Bilateral integration and crossing the midline
Bilateral integration is the ability to use the two sides of the body together in a coordinated way. We need bilateral integration to get through a myriad of tasks on a daily basis. Think for instance of the way your hands and arms work together when you eat your bowl of cereal while standing up, […]
My favourite educational games
There is a virtually endless list of educational games and products available on the market which, collectively focus on pretty much every aspect of education and learning imaginable. But in this post I want to invite you to explore the educational benefits of some common games which are either completely free or generally available in […]
How to deal with temper tantrums
Dealing with temper tantrums is undoubtedly one of the least fun aspects of parenting. The balance between building your child’s confidence and setting appropriate boundaries is easily upset and may result in a range of negative outcomes if the scale swings too far in either direction. Here are some of the ways in which you […]
The effects of poverty on children
In trying to understand the effects of poverty on children we cannot simply look at the current situation but need to take into account the negative spiral that poverty creates. Poor children are most likely to grow into poor adults and poor parents and repeat the cycle of inter-generational poverty. Besides the obvious fact that […]
Is my baby being naughty?
The word “naughty” just doesn’t seem to fit with the picture most of us have of little babies and I don’t think it’s entirely appropriate to describe babies as either “good” or “naughty”. Instead we should rather try to evaluate whether a baby’s behaviour is age-appropriate or not. For instance, it’s entirely age appropriate for […]
Developmental delay
Developmental delay is the umbrella term used when we first become aware that a child is not achieving his / her developmental milestones as they should. Before I focus further on developmental delay though, I’d like to just pause for a minute and elaborate on what we mean when we say that children are not […]
The benefits of imaginative play for children
I have always been fascinated by children’s imaginative play and love watching them totally live themselves into the moment, seemingly oblivious of their ordinary, everyday surroundings. Beside the hours of fun that imaginary play provides, researchers have also found that it has several developmental benefits: * Children automatically engage in problem solving during imaginative play, they […]
Why crawling is important
A vital part of my assessments includes establishing when a particular child achieved their developmental milestones (sitting, crawling, walking, talking, etc). And very often I come across cases where children simply went from sitting, to bum shuffling to walking and never crawled. Some parents see this as a sign of advanced development, but crawling is […]
Kids learning – guiding principles for parents
With so many different types of Education programmes, products, philosophies and schools of thought out there it can be incredibly confusing for parents to know how to stimulate a young child’s development or how to approach teaching and learning with older children. Children all learn in different ways, but no matter which school of thought […]
Auditory perception skills and how to support your child in developing these skills
The following aspects are all important in accurate auditory perception: Auditory figure ground Enables one to focus on one sound between a background of other sounds. Children need this ability to be able to hear their teacher’s voice in a noisy classroom. • Play background music, while giving the child different instructions. See if he […]
