By the time your child is between the ages of 18 months to two years old their gross motor, communication and development skills are rapidly changing and growing. They are becoming more independent and eagerly wanting to show off their new skills and abilities which are helping them become the amazing little person they are.
As parents it's a wonderful time being able to watch them start to run, jump, talk and even become little artists. Even though every child develops at different stages and paces, there are still some helpful researched development and communication guidelines that can be followed to check where your child should be by this stage of development. Here are some of our favourites;
DEVELOPMENT
- At 18 months if they are not already, your babes gross motor skills will be advancing to kick and throw a ball
- When reading stories your 18 month old should be able to turn to each individual pages of a book
- Your child at the beginning of this development phase should be interested in picking up a pencil and drawing cute squiggly lines - the beginning of their artistic abilities
- By the age of two years your toddler should be able to run evenly and well - the fun stage of having parents chase their babes all over
- By two years, building block towers should be getting taller and more challenging - your toddler should be able to balance at least 5 blocks on top of each other
- The ability to jump with two feet should be present by the end of this developmental age and by two years they should be able to go up stairs and put two feet on each step to help them navigate their way to both top and bottom
COMMUNICATION
- You may notice by the beginning of this development phase that your child's emotions are beginning to show their true colours with frustration, impatience, excitement and their pushing for independence. It certainly is a time of BIG emotions!
- We want your child's vocabulary to consist of 6-20 plus at 18 months
- By the age of two their vocabulary now may consist of up to 250 words and should be beginning to start speaking in sentences between 2-5 words or more
- By the age of two your child should be able to identify colours and be able to match the colour to your instructions
- While speaking to your child in this phase and using pronouns to identify people such as: 'me', 'you', 'I', 'mine', 'yours' etc - you will notice by two years that your child will begin to use pronouns to identify with
SUGGESTIONS
To help encourage their development and communication to keep them on track here are some helpful suggestions;
- Play games and encourage role play such as fire fighters, ballerinas, cooking, cleaning, doing repairs and being mechanics
- Speak to your child often and tell them about your day and plans and how you are feeling to encourage them to express themselves in easy understandable ways
- Always encourage art; drawing and colouring is great for their development and motor skills
- Always do active learning activities including learning colours, counting and singing interactive songs (ABC's, twinkle twinkle etc)
- Always tell your child their name and by two years your child should be able to tell you their full name
- As always make sure your child is getting enough sleep, eating healthy and drinking plenty of water.
We are passionate about childhood development, and are here for you if you have any questions. Call us on 02 49156640 to speak to us today.
