Is my child okay?
By ILLINOIS EARLY LEARNING PROJECT
Published: Monday, December 4, 2006
Parents often compare their own children with other children in size, personality, and speech, even though they know that each child is different.
When should parents be concerned about those differences? Here are four areas of development that you can watch.
<b>Physical development: </b>Some children grow bigger and faster than others, but growth should occur at a regular pace. Most babies weigh approximately three times their birth weight by age 1 and about four times their birth weight by age 2. A well-baby or well-child exam from a physician or nurse can help identify many problems early.
<b>Personality development:</b> Your child may be one who interacts eagerly with new people and experiences or one who prefers to observe first. Personality development is affected by how much young children trust the people who take care of them. By the age of 2, your child will probably enjoy playing beside another child. By the time children are ready to start school, they typically know how to play in a group and may even have a best friend.
<b>Speech development:</b> Your baby will learn to speak and to understand words from the people who talk to him. He is likely to speak his first few words between 9 and 12 months of age, depending on these factors:
<b>Hearing: </b>Babies with poor hearing may take longer than those with good hearing.
<b>Communication with parents: </b>Talking to your baby can help him learn to speak. Responding to your baby when she tries to talk can help her learn to speak.
<b>Language: </b>Babies who hear more than one language daily may take longer to learn speech than babies who hear only one language daily.
<b>Other areas of development: </b>When he is busy learning other things (like walking), his speech development may slow down for a little while.
<b>Brain development: </b>Genes, nutrition, and environment work together in brain development. Use a developmental chart, or one provided by your health care provider, to keep track of learning milestones. Talking to your children; reading to them; listening to them, even when they are very young; and letting them explore their world safely are good ways to help.
Contact your child’s doctor or health-care provider if your child is growing at a much different rate than others of the same age, often avoids eye contact, resists being held, seems to “tune out” the world around him, or doesn’t respond to sounds or a familiar voice as an infant.
Illinois Early Learning Project. www.illinoisearlylearning.org