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Know

During preschool, amazing changes happen with children's thinking skills. Their memories are becoming stronger, which means they often remember surprising details. They can share their ideas in new and interesting ways. Their imaginations are becoming a primary vehicle for play and learning. They begin to compare, contrast, organize, analyze, and come up with more and more complex ways to solve problems, which helps their math skills and scientific reasoning become more sophisticated. This lesson will highlight cognitive developmental milestones for preschoolers.

Milestones

Watching preschool children’s thinking skills develop as they encounter new people, places, and ideas is exciting. The chart below highlights cognitive development during the preschool years. Keep in mind that individual differences exist when it comes to the specific age at which children meet these milestones; each child is unique. As you may have already learned in other courses, milestones provide a guide for when to expect certain skills or behaviors to emerge. Think of milestones as guidelines to help you understand and identify typical patterns of growth and development, or to help you know when and what to look for as preschool children mature. You can use this information, what you learn from families, and your own knowledge to create interactions, experiences, and environments that support preschoolers learning and development.

You have the ability to help children learn and grow to their potential. Along with a family’s pediatrician, preschool teachers must be knowledgeable about children’s developmental milestones. Developmental milestones help adults to understand and recognize typical ages and stages of development for children. Milestones are not rigid rules for when or how a child should develop, instead, they provide a guide for when to expect certain cognitive, motor, language, and social emotional skills and behaviors to emerge. You can use your knowledge of these milestones to meet the individual needs of the children in your classroom.

Cognitive development is a unique process and is specific to each child. A family may wonder about their child's cognitive development and feel uncertain about what they are observing, as well as what to expect. Take the opportunity to first learn from a family and then consider offering additional developmental information, including possible warning signs. The Kids Included Together website, , can be a valuable resource for you, as can the Developmental Milestones and Act Early information located on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website, . The chart below also highlights possible warning signs for preschool children:

If you are concerned about a child's development, talk with your trainer, coach, or administrator so that you can brainstorm and work together to talk with parents about your observations. These conversations may be difficult, but it can make the difference in meeting a child's needs. With the guidance of your coach, and program administrator, you can share information with families about typical child development and let them know you are available to talk. If your program provides developmental screening tools, these can help you start a conversation about your concerns.

Ultimately, if families are concerned about their child's development, they should talk to the child's pediatrician about their concerns. The pediatrician can perform developmental screenings and possibly refer the child for additional evaluations and specialized services. Families should also contact their local school district (for children over age 3). The school district can arrange a free evaluation of the child's development. This can help the child get the services and help they need.

The video below, developed by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, offers tips for identifying and acting on suspected developmental delays.

See

Just as children's bodies grow throughout the preschool years, their brains are growing too. You will see major changes in a child's thinking skills between 3 and 5 years of age. Watch this video to learn about milestones during the preschool years.

Do

Understanding these milestones will help you know what kinds of learning experiences to plan in your classroom. Based on your knowledge of development, you can plan activities that are challenging but achievable for individual children. Remember, milestones are markers that let us know a child is growing in a healthy way. These markers are not thresholds or "tests" that a child must pass. As a preschool teacher, do the following to support children's development and learning:

• Set learning goals for individual children.
• Read all you can about the stages of development, especially for the ages of the children you serve.
• Post developmental milestone charts for reference.
• Recognize that children need different types of support from you as they move through the developmental stages.
• Provide a range of interesting materials that spark preschoolers' interests and allow for hands-on exploration.
• Provide a range of developmentally appropriate and culturally diverse books.
• Find teachable moments to encourage learning and development.
• Observe children and document their progress on a regular basis to determine where they are developmentally so that you can support and challenge their emerging skills.
• Remember that children are unique and progress at different rates and that one area of development may take longer than other areas.

Consult with your administrator, trainer, or coach if you feel that there might be a concern with how a child is developing.