Preschool age is a critical time period for the development of certain skills and abilities. It takes some independence to do things like socialize, sit still in class, keep track of one’s belongings and use the toilet during the school day. A preschool environment is a bit more forgiving than an elementary school classroom for children who are still learning these skills. In traditional preschools, teachers often manage large class sizes, limiting the amount of individual attention each child receives. Additionally, children requiring specialized support typically need to seek those services outside the classroom.
Therapeutic preschools give children more opportunities to work on the micro-skills that make up bigger tasks. When a child has a developmental delay, it’s more likely to be noticed. Teachers and staff can also determine when simple interventions are needed and when children need to be evaluated for developmental conditions.
In this blog post, we’ll discuss developmental milestones for preschool-aged children and how we help children with delays at our therapeutic preschool.
Developmental milestones for your child
By preschool age, most children reach developmental milestones in movement, dexterity, speech and language, thinking, and social-emotional skills, among other areas. Each child reaches these milestones at a different pace. Some need specialized support with certain milestones. Sometimes developmental delays are early signs of conditions like cerebral palsy or autism spectrum disorder (ASD). They can often be corrected with early interventions.
We work with children ages 1 through 5 at the Mary Shaw Branton Therapeutic Preschool. The following are some milestones that children should reach around these ages:
1-year milestones
Around 1 year, children become more responsive to language. They start crawling and tentatively standing up. They also get more skilled with their hands, so they can hold objects, pick things up, drop them, and even shake or throw things.
The following are some examples of milestones your child should reach around 1 year old:
- Gets to a sitting position without help
- Crawls forward on belly by pulling with arms and pushing with legs
- Walks holding on to furniture
- Stands momentarily without support
- Uses pincer grasp
- Puts objects into a container and takes them out
- Lets objects go voluntarily
- Pokes with index finger
- Responds to simple verbal requests
- Responds to “no”
- Uses simple gestures, such as shaking head for “no”
- Says “dada” and “mama”
- Uses exclamations, such as “oh-oh!”
- Explores objects in many different ways (shaking, banging, throwing or dropping)
- Looks at the correct picture when an image is named
- Imitates gestures
- Shows preferences for certain people and toys
- Tests your response to behavior
- Finger-feeds themselves
2-year milestones
Around age 2, most children can walk on their own. They also gain more control over movements with their hands, so they can hold or pull things while they walk. They can speak in phrases and short sentences, and they should be able to follow simple instructions. Children become more aware of themselves and their behavior at this age.
The following are some milestones your child should reach around 2 years old:
- Walks alone
- Pulls toys behind them while walking
- Begins to run
- Stands on tiptoe
- Kicks a ball
- Climbs onto and down from furniture unassisted
- Scribbles spontaneously
- Builds tower of four blocks
- Points to object or picture when it’s named for them
- Recognizes names of familiar people, objects, and body parts
- Follows simple instructions
- Finds hidden objects
- Begins to sort by shapes and colors
- Begins make-believe play and imitates behavior
- Shows increasing independence
4-year milestones
At age 4, children start to draw recognizable shapes and do more complex tasks with their hands. They can also kick, throw and catch a ball most of the time. They speak in more complete sentences and can tell stories. This is when they start to name colors, count, and recognize the entire alphabet.
The following are milestones your child should reach around 4 years old:
- Hops and stands on one foot for up to five seconds
- Goes upstairs and downstairs without support
- Kicks, throws and catches a bounced ball
- Draws simple shapes
- Uses scissors
- Begins to copy some capital letters
- Understands the concepts of “same” and “different”
- Has mastered some basic rules of grammar
- Speaks in sentences of five to six words
- Tells stories
- Correctly names some colors
- Understands the concept of counting and may know a few numbers
- Begins to have a clearer sense of time
- Remembers parts of a story
- Cooperates with other children
- Plays pretend
- Dresses and undresses
5-year milestones
By five years old, children have most of the movement skills they need to get around, play sports and play on a playground. They can dress themselves, they’re familiar with things used at home and they’re getting better at following rules. They can tell you their name and address and talk about things that will happen in the future.
The following are some milestones your child should reach around 5 years old:
- Stands on one foot for 10 seconds or longer
- Hops, somersaults
- Swings, climbs
- May be able to skip
- Draws a person with a body
- Prints some letters
- Dresses and undresses without assistance
- Uses a fork, spoon, and (sometimes) a table knife
- Usually cares for own toilet needs
- Uses future tense
- Tells longer stories
- Says name and address
- Can count 10 or more objects
- Correctly names at least four colors
- Wants to be like their friends
- Able to distinguish fantasy from reality
- Sometimes demanding, sometimes eagerly cooperative
How can a therapeutic preschool support children with developmental delays?
A child’s developmental needs aren’t always clear at enrollment time. There are also some benefits of attending a therapeutic preschool for children who seem to be developing as usual. For example, children learn to get along with people who are different from them. We accept children at all ability levels at the Mary Shaw Branton Therapeutic Preschool.
When a child shows signs of a developmental delay, we’re able to help them without a major disruption to their routine. Our classrooms are equipped with adaptive technology such as communication devices and positioning chairs or standers. Some interventions we provide include physical therapy, occupational therapy and speech therapy.
You can trust Ability KC because we’re a designated Comprehensive Outpatient Rehabilitation Facility (CORF). We also have a Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF) accreditation and are accredited with the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC).
Are you curious about how a therapeutic preschool could benefit your child? Contact our team today for more information or to schedule an initial appointment.
Want to help support the work we’re doing at Ability KC? Check out our Groundhog Run event page to learn about this awesome event and how it supports what we do.