The early years of a child’s life are very important for his or her healthy development. As parents, you know your child best. Milford Kids Thrive Child Development section helps parents and caregivers learn more about child development (physical/cognitive/social-emotional/communication), track developmental milestones, and get tips on how to ensure your little one reaches their fullest potential. If you have concerns about your child’s development visit our screening and early supports page.
“Children are primed to communicate at birth” but communication skills continue to develop as they grow and learn. You may have heard about the benefits of “serve and return.” This is just another term for back and forth communication. Babbling is a baby’s language and it is healthy to make sounds and listen for your baby…
As a parent, you know your child best. If your child is not meeting the milestones for his or her age, or if you think there could be a problem with the way your child plays, learns, speaks, acts, and moves talk to your child’s doctor and share your concerns. They will help you go…
When a child dresses up they represent themselves as someone else–a mother, a father, a dinosaur, a super-hero! It’s an important part of their development of ‘transforming’ one thing into another. In this case, they are transforming themselves into another role. Take a look at a short article from NAEYC Is Dressing Up for Halloween…
Studies have shown that reading books to your children each and every day is the single biggest factor to their early reading readiness and the development of cognitive skills. Research proves that children need to hear 1000 books before they begin to learn to read independently. Reading to children will: 1000 Books Before Kindergarten is an early…
Even young children can help with chores if you choose activities that are right for their age. Young children naturally want to be a part of the family and want to help. Involving them in household tasks at an early age can have a positive impact on their life. Involving your children in household chores…
Play has been shown to have many benefits to your child’s healthy brain development. Through play, children build and strengthen social-emotional and cognitive skills. They have control over their own actions and generally feel safe to express themselves freely, trying out different behaviors or ideas, typically without fears or anxiety. When children play they are…
How your child plays, learns, speaks, acts, and moves offers important clues about their development. Developmental milestones are things most children can do by a certain age. Every child is different of course…
Children develop at different rates. If you are concerned about your child’s development, developmental screening is a process that helps caregivers understand where children are in the various areas of development and whether they could benefit from support …