Tag Archives: infant development

Don’t Overlook Visual Development in Infants

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Parents often look forward to important milestones in their child’s development such as their first steps or first word. They work to encourage their baby to crawl, sit up, or roll over. What parents may not realize is that many of the foundational skills needed to reach these milestones are visual in nature. Visual skills are an essential part of an infant’s early development.

Why do visual skills matter?

Visual skills are important for learning in all areas, as babies frequently learn from imitation. Age-appropriate visual abilities are necessary for a child to see parents or siblings doing something and want to try it out for themselves. Visual skills also provide the motivation for motor milestones like walking or crawling. Babies are usually motivated to move by looking at a favorite toy or seeing a parent waiting with outstretched arms. Without being enticed by what they see, infants are less likely to explore their environment and develop important motor and coordination skills as they do.

Visual skills are closely related to motor skills in other ways, as they allow babies to see and discover their own bodies. Babies then use this connection between their eyes and their bodies to do important things like picking up and holding objects, planning movements, and developing body awareness. New movements allow a child to be in different positions, which in turn causes a change in perspective that further develops visual skills and provides new sensory experiences. Visual and motor skills continually build on each other and connect in important ways throughout early development.

Vision also plays an essential role in the development of cognitive and social skills. Concepts like object permanence (understanding that objects are still there even when they can’t be seen) come from being able to look at and play with objects. Social skills begin to develop when a child can see that there is someone who they want to interact with in his or her environment.

How can I support my child’s visual development?

Infants need opportunities to explore the world around them and practice the visual skills they are trying to develop. The chart below outlines the visual milestones that you should see at each age and activities that you can do to encourage visual development.

Questions or concerns?

If you have questions or concerns about your child’s visual or visual motor development, please contact us at info@playworkschicago.com or 773-332-9439.

Aubrey Day, Occupational Therapy Student Intern

 

References:

American Academy of Pediatrics. (2009). Babies should sleep on their backs, play on stomachs.

American Optometric Association. (2020a). Infant vision: Birth to 24 months of age.

American Optometric Association. (2020b) Ways to help infant vision development.

Folio, M.R. and Fewell, R.R. (2002). Peabody Motor Development Chart.

The Urban Child Institute. (2012). Seeing the importance of visual development.

 

Photo credit: allaboutvision.com

Feeding Milestones: 12 to 18 Months

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This blog post is part two of three discussing feeding milestones that a child encounters from birth to age two. Today’s post will focus specifically on the milestones met between 12 and 18 months.

The following chart outlines general guidelines for feeding and developmental milestones that your child should reach between the ages of one year and 18 months. Skills developed between 12-18 months are variable across this age span, and not as specific as the milestones met between birth-12 months. Please contact your speech-language pathologist if you have any concerns regarding your child’s feeding abilities.

Amount of food per day

Children should be eating 46 calories per pound based on their weight. One serving of food is equivalent to one tablespoon per year of life. A serving size for a 12-month-old child would be 1 tablespoon and a serving size for an 18-month-old child would be 1.5 tablespoons.  The following chart summarizes serving sizes of each major food group that a child should eat each day.

Stay tuned for the blog post on feeding milestones for 18- to- 24-months. If you have questions or concerns about your child’s feeding development, feel free to contact us at info@playworkschicago.com or 773-332-9439.

Katie Dabkowski, MS, CCC-SLP
Speech-Language Pathologist
Resources:

Feeding Milestones: Birth to 12 months

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This blog post is part one of three that discusses feeding milestones that a child encounters from birth to age two. Today’s post will focus specifically on the milestones met between birth and twelve months.

As an SLP and feeding therapist, I often find parents asking me:

 “What should my child be eating at this age?”

 “Is it too early to introduce solids? “

“Is it okay that I’m still breastfeeding?”

It is important to remember that there is no “magic number” for age when it comes to feeding development. While certain feeding milestones are typically reached by a specific age, many feeding therapists recommend that parents look for the presence of various developmental skills to determine if their child is ready for the next stage of feeding. In the first year of life, it’s important to ensure that a baby’s primary source of nutrition is breast milk and/or formula. During the first year, purees and solid foods should be viewed as “learning to eat” rather than a primary source of nutrition. The following table outlines the age that these milestones are typically met, and the feeding stage that is associated with each milestone:

Stay tuned for blog posts on feeding milestones for ages 12- to- 18- months and 18- to- 24- months. If you have questions or concerns about your child’s feeding development, feel free to contact us at info@playworkschicago.com or 773-332-9439.

Sarah Lydon, MA, CCC-SLP
Speech-Language Pathologist

Resources: Toomey & Associates, Inc. 1990/2016

Photo Credit: http://wholesomebabyfood.momtastic.com/howmuchbabyeat.htm