CE114 Unit Five: Physical and Motor Development of the Toddler

Do Toddlers Rule The World???

Unit Five Course Outcomes

• CE114-1: Discuss age appropriate behavioral expectations and intervention strategies for the early childhood care professional educator.

• CE114-2: Identify milestones in infants, toddlers, and early childhood development.

• CE114-4: Describe developmental and environmental factors associated with the safety and health of young children.

Thought for the Day

Go confidently in the direction of your dreams,

Live the life you have imagined. -Henry David Thoreau

The Toddler Years

“The range of toddler development is from 1 to 3 years of age. Toddler safety is very important during this time since more accidents occur during toddler years than at any other stage of childhood. Consistent discipline is also important at this age, where temper tantrums may be daily occurrences. It is important for the child to learn from experience and be able to rely upon solid, consistent boundaries defining acceptable and unacceptable behaviors” (Medline, 2009, ¶ 1).

Topic One

• Field Trip

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2qhq3GwyWQ

• What kinds of opportunities can we provide for toddlers to interact with and explore their world?

Topic Two

• In what ways can we encourage exploration, discovery, and independence?

Expectations

• Our expectations for them may not be realistic.

– Why do we have higher expectations for them?

– What might we think that they can do by themselves that they really cannot?

• Toddlers still need our constant supervision, as they can not predict the outcomes of their behaviors.

Facilitating Independence

• Emerging self-concept - “Look what I can do!”• Need encouragement and time and room to

explore

– How can we facilitate this?– What could happen if we do not encourage

independence?

Topic Three

• Physical and Motor Development: Share strategies that enhance and encourage the physical and motor development of the toddler. Consider both large and small muscle skills.

Ten things we can do….

1. Create and maintain a safe, hygienic, and healthy environment2. Provide for proper nutrition and for ongoing health oversight3. Know and use developmentally appropriate activities and

expectations4. Provide positive, supportive, and protective guidance5. Encourage positive body and gender awareness6. Provide a variety of materials to encourage both large and small

motor development7. Provide toys and experiences that facilitate perceptual-motor

development8. Observe children for signs or symptoms of special needs or illness9. Model good health and hygienic behaviors10. Encourage exploration, discovery, and independence

Expected Growth Patterns

• Locomotion• Large Motor Development

• (They enlist the use and coordination of the large muscles of the trunk, arms &legs)

• Small Motor Development• (They enlist the use and coordination of the small muscles

of the wrist, hands & fingers)

Small is dependent on the large!

Vision

Growth and development are influenced by the integrity and functioning of the sensory mechanisms.

It is not until 5 years old that children reach 20/20 visual acuity!

Eye Abnormalities can sometimes be seen in:

•Children who received oxygen at birth, were premature, had low birth weight or had congenital anomalies

•Common eye problems in infants:

Strabismus, nystagmus

Perceptual Development in relationship to physical and motor development

Hearing

It is difficult to detect hearing problems in infants through observation only!

Without screenings a hearing loss may go undetected until unit a child is 1 to 2 years old!

Q#1 What are some signs of possible hearing problem?

Field Trip

• We will wrap up our learning with a video provided by The Health Science Channel.

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oxe3-ijvZDs&feature=more_related

What are your thoughts about milestones being an indication of potential developmental delays?

Think About

• It’s amazing what can be accomplished when nobody cares who get the credit – Robert Yates

ReferenceMedline Plus (2009) The toddler years. Retrieved March 28, 2011 from

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/imagepages/9976.htm