My Child is 14 months and is not yet walking, why?

So you have been wondering why your neighbour's baby who is the same age as yours, is walking and yours isn't. Well, no two children are the same; the fact that Baby A is standing or walking and yours isn't, doesn't mean there is a problem with your child. Baby might just be taking his or her time.

However, you as a parent should know the milestones so you can know when there is actually a problem.

The first five years create the foundation for the child to accomplish key developmental milestone advances in mind and body. It is during these years that the brain undergoes its most dramatic growth in gross, fine motor, language skills, thinking and social interactions.

So how can you tell the difference between a child who is just taking his or her time and one who has a true developmental delay?

According to Marat Zeltsman DO of Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital, a developmental delay is when a child does not reach a milestone by the upper range of normal.

Even though babies develop at their own pace, he explains, "Every child should do certain tasks by a certain age."

These tasks fall into five main categories:
• Gross motor skills, such as crawling and walking
• Fine motor skills, such as stacking blocks or coloring
• Language skills, including speech and comprehension
• Thinking skills
• Social interaction

Using input from the CDC and the American Academy of Pediatrics, WebMD compiled a rough timeline of milestones in the above areas. Remember, a child can stray from this timeline and still be within the range of normal, but it's best to discuss any concerns with your pediatrician.

Timeline of Childhood Milestones

2 Months
Smiles at the sound of your voice and follows you with their eyes as you move around a room

3 Months 
Raises head and chest when lying on stomach

Grasps objects

Smiles at other people

4 Months 
Babbles, laughs, and tries to imitate sounds
holds head steady

6 Months 
Rolls from back to stomach and stomach to back

Moves objects from hand to hand

7 Months 
Responds to own name

Finds partially hidden objects





















9 Months 
Sits without support, crawls, babbles "mama" and "dada"

12 Months
Walks with or without support

Says at least one word
Enjoys imitating people

18 Months 
Walks independently
drinks from a cup
says at least 15 words
points to body parts

 







2 Years 
Runs and jumps

Speaks in two-word sentences

Follows simple instructions

Begins make-believe play

3 Years 
Climbs well

Speaks in multiword sentences

Sorts objects by shape and color

4 Years 
Gets along with people outside the family

Draws circles and squares

Rides a tricycle

5 Years 
Tells name and address

Jumps, hops, and skips

Gets dressed

Counts 10 or more objects

In my next post I will be talking about conditions that may cause a child to develop slower that others.


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More Than A Toy

For a child to develop physically and emotionally, playing is of vital importance. After the first year during which the parents' main priority is learning motor functions like standing upright, social play based tasks become the main task in a child’s life.

At this foundational stage, kids learn through play and as such, most therapy approaches use play as a medium of impact.

Toys are tools we use in Therapy to facilitate therapeutic play.When children create a make-believe world through play; for example, using toys to build a tower of blocks or race a friend to the top of a hill, they acquire the social and intellectual abilities needed to be successful in school even up to adulthood.  Nearly all meaningful play includes toys.

 A single, engaging toy can transform a child’s play from simple to academic, from repetitive to inventive, from solitary to social. Toys can be activated by switches, voice, proximity, touch, mounts and splitting.

 

There are many do-it-yourself adaptations that can be made by therapists or parents.
Creativity is needed by adults and children alike.

Toys for gross motor development includes, trampoline, bicycle, scooter boards, matching band/drum set kits, exercise balls which are great popular toys to get those arms and legs moving in a fun way as their body grow stronger.

This promotes balance and, ideal for kids with special needs and group social play activities.

Fine motor skills involve the small muscles of the body that enable such functions as writing, grasping small objects, and fastening clothing. It develops as the neurological system matures.

The level of development of fine motor control in children is used to determine the developmental age of the child.

Fine motor control requires awareness and planning to complete a task. It also requires muscle strength, coordination and normal sensation.

Tasks such as stacking blocks, cutting out shapes with scissors, drawing lines or circles, tearing paper, buttoning a button, and holding and writing with a pencil can occur only if the nervous system matures properly.

Your child’s fine motor development is a very important part of their physical skill set. He/she needs to learn to use their hands competently in order to manipulate toys and to acquire self-help skills such as feeding and dressing.

Play is a child's "work" and it is a very important part of their physical development. Babies and young children need to have ample opportunity to play. By the age of 6 years, a child's fine motor skills have developed sufficiently enough to complete writing, dressing, and feeding tasks adequately for the average child.

They will have enough bilateral coordination, eye-hand coordination, and dexterity to complete cutting and writing tasks. Children will continue to develop and improve these skills, but the groundwork needs to be developed and established within the first six years.

This is why a child will need toys, games, and activities to perform and improve these skills during his early childhood. Fine motor skills are important in most school activities as well as in life in general.

Weaknesses in fine motor skills can affect a child's ability to eat, write legibly, use a computer, turn pages in a book, even to perform personal care tasks such as dressing and grooming.

Toys for improving fine motor include, crayons, lego bricks, beading and lacing sets, markers, plastacine sets, all pretend play sets (barbershop, make up set, playing Doc set, Kitchen, work tool bench) are great fine motor activities.

For more you could visit the Sensory care Therapy Shop.
The sensory care therapy shop


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