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View Full Version : Er confused, LO have delayed development still?



NicoleW
29-01-2012, 07:52 PM
Hannah (My LO!) is 21 months old. Basically she was born with a few problems, blood poisoning, respiratory distress, pneumonia. Then she got meningitis at 6 weeks old after just being at home for 5 days from being discharged from the neonatal unit.


She learned to sit up unaided at 12 months old
Crawled at 13 months old
Said her first word (which was: "What's that") at 15 months old
Walked at 19 months old
Walked outside at 20 months old



Now ... I'm just trying to plan for my new mindee and getting a general idea of what he should be doing, when I decided to detour and do it for my LO too.

I read she should be able to point to body parts, do jigsaws, shape sorters etc.

She cannot name or point any body parts, or jigsaws, or even the basics of shape sorters.

HOWEVER

She will sit for (yes I timed it how sad) 29 minutes in one area picking up different books and turning the pages going "ooooooh".

She doesn't kind of label or name anything I point to her.

I'm not allowed to buy any more toys yet :( but just looking at some toy libraries this week. As my new mindee is starting tomorrow I'd like to get to know him for about 4 weeks to see what areas of development I can assist him with.


So far what I have planned for my LO to help is head shoulders knees and toes singing, and trying to find other songs with body parts in.
Hopefully get some shape sorters (though I may skip this as she isn't interested at all in these games), anything else I can be doing with her?

She is seeing a peadiatrician (sp) in March so I guess she'll have a bit more of a grasp, btu I'm slightly concerned that she is quite far behind in a number of aspects of development. I appreciate all children are different, but any advice on activities I could do for her would be great.

Christi
29-01-2012, 08:01 PM
None of my actual children could do jigsaws at that age either, but I did have a friend whose son would do them upside down, so just brown/grey on show! They're all different and do things when ready as long as they're given the opportunity.
DS1 at the age of 3 had only a handful of words; whisk, tree, car, train, grape, cat, mummy, daddy, thankyou and not much more was described by his reception teacher as having a fantastic vocabulary! (the problem with my other two children is that they don't stop talking)!

blue bear
29-01-2012, 09:16 PM
You need a whole picture of your lo's development, mile stones and achievements before you can start labelling.
Some children are interested in things other chdren are not and so all develop at different rates.
Try tracking your lo's development in the eyfs in all areas.
You say she should attempt sometimes successfully to fit shapes into spaces? But does she enjoy filling and emptying containers? This would make her on target.
If she's not been taught body parts or had puzzles/shape sitters to play with then she can't have perfected these skills. So what you are planning is a good idea as it will give her the chance to try if she wants to.
Maybe make some obs and put in place next steps and monitor her progress from now til appointment in March so you can discuss with doctor but mist of all don't panic children have a nack of catching up in their own good time

NicoleW
29-01-2012, 09:56 PM
She doesn't enjoy filling or emptying containers. To be honest she doesn't even attempt, I do try and coax her into fitting some shapes into a sorter and my 13 month old mindee can do them so we try and encourage her to play with us but she's not interested. She just gets up and finds a book or a hammer to hit him with (which is a new favourite game apparently)

I've not done a learning journal for her, so I think I might as it'll really help and it'll still be useful to give to reception when she goes to school (Don't think I'm putting her into a preschool)


Does anyone else do Learning Journals for their own children?

onceinabluemoon
29-01-2012, 10:06 PM
Not all children like emptying and filling containers either hun. Your LO may be slightly delayed as she had such a bad start but most kiddies catch up by the time they start school. You have noticed things in her development that may be behind which is a good start, not give her the opportunities to practice these things, e.g. play 'wheres your nose', then when she's got that 'wheres your ear' etc. when you touch her say tickle your tummy, tickle your feet, brush your hair etc and she'll soon pick it up I'm sure.

My eldest son had bronchial pneumonia at six months and it put him behind too, he did catch up eventually but he took his time. Try not to worry. I think your learning journey for her is a fab idea and it will give you something concrete to show her paediatrician too which can only be a good thing :)

The Juggler
29-01-2012, 10:14 PM
i would (as you would with mindees) work from the child's point of view. Rather than worry about what she should be doing, look at what she LOVES to do and plan around that. Lots of different activities to suit her interests.

Observe her with a variety of toys and resources and see what grabs her interest. Plan more of this. If there is an area you are worried about just experiement with different activities/resources which offer this to her. If she is not interested, don't worry move on.

I would say go for lots of role play stuff, phones, bags, babies food allows for imaginary play, KUW, ICT and physical development in handling and pushing the dolls and "feeding them".

EmmaReed84
30-01-2012, 06:39 AM
Ok so I have my son who was almost 3 when I started minding. The first child I minded was 2.5 and was sooooo clever. He knew his colours, could count to 10 totally unprompted and could easily do simple jigsaws no issues whatsoever, he could get his on and off and do zips and buttons.... However he has no confidence at all, no real social skills when in new groups or slightly larger groups, he will cling to me so tightly and cry constantly...

... My son however still at 3.5 struggles with colours, he can now count to 20 (prompted at certain numbers) and can do some simple jigsaws... he has a world of confidence, is a little social butterfly, his very first day at playschool he just smiled ran off while shouting "bye mum" no tears at all. Made friends his first day and understands different behaviour is expected for different situations

My point is that in my opinion confidence is the most important thing, building on self esteem not "teaching" children. Casually talking about body parts, face, eyes nose etc but not sitting there with the intention "I will teach my child this" I believe children are natural learners and investigators, it is our job to encourage their curiosity and indulge them (safely of course... if they like the fire tell them its hot, dont show them :laughing:)

But hey that is just my opinion

blue bear
30-01-2012, 07:40 AM
Doing her a learning journal is a good idea, it's something concrete to base your opinions in and will make explaining to the doctor where she us developmentally much easier. Try not to get too hung up on your worries and go with what interests her it's the easiest way to learn.