A child’s mental, motor, and emotional skills mature along a relatively predictable timeline, but not all children follow the exact same developmental path at the exact same pace. Understanding early developmental stages can help you meet your students where they are and foster their continued growth and development.
Teachers can help with the physical, cognitive, and socioemotional development of children’s minds by establishing routines, interacting with their students, encouraging safe exploration and play, and helping children explore relationships.
There is some variety in which children develop their gross and fine motor skills. Crucial to motor development is the motivation that adults provide by responding happily and excitedly at each of the milestones leading to mastery of these skills.
Children need unstructured time to just play. Children who enjoy the mental and physical space and time to play imaginatively tend to learn more quickly, are often more socially skilled, and are more likely to remain creative and curious for the rest of their lives.
In preschool, children begin to use language for a much wider range of functions, such as reasoning, solving problems, making friends, narrating events, and playing imagination games. As preschoolers become sophisticated about how people use language, teachers can introduce new concepts in etiquette, such as using an outside voice on the playground and a quieter inside voice in the classroom.
By reading aloud to young children, teachers provide a means of learning about language by teaching pronunciation and how words combine to convey a scene, feeling, or experience. Teachers can also show how language can shift from the concrete to the metaphorical and help children learn the value of communicating through the written word.
With patience and consistency, teachers can help an anxious child feel comfortable transitioning to formal education. It is also important to involve families in the classroom so that you can maintain open communication, in case you or the child’s family has any concerns.
The increasing cognitive abilities of a school-age child allow them to interpret their own and others’ complex emotions. Managing negative as well as positive emotions is challenging for children, but it is an important skill for them to learn to help them develop healthy relationships throughout their lives.
Planned activities in an early education classroom allow for children to interact and play with other students in the class, while free play time allows them to choose the activities and friends. As young children develop their friendships, the relationships may have their challenges, and reinforcing classroom rules is often enough to resolve disagreements that may arise.
You can help children navigate difficult times by providing them with a steady and calming presence and teaching them strategies to deal with challenges. Understanding common mental health issues can help you identify children whose development has gone off track, and know when you should help parents get treatment for their child.
The more you understand about the developing child, the more support you can give to parents and children alike as you help them navigate the stages of development. As a teacher, each child you reach lives within your mind long after her or she leaves your classroom. Similarly, the impact that you make on that child will stay not only with the child but will ripple out into the community and into future generations.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Dr. Linda C. Mayes, M.D., is the Arnold Gesell Professor of Child Psychiatry, Pediatrics, and Psychology; Chair of the Yale Child Study Center; and a Distinguished Visiting Professor of Psychology at Sewanee, The University of the South. As director of The Yale Child Study Center, Dr. Mayes oversees the study of the life experiences of infants, children, and parents as well as the clinical treatment of thousands of children.
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