water, then the school process comes first in the school, so adult help is absolutely necessary. Sometimes the support and confidence of parents in the success of the student allows you to "breathe more freely."
Recommendations for parents
The psychomotor development of babies should take place under the close supervision of parents. At the age of 0 to 3 years, many problems can be removed with the help of children's massage. It is difficult to find specialists of this class, but possible.
Problems that arise in early childhood are mostly quickly corrected due to the abundance of sensitive periods in this period of life. Therefore, their decision cannot be postponed until later - it will be too late.
The choice of the educational route of the child should not be justified by the requirements of the parent for the child, but by the needs of the latter in development and education.
When making a decision, remember: children count on the unconditional love of their parents.
There are no identical people, so take care of the unique world of your child.