Developmental milestones are behaviours or physical skills seen in infants and children as they grow and develop. Rolling over, crawling, walking, and talking are all considered milestones. The milestones are different for each age range.
Milestone Development
Gross Motor Skills are the abilities required in order to control the large muscles of the body for walking, running, sitting, crawling, and other activities.
Fine Motor Skills are small movements such as picking up small objects and holding a spoon, that use the small muscles of the fingers, toes, wrists, lips, and tongue.
Eating & Drinking Skills (drinking from a cup, chewing & swallowing, picky eating)
Additional Information – Many young children have feeding problems at times but these problems are more common when a child has additional needs.
Communication Skills – Understanding language is far more important to your toddler than actually speaking it. Once they really understand, they will communicate with you. Your toddler’s first words are almost always labels (ie: names for people, and animals) or other things that are important to them.
Self-Care refers to all the things we do to keep our bodies safe and healthy. The main areas of self-care for a toddler or preschooler are sleeping, eating/drinking, toothbrushing, dressing, and bathing/grooming.
Social & Emotional Development – This area of development involves learning to interact with other people and to understand and control your own emotions. Babies start to develop relationships with the people around them right from birth, but the process of learning to communicate, share, and interact with others takes many years to develop. Developing the ability to control your emotions and behaviour is also a long process. Children continue to develop their social-emotional skills well into their teenage years, or even young adulthood.
Understanding & Thinking Skills – Right from birth, children are aware of their surroundings and want to explore them. As your child plays and interacts with the people and objects around him, he learns about his body, his home, and the world around him.
