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Preschool
Preschool Years
Preschool years get their name from the fact that they are the years that come before the child begins their formal schooling. Preschool can help a child develop:
1. Individuality
2. Self expression
3. Adaptation
4. Self control
Preschool discourages extreme self-centeredness and encourages self-identity, self-reliance and independence. Preschool allows the child to function where he is developmentally, but gently stimulates him toward the next stage of maturity.
Not only do preschoolers learn to share and get along with others, they also learn how to handle their bodies effectively: climbing, running, sliding swinging, riding a scooter or bike.
Preschoolers are given a chance to sharpen up fine motor skills with paint, clay, puzzles, stringing beads and manipulating all sorts of play objects.
Preschool is geared directly to the child's abilities. It introduces him to the notion of school as an interesting place where he must conform to some extent but where he can have a good time.
Development and Maturity
Parents and educators must recognize that children differ in their rates of development and in their levels of maturity.
The way your preschooler learns to move his muscles is called motor development. Like other areas of development, such as language, his motor development follows a sequence.
Each child goes through the stages of development at their own rate but the basic steps are:
1. Growth starts at the body trunk and moves outward.
2. Growth is continuous and orderly.
3. Growth starts with the simple and moves to the complex.
Most preschoolers develop good hearing, speech and language as they mature. Watch for these signs in your child's development:
1. He can say most sounds, except perhaps r, l, th, and s.
2. He uses 200 to 300 words.
3. He sometimes repeats words in a sentence.
4. He uses two to three word sentences.
5. He asks lots of "why" and "what" questions.
6. He likes to name things.
The National Association for Hearing and Speech Action find that a delay in more than three of these signs may require professional help.
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