What are sensitive periods of child development?
Knowing about sensitive periods, any parent will be able to create favorable conditions for the development of their baby. This means that he will receive maximum opportunities to realize his potential in the first years of life. They will learn new skills with interest and pleasure, and adults will stop worrying that they are missing out on something important.
What are sensitive periods of development?
Sensitive periods of development are time periods of a child’s special sensitivity to the formation of certain skills.
Sensitive periods are the driving forces in a child’s development in the first six years of life. A parent cannot force this development, but can create an environment that will support it. Poor material and psychological conditions hinder the quality of development - with restrictions, skills are formed with distortions or they are not formed at all.
So, the best time to master speech and movements is up to 3 years. If a child of this age is deprived of the opportunity to hear human speech, then later he will master it with very large distortions. Or he won’t master it at all. The most striking examples of ignoring sensitive periods are Mowgli children who were raised among animals. They did not use human speech until the age of six, so they could not learn to speak later. And their movements were more like animal movements than human ones.
Let's look at an example of how you can support or limit the development of a skill. A 3-year-old child tries to climb the stairs again and again. He sets a challenge for himself and is ready to climb and descend for hours on end. This desire is not accidental, because at the age of up to 4.5 years (during the sensitive period of movement development), walking is actively formed, and the child learns to raise his legs high enough. Thanks to this, he begins to walk more confidently, without swaying or shuffling his feet.
Sensitive period of movement development: children climb stairs
To help a child learn to go up and down stairs, an adult can take him to areas with stairs or install a sports corner with a ladder at home. But at the same time, an adult can interfere: for example, constantly hold the baby in his arms or in a stroller, remove him from the stairs and take him away from the playground. This will most likely anger the child and provoke whims.
Children are driven by an internal force that forces them to perform the actions necessary for development again and again. That is why the baby will strive to climb the stairs. If we limit movement on the stairs, then for a long time his gait will be uncertain, shuffling and swaying. And under favorable conditions, he will quickly master the necessary skill.
A child’s brain is like a spotlight that snatches from the environment what it needs for effective development at the moment.
How scientists learned about sensitive periods
At the beginning of the 20th century, Dutch biologist Hugo De Vries studied the process of transformation of a caterpillar into a butterfly. He discovered that a caterpillar, born at the roots of tree branches, strives for light - at the ends of the branches it finds the thinnest and youngest leaves for food. When this need is satisfied in the caterpillar, sensitivity to light decreases and then gradually disappears. And the caterpillar turns into a butterfly.
This theory became popular in the scientific community and manifested itself in the concepts of various scientists. Among other things, she influenced the work of Maria Montessori in Europe and Lev Semyonovich Vygotsky in Russia. They believed that the same thing happens with children - they experience similar transformations during their development.
The idea of the existence of periods favorable for certain transformations and development was strengthened by Maria Montessori when she began to study the works of the French physician Jean Paul Gaspard Itard. He is known as the educator of the so-called Aveyron savage - a boy of 12 years old, who until that time was completely isolated from people. The boy lived and was raised among animals, so he moved and communicated in unusual ways.
Gaspard Itard was sure that if conditions were created and practice was given, the child would learn to speak. The boy did acquire some skills, but he never reached a normal level of development for his age and was unable to learn to speak.
Montessori suggested that there is an optimal age for speech development, and if this age is missed, then speech does not develop. This is what happened to the boy Gaspar Itara.
In the times of Maria Montessori and L. S. Vygotsky, there was no evidence of the existence of sensitive periods. Scientists made their conclusions based on observations of children and they were right. It is not for nothing that they are considered geniuses of pedagogical and psychological thought.
In 1996, the first scientific evidence of the existence of sensitive periods of development was obtained. Neuroscientists have discovered that at certain times in children, some neurons become more active than others. At moments of activity, these neurons are combined into neural ensembles, which are responsible for the child’s interest and desire for certain types of activities.
After some time, the ensembles regrouped
feast: some neurons turn off, other neural connections begin to form, and new ones are created. The brain chooses: I will support these connections now, but not these. During the regrouping of neural ensembles, the baby suddenly ceases to be interested in what he was very passionate about just yesterday. But interest arises in other things.
Scientists call such periods of time “windows of opportunity,” or sensitive periods of development.
Here are the characteristic features of sensitive periods of development:
Versatile. They appear in all children, regardless of the culture, era and family in which the child is raised. At about the same time, children begin to talk and crawl, become indignant at the disruption of their usual way of life and pick up specks from the floor. But the exact start, peak and end times vary from person to person. At the same age, some children are more focused on communication, while others are more focused on movement.
Temporary. Sensitive periods begin and end within a certain time and do not last a lifetime. As soon as the window of opportunity closes, children begin to show complete indifference to what just recently attracted and interested them. Subsequent mastery of skills and abilities will no longer be so effective, easy and joyful. Often these skills are mastered outside the sensitive period with some impairments. For example, learning a new language at an older age requires more effort than during the sensitive period of language development.
Unconscious. Children are absolutely unaware of what is happening to them. It’s as if they have some kind of engine inside them that drives them towards certain objects or phenomena in the environment. Kids cannot say: “Mom, I have entered a sensitive period of speech development, so I need close communication and books.” So we need to observe and identify the peaks ourselves.
Why do parents need to know about sensitive periods?
Knowing what sensitive periods are changes your approach to parenting and helps you better understand your baby. And ideally, create optimal conditions for its development.
We are talking about reasonable development - following the pace of your child, following his natural characteristics. Each skill has its time, and attempts to speed up development lead to frustration for the baby. There is a time for everything, and this time can be wasted if we impose untimely activities. A very good analogy of the consequences of such actions is given in the cartoon “Gagarin”.
Director Alexey Kharitidi, Pilot studio
Thanks to knowledge about sensitive periods, it becomes clear to the parent why the child continuously repeats the same activity. For example, he learned to open and close the door - and now he closes and opens it endlessly. Why does he throw hysterics when his usual daily routine changes or when he is interrupted from his activities. Why does the baby put everything in his mouth and move around without stopping? Why does he point to objects and demand to hear their names many times?
A person’s psychological needs during sensitive periods can be compared to the desire to satisfy hunger. When we are hungry, we need to eat, and all other needs fade into the background.
Hungry child eats
Hunger can be satisfied in different ways:
Eat healthy food. Then our body will receive the greatest benefit - we will restore strength and gain energy for activity.
Have a snack at a fast food restaurant, chips or convenience foods. In this case, our body will receive much less useful nutrients, we may feel heaviness in the stomach and after a short time we will become hungry again.
If there is no food at all, then we will first experience tolerable discomfort, and then suffering. This suffering will be aggravated if there is a table full of food in front of us, but we cannot get it. We stretch out our hand to her, and they hit us on the hand: “Move away, you can’t take this!” And instead of food they will offer you a cartoon or coloring book: “Sit quietly, don’t do this, don’t touch that.”
Such an analogy allows us to understand the state of a child when he has some kind of internal desire and thirst for activity. And the environment either provides him with the opportunity to satisfy this need, or interferes and directs him to something else. And he will experience fear, aggression, sadness or anger.
Main sensitive periods
Scientists still do not have a consensus on how many windows of opportunity open to a child. Maria Montessori did not identify a clear list, so the works of followers indicate four, five, six and even twelve.
We will look at six sensitive periods:
Speech development: from 7 months of the intrauterine period to 9 years, peak 1–2.5
Movement development: from birth to 4.5 years, peak 2–2.5
Perception of order: birth to 4 years, peak 2–2.5
Development and refinement of sense organs: from birth to 4 years, peak 3–3.5
Perception of small details: from 1.5 to 2.5 years
The period of development of social skills and norms is from 2.5 to 5.5 years, peak at 4.5
Sensitive periods: scheme
Table of sensitive periods. Shaded areas show approx.
e peaks of manifestation
Perception of order
Lasts from birth to 4 years, the highest intensity occurs at 2–2.5 years.
Clutter disorganizes kids and leads to stress. Moreover, in a disordered environment, they do not form a stable idea of the world as something basic and safe. Order serves as a support, and chaos leads to increased anxiety, uncertainty, whims and hysterics.
Order is stability and security.
The baby needs order in three areas:
in the environment;
in time;
in the behavior of adults towards the child.
Order in the environment. It is important that the child can find the same thing in the same place; this helps him understand the purpose of objects. He begins to understand that dishes are used for eating, and toys are for playing. That after a walk we take off our shoes in the hallway and eat at the table. There should be a corner for educational activities and a place to sleep.
In my practice, there was a critical case when a grandfather came to visit a family with a two-year-old girl. The grandfather was placed in his granddaughter’s room, and the granddaughter was placed with her parents. Suddenly, the baby began to show outbursts of aggression - she threw objects, tried to bite other children in the garden, showed self-aggression: she fell, hit the corners of furniture.
There was a case when she broke her forehead at home and had to stitch it up. This behavior was explained by the fact that the girl was in a sensitive period of perception of order. I advised the parents to move the grandfather into their room and return the baby to hers. After returning to her usual routine, the girl’s outbursts of aggression and injuries stopped. Gradually she returned to her usual state.
Closer to two years, at the “height” of the sensitive period of order, the baby shows especially strong persistence in maintaining the order that is familiar to him. He himself tries to return objects to their place and is indignant if you decide to shorten a familiar story while reading: “No! First the boy called the cat!”
Open shelf for toys
Order in time. For a child, consistency in events is very important - so that everything happens the same way every day. For example, so that he goes to bed at the same time, after the same rituals. Therefore, adults need to monitor the child’s daily routine.
In addition to a sense of security, order in time will help the baby understand his rhythm of the day - it will start the course of the internal biological clock, which is easiest to rely on in early childhood.
Order in the behavior of adults towards a child. This means that all family members react equally to the same actions of children. If mom forbids eating in front of the TV, then both dad and grandparents follow this strategy.
When adults demand different things, it is very difficult for a child to adapt. With age, he will begin to use this, maneuvering between his parents, but this will not give him a sense of safety and security. Rather, it will teach him to lie and he will be very easy to manipulate mom or dad.
One of the most interesting manifestations of the sensitive period of order is that children are constantly testing boundaries. They often break some rule and see how family members react to it. Parents may interpret this as a sign of mischief or bad character. Actually this is not true. He does this not out of spite, but to make sure that the rule remains unchanged. He seems to confirm to himself that yes, the rule exists, it is constant, the environment is safe.
If the parent begins to change the rules and back down, this causes even more anxiety for the baby. He begins to test the boundaries further and further, breaking one rule after another. And as a result, his behavior becomes uncontrollable.
Let's consider an example when a baby always washed his hands before eating, but one day he refused to do so. In this situation, the mother should calmly remind her of the rule and insist on her own. An important key is to keep the tone calm. But the baby is deprived of the opportunity to sit at the table with dirty hands. He may throw a tantrum and try to take food with dirty hands, but it is important for parents to calmly repeat the rule and calm the baby down.
The rule should not change because of hysteria. If a momentary desire is satisfied due to hysteria, then hysteria is a way to get what you want. A method that exhausts not only you, but also the baby. Although he seems to be achieving his goal, he does not feel calm, since the inconstancy of the rules unnerves him. In this case, the hysterics will only intensify. And if you are firm in following the rule, then the very next day the baby will go and calmly wash his hands before eating - he realized that this rule is inviolable and order has been restored in his life. This behavior from the mother will show that the needs are taken into account.
Development of movements
This sensitive period of child development lasts from birth to 4.5 years, with a peak at 2–2.5 years.
The child goes through a colossal path in the development of movements: in the first month of life he can hardly raise his head, and after a year he tries to take the first step and throw his head
box in the basket.
The development of movements and actions takes place according to a given biological program. Mastering movements proceeds from top to bottom: first the head begins to actively act, then the shoulders, torso, and lastly the legs become involved. That is, children first learn to hold their head up, then roll over from side to side, then sit down, etc.
We cannot forcefully accelerate the baby’s motor development, because for any new action the corresponding biological base must mature. Therefore, nothing can be done for him. That is, we do not put a toy in the baby’s hand, do not forcibly turn it over, do not help him crawl or walk - we wait until the biological mechanisms mature and he is ready to make the movement himself.
The child must do all the movements himself: start walking himself, sit down himself and use a spoon. Then he learns what he is ready for. If an adult begins to make some movements for him or helps him, the baby finds himself in a dependent position and receives a distorted message. When mom leads him by the hands, she gives information that he can walk on his own, but this is not so. Plus, the baby must crawl at this time, and he is led by the hand.
If interest is redirected to another activity, it can cause problems or developmental delays.
There are children who do not crawl. This is often due to space restrictions - when the child is placed in a playpen or walker or is constantly carried in their arms. And thus they take away the opportunities for the development of natural movement during the corresponding sensitive period. Because of this, the formation of interhemispheric connections is disrupted and the process of walking is delayed. And later, difficulties may arise in coordinating complex movements that require coordination from both hands.
If development occurs untimely, there may be difficulties with fine motor skills. As in cases when a schoolchild cannot pour tea into a cup, he constantly spills it. Or has difficulty learning to hold a pen. Limiting motor activity at the right time leads to serious consequences in the development of not only motor skills, but also intelligence.
We can create the conditions for better learning. When we are aware of sensitive periods, follow our child’s natural pace, remove obstacles and offer opportunities, then he gets the best conditions for development.
For example, the baby begins to climb on inclined surfaces, goes up and down many times. We can restrict his movement and redirect him to another activity, thereby creating an obstacle to mastering the skill. And we can give opportunities - put a Pikler triangle in the room or throw pillows so that he can learn a new skill and improve it.
Sensitive period of movement: children climb a slide
How movements develop up to a year
How movements develop from 1 to 3 years
Speech development
This sensitive period covers the period from 7 months of intrauterine development to 9 years, the peak occurs at 1–2.5.
Includes several subperiods:
development of oral speech;
letter;
reading.
Speech development up to one year. In infancy, the basic prerequisites for the formation of speech at later stages are laid. The child becomes familiar with verbal forms, begins to understand speech and repeat sounds, accumulates the content of speech and connections with those who care for him.
It is very important for a child to establish deep emotional connections with loved ones. Contact itself serves as an important condition for the development of speech - it is a significant adult who introduces children to the world of language. Speech develops only through communication with and for communication with adults. If during the sensitive period of speech development the baby is deprived of communication or it is somehow difficult, speech will not develop.
To develop speech without disturbances, you need a receiving and listening person, his competent speech and respectful attitude towards children's speech.
Contact with the parent creates a state of freedom, relaxedness, and comfort, as a result of which the baby experiences involuntary vocalization. Direct communication and attentive interaction with an adult also helps develop articulation and stimulates further independent speech. Audio and video recordings lack emotional involvement in interaction, so they don’t work.
The interest of the mother or father in communicating with the child is important. When an adult listens carefully, the baby develops auditory concentration, and he also learns to listen to the people around him. Experts are confident that only such behavior leads to the implementation of the sensitive period of speech development.
Sensitive period of speech development: how to teach a child to speak
By the end of the year, the baby understands the names of most of his toys, knows the names of the objects with which he interacts, and understands the verbs of simple actions - drink, walk, lie down, sleep. Outwardly, he accurately reproduces verbal communication, although there is no content in his babble. But an adult easily understands what his baby wants to say.
Soon individual words appear: for example, “nyay-nyay” (give), “af-af” (dog), “am-am” (eat).
An active dictionary can contain from 4 to 15 words, while a passive dictionary is approximately three times larger.
From 1 to 3 years, many important changes occur: upright walking and speech become the main stimuli for further development. The child leaps into a completely new stage. From this age, the child’s activities become more complicated, and a desire for meaningful communication about various subjects arises.
Speech reflects the child’s experience of interaction with the world around him. That is, he names those objects, those people and those actions that he encountered. At this age, active listening to literary works and other people's stories is formed. Thanks to this, the baby expands his vocabulary.
During this period, it is very important to hear literate speech and complete words. You should not use diminutive forms, lisp and speak in child’s word forms. Competent speech and correct agreement of words in a sentence are important.
The kind of speech a child hears will determine how competently he will speak.
At this age, children are able to master two, three or even more languages. But they must communicate with native speakers of these languages. If learning a second language is offered in the form of rote activities that are not related to real life, then the language will not be mastered. Moreover, such practice can lead to confusion when mastering native speech.
Speech development from 3 to 6 years. By the age of 3, the child already understands all the basic questions that are addressed to him: “who”, “where”, “how”; a little later - “why” and “why”.
Speech begins to perform the function of planning activities. If a three-year-old first built a tower and states the fact: “I built a tower,” then soon he will say: “And now I will build a tower,” and begins to build a tower.
In the period from 3.5 to 4 years, the child already solves his problems with the help of speech - he can ask another child to give him a pencil or close the door so as not to go himself. He also develops an interest in sounds and letters. And if this interest is supported, then by the age of 5 a person begins to spontaneously write individual words and learn to read without coercion. And then, just as easily, he masters the grammatical norms of the language. This is exactly what the whole logic of speech development leads to.
Sensitive period of speech development: the child draws, writes and reads
Perception of small details
This is the shortest sensitive period, it lasts from 1.5 to 2.5 years.
From the outside it may seem that this is an insignificant and even dangerous period - the baby is constantly looking for small objects: buttons, blades of grass, bread crumbs. He is literally mesmerized by them. A child can even throw a glass on the floor and watch with pleasure as it shatters into small pieces. For a long time, he concentrates on collecting almost invisible specks or insects from the floor or ground and proudly shows them to adults.
sensitive period of interest in small details: the child found a ladybug
This interest in small objects is associated with the development of the ability to highlight details in a holistic picture of perception. It will lead to the development of a pincer grip, which will help with sewing, buttoning, writing and other delicate movements.
It is important to provide the child with as many opportunities as possible to realize his interest (but always under supervision).
Creative activities. When the child sticks rolled plasticine balls onto a picture with a ladybug or presses beads into a plasticine cake, sticks small applique elements onto the paper.
Toys. Kaleidoscope, mosaic, construction set, stringing beads, sorting small objects or searching for them in kinetic sand.
Participation in cooking. Place pieces of food on pizza or cookies, cut vegetables and fruits, separate red currants or grapes from the branches.
During the sensitive period of perception of small objects, the child notices the smallest details in paintings. And here wimmelbooks come to the aid of parents - peek-a-boo books with many small images.
Perception of small details: a child looking at Wimmelbook
Development and refinement of feelings
This sensitive period covers the age from birth to 4 years, the peak appears at 3–3.5.
Feelings are the mediators through which the child comes into contact with the environment. They cause the formation of neural connections responsible for sensory perception. The baby begins to correctly interpret and classify sensory signals: pepper is bitter and honey is sweet; the ottoman is soft, and the table is hard.
The senses include vision, hearing, smell, taste, touch and proprioception. Maria Montessori also highlighted the stereognostic feeling: it consists of the sensations of the fingers - when we close our eyes, feel an object and recognize it.
A child has almost all the senses at the moment of birth, but in the first years of life he constantly develops and refines his perception. At the peak of the period, he suddenly begins to actively listen and sniff, tries to extract sounds from all objects, strives to smell every flower.
Sensitive period of refinement of feelings: a child smells a flower
What to do
How to avoid missing this sensitive period? Try to enrich the space with sensory stimuli - objects of different materials, shapes, smells, tastes, properties, patterns and natural colors. Listen to different melodies and sounds of nature, go to classical music concerts, organize a corner with musical instruments. Encourage your child to try different tastes and smells and recognize them with his eyes closed.
This variety will help him get a lot of sensory impressions and better understand the structure of the world around him.
Mastering social skills and norms
Begins at 2.5 years, peaks at 4.5, ends at 5.5.
A child absorbs cultural norms from birth. But during the sensitive period, he especially easily masters the rules of communication with others: he learns to say hello, say goodbye, make a request, make acquaintances, behave at the table and in public places, give and accept gifts, congratulate on holidays, not to hit other children and not to bite.
Children learn most rules by imitating their parents. They see mom saying hello to sellers and neighbors and they start saying hello too. Mom communicates politely with dad, and they learn politeness: “Mom, please give me some bread.”
We intentionally instill some rules when an unacceptable situation arises: “Speak more quietly. The neighbors downstairs are already sleeping, you can wake them up. Let's read a book?
In Montessori groups, we conduct special politeness lessons - children, with the help of teachers, act out scenes on how to behave in different situations. Such lessons can be taught in the family.
An example of a politeness lesson:
Choose the right moment when the child is calm and ready to communicate: “Today I will tell you how you can ask someone to pass an object.”
Talk through the situation that you will analyze: “Sometimes you want to take a book from the shelf, but you can’t reach it.”
Tell and show what needs to be done: “You can say: “Mom, please get this book” or “Mom, could you give me this book.” And at the end say “thank you.” Shall we try?
Ask for a repeat and conclude: “Now you know how to ask for help and say thank you.”
If the child forgot about the rule, you can return to the lesson. Try to avoid comments, but simply remind: “I’m sure you know what to do, but now you’ve forgotten. This happens, try to remember.”
Up to 2.5 years old, although the baby expresses joy at the sight of other children, he still prefers to play independently. Preschool interest in other children is intensifying - a three-year-old already wants to communicate with them, make friends, do something together. Therefore, at this time it is important to provide as many opportunities as possible to communicate with other children: in the garden or on the playground near the house. This way he will be able to learn the norms of communication not only with individual children, but also in a group, and will learn to negotiate and resolve conflicts.
children negotiate
How to identify sensitive periods in your child
Sensitive periods proceed smoothly, they begin imperceptibly and end just as imperceptibly, so it is almost impossible to determine the duration, exact beginning and end. But at their peak, their manifestations are very vivid: the child is unusually persistent in choosing an activity and is actively looking for the necessary items to organize it.
Here are the main signs of the onset of the peak of the sensitive period.
The child develops an irresistible craving for some activity or object. Like when he looks for letters everywhere: pays attention to signs in stores, finds capital letters in books, asks questions like “What letter is this?”, asks to name each letter. Such attention shows us that he is in a sensitive period of language development (namely reading).
The child repeats the same activity many times, with great enthusiasm, energy, and zeal. When learning to stand up, he holds on to some object in the room, pulls himself up, gets up, falls again, may hit himself and cry. But then some unknown force forces him to get up again and again. This way he learns to stand and then walk. Such active movement tells us that a sensitive period of movement has begun - confident independent standing in space and subsequent walking.
The activity is very intense and long-lasting, but it does not lead the child to fatigue and apathy. On the contrary, his activity increases, he becomes more and more persistent, and can do something for hours. Preschoolers draw a lot, some create about a thousand drawings a year. Moreover, they draw every day and for a long time. In this way, the child unconsciously prepares his hand for writing.
Sensitive period of writing development: the child draws
Adults may be unhappy that the child spends so much time drawing. It seems that it would be better for him to do something more useful: learn letters, count, write, etc. He may be taken to classes to prepare for school, where he will be asked to write letters. But as a result, this approach demotivates in relation to writing.
If during the child’s activity the child is interrupted or interrupted
their activities, he shows extreme dissatisfaction. It is stressful when the baby is carried away and someone calls him or interrupts him. He will not feel satisfied with the result of his efforts, so during the interruption process he may behave completely inappropriately.
Sometimes parents disrespect children's activities, believing that they are not as important as what they are doing. An uninformed adult may believe that the child is doing some minor things and can be stopped at any time.
For example, this happens when he slides down the slide once, twice, three times, and his parents think that they know better how many times is enough for him: “Enough with the ride, go play in the sandbox.” It’s another matter when it’s really time to leave - then you can warn in advance: “Roll down the slide three times and we’ll go home.”
Sensitive period of movement: children ride downhill
The pleasure and joy that a child experiences after completing an activity. Despite the duration of the lesson, which he can spend several hours on, at the end the child does not feel tired at all, but beams with joy. Often he can bring you the result of his activities - show you a drawing or application.
A child in the sensitive period learns easily, acquires knowledge and skills. In no other period of time does this happen so quickly and simply.
If a child learns to walk during a sensitive period, then he masters this skill very quickly, in a couple of months. At first he crawls, and then gets up, takes steps with support and begins to walk on his own. But if the child was carried for a long time in his arms or placed in a walker, then his muscles will not become strong enough to walk, and this can significantly delay the first steps.
The child learns to walk
After satisfying the need, the child becomes completely indifferent to what attracted him so recently. Around 2 years of age, the child experiences a period of maximum effort. The child constantly wants to carry weights in front of him. Nature has provided this period so that weights teach the child to balance in space while walking.
The child grabs objects that adults seem heavy, close to the child’s weight, and carries these objects with joy and ease. As soon as this period passes, the child begins to walk confidently, his body acquires a clear vertical position in space, and the child’s interest in carrying heavy loads suddenly disappears. And if you offer him to bring something heavy, he will refuse.
What to do if windows of opportunity have already closed
If sensitive periods have already been missed, we will not be able to return them. Therefore, we can only come to terms with the fact that there was no knowledge and we could not pay attention to what was important in the development of our baby.
But don’t despair or blame yourself, children are not so fragile - they are flexible, strong and resilient. Take a closer look, because right now the child is demonstrating his new interest. Therefore, you can focus on providing as many opportunities as possible to meet current needs.
Missed skills can be taught gradually. Conflicts have begun with your preschooler regarding order - you will have to be patient and constantly remind the child of the need to clean up after himself. If you missed the crawling stage, you can make up for it by playing in mazes or rock climbing. This will not cause much joy or interest for the child; he will need to make more efforts, but he will learn the skills. Although not as ideal as in the sensitive period.
In the article, we examined in detail what sensitive periods are and how knowledge about them helps create better conditions for the development of children. A child will never have such favorable opportunities for mastering new skills as during these periods - after all, all the needs of physical and mental development are concentrated in them. If we miss them, they are gone forever.
When we see the needs of our baby, respond to them and improve the environment, then whims, hysterics and whining go away. The time has come for positive emotions: joy, pride from success, passion. We do not encounter problems or difficulties. After all, now our child is busy with really important activities, which he is interested in at the peak of his receptivity.
Briefly about the main thing
It is important for parents to know at what age a particular sensitive period usually begins and how to determine that it has begun and ended. This will help create an environment that meets your child's developmental needs and is best suited for learning specific skills.
Age-related sensitivity to order, the development of movements, speech, the perception of small details, the development and clarification of feelings, the development of social norms, etc. begins and ends at different times for each child.
Attentiveness, competence of parents and willingness to spend a lot of time with the baby are the most important conditions for the development of a child in the most suitable period for this.
By observing, you can see when and what activities are best to offer your child. It is necessary to rely on activities that interest you and captivates the baby the most. To which suddenly there was interest.
If the period of greatest sensitivity to mastering skills is missed, you need to teach the child gradually. Yes, the process will be slower. However, this does not mean that a person’s opportunity to learn something is completely lost. The question is the speed, complexity of training and the quality of the result.
