Understanding child development stages and milestones is crucial.The questions that the parents often ask are how to know if their baby is achieving the milestones in time and what to expect next. However, one thing we have to remember is that babies all develop at their own pace, there’s a fairly wide “window” for when it is normal toachieve a particular milestone.

Growth and development is more than physical changes, it includes the changes in emotions, personality, behavior, thinking and speech that children develops. The initial 5 years of a child’s life lay a foundation for a child’s learning, behavior, and health. Early experiences shapes the brain and capacity to learn, develop social skills, and navigate daily challenges and stressors. The first five years of a child’s life lay a foundation for a child’s learning, behavior, and health.

What are the child development stages and how can you support your child’s development?

There are four domains of the five stages of child development. Specific development and changes occur at specific ages. These changes known as developmental milestones, can help you track if the development is occurring at the correct pace. Failure to reach these milestones at the given time may indicate developmental disorders or genetic conditions.

4 Domains of Child Development Stages :

Child development often takes place in stages, with the majority of children achieving specific developmental landmarks by certain age. Children change rapidly as they grow. Many of these changes are physical while others are cognitive. Each stage of development surrounds progressions across 4 different domains. These various developmental domains are interdependent, and a child is unable to advance in one sphere without progressing in the other.

1. Communication Domain: Communication is the first skill that develops across the five stages of child development, which will progress into conversation skills and navigating relationships as they grow older.
2. Physical Domain: The body develops in both gross and fine motor development. The gross motor development allows your child to move with balance, coordination, etc. whereas the fine motor development focuses in finer activities such as holding objects, etc.
3. Social-Emotional Domain: A child’s social and emotional development helps children understand who they are, what they are feeling, and how to interact with others.
4. Cognitive Domain : Cognitive domain includes mathematical and scientific concepts such as quantity, classification, and cause and effect. Cognitive development involves all of how children think, understand, and navigate the world around them.

The 5 Child Development Stages :

Newborn :

The newborns react automatically to external stimuli during the first two months of birth. Newborns can move their head from side to side when you stroke her cheek. They see close-up objects, turn towards sounds and cry to indicate a need. By the third month of life, newborns start to smile at people.

Infant :

By the time a child turns 1 year old many new abilities develop quickly.
At 3-6 months of age, infants can recognize familiar faces, begin to babble, control their head movements and bring their hands together.

By 6 months of age, infants start sitting without support, may bounce when held in a standing position and respond to people calling their name. Infants start communicating with gestures.

Between 9-12 months old, children can point at things, pick up objects, crawl and even stand with support. Children can imitate sound and gestures.

Toddler :

When children are between 1-3 years of age, they can stand alone, learn to walk without help, begin to run and climb stairs with short steps. Children can wave bye-bye, hold a pencil or crayon, draw a circle, learn to say several words and even short sentences and even follow simple instructions.

4. Preschool :

Between 3-5 years of age, children’s motor skills become refined. Children can throw and catch a ball, skip and hop, learn to dress themselves and draw proper structures such as a flower. They can speak a complete, long sentence and even 2-3 sentences in a stretch easily. With toilet training, they begin to go to the toilet in the bathroom and use the facility all by themselves by the age of 4 years old.

School-age :

School-age is the age between 6-17 years old. During this age, children learn to become independent and form their own opinions. Learning, speaking, and writing become well established. Children develop various emotions such as jealousy, love, and many more and can express them through words and gestures. They develop friendships and usually make best friends at this stage. Sexual development around and after puberty makes children interested in dating.

You can contact CURA ADVANCED PHYSIOTHERAPY , If you are concerned that your child is lagging in a certain stage of life, schedule an appointment with a pediatrician or pediatric physiotherapist to discuss it. They may perform a developmental screening test that can help you know whether your child is normal or has some developmental disorder and plan a proper treatment plan.

Reference Links :

• How to foster child's growth
• Child Development Process