By age 6, the average human child’s brain is 95% of its maximum size. During that time, that child will have acquired many of the traits and mental qualities that will determine that child’s learning, personality and situation in later life. Enrichment programs, day care, kindergarten and other activities will help your child maximize this time as an opportunity for learning and development.
What sort of milestones can your child be expected to reach? Better put, at what stages during these early period will your child start to internalize the skills and traits that will determine who they are in later life? We’ve created a list breaking down a few commonly observed points throughout early learning that will determine your child’s outcome.
- Between the ages of 3 to 5, a child’s vocabulary grows from 900 to 2,500 words, and the child’s capacity for complex sentence development grows considerably.
- It’s recommended that children under 2 years of age not be exposed to any screen media for the sake of their development.
- A child learns many words starting around 15 to 18 months.
- At around 7 months, a child ought to start responding to its own name, enjoy social play and become interested in mirror images.
- At around 3 months, a child will start to develop a “social smile,” and imitate some movements and facial expressions.
If you haven’t yet sent your child to day care, it may be useful to do so to get a sense from some third parties about where your child is at in his or her development. Day care instructors are uniquely positioned to observe a large number of kids and make slightly more objective judgments about where a child is at in its development. With many affordable child care and early education options available, it makes sense to consult the experts on whether your child is reaching these five important developmental milestones.