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Viatouch
Teacher Articles
Teacher Created Materials
Development Chart of Children Between
the Ages 0 - 5 Years
by Aparna Nambiar
Every child is a special individual; each is different from another in his or her own way. Over the years research has pointed out that despite these differences, each child grows up achieving a similar set of milestones. This is a chart that describes these milestones as a child achieves them. The chart covers the development of a child in terms of physical, cognitive, and behavioral skills. Each milestone has its corresponding implication and level of audio-visual understanding.
The chart has been compiled after research from various sources in the field of Child Development, Children's Literature, and Media Education. Some of the findings are listed after observing children's responses to various books, audio, and video programs. The purpose of this chart is to give teachers, parents, and caregivers an insight into the developmental progress of children. Teachers can use this chart to design different audio and visual activities aimed at specific areas of learning. For instance, it is easy to understand why finger play is a popular activity with a one year old or puppetry is with a 4 year old.
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Development chart of children between the ages 0 - 5
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Milestones
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Implications
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Audio and Visual understanding
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Infancy, Ages 1 and 2
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Rapid development of senses. Vision is stimulated by areas of color and sharp contrast. Is increasingly able to see detail.
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Enjoys rhymes, songs, and lullabies. Likes simple, bright illustrations. Looks for familiar objects.
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Attracted by movement and bright colors. Responds to the sound of the human voice, especially rhythmic patterns.
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Uses all senses to explore the world immediately at hand; learns through activity and participation.
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Needs to participate by touching, pointing, peeking, moving.
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Assume what they see on the television screen as real tangible objects inside the television. Begins to respond to familiar sounds/voices.
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Very limited attention span; averts eyes or turns away when bored.
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Can pay attention to scenes and stories in a brief sitting; short programs or stories are better than long ones.
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Do not recognize the beginnings and the endings of programs. Is attracted by rhythmic beats and music.
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Builds foundations of language; plays with sounds, learns basic vocabulary along with concepts; begins to learn implicit "rules" that govern speech and conversation.
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Needs to hear many rhymes and simple stories. Needs encouragement to use language in labeling pictures and in sharing dialogue with adults as they read aloud or watch a program.
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Mimics real life situations. Imitates playful sounds.
Recognizes favorite jingles.
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Begins to build basic trust in human relationships.
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Needs love and affection from caregivers, in stories as well as in life. Thrives on dependable routines and rituals such as bedtime stories.
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Likes repetition of stories and incidents that involve familiar people and objects.
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Develops limited mobility and experience; interests centered in self and the familiar.
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Need stories and characters that reflect self, people, and activities in the immediate environment.
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Disappearance of characters becomes a source of consternation.
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Begins to learn autonomy in basic self-help skills.
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Enjoys reading and seeing typical toddler accomplishments like feeding self or getting dressed.
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Imitates actions of children of a similar age from visuals. Does not distinguish between TV and real life.
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Preschool and Kindergarten - Ages 3, 4, and 5
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Rapid development of language. Can match 10-12 colors.
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Interest in words; enjoys rhymes, nonsense, and repetition and cumulative tales. Enjoys retelling simple folktales and "reading" stories from books without words.
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3 year olds sometimes interpret images as solid and physically present. Are capable of distinguishing television screen images from their referents.
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Has a very active, short attention span.
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Requires books and programs that can be completed in one sitting. Enjoys participation such as naming, pointing, finding, and identifying hidden pictures.
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They cannot believe that the timing and availability of a program cannot be controlled from home. Attracted by good sound effects. Do not follow dialogues. Relates letters to their sounds.
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Is at the center of his own world. Interest, behavior, and thinking are egocentric.
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Likes characteristics that are easy to identify with. Normally sees only one point of view.
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They learn that they cannot influence events on television and that the events cannot involve them in reality. Enjoys listening to audio cassettes.
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Curious about own world.
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Enjoys listening to and watching tales about everyday experiences, pets, playthings, home, and people in the immediate environment.
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Seem to have little grasp of a distinction between appearance and reality(eg: when a toy car of one color is screened by a transparent filter of another color) Repeats rhymes and songs. Loves silly songs and names.
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Builds concepts through many firsthand experiences.
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Stories and games extend and reinforce child's developing concepts.
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Have difficulty in distinguishing conceptually between television images and their referents.
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Has little sense of time.
Time is "before now," "now," and "not yet."
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Stories and games can help children begin to understand the sequence of time.
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Sometimes tends to forget instructions as the activity progresses. Instructions need to be limited.
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Learns through imaginative play; make-believe world of talking animals and magic seems very real.
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Enjoys stories and games that have imaginative play. Likes personification of toys and animals.
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Sometimes mentions cartoons as 'pretend'. Gets confused if the source of sound is not present on television screen or cannot follow voice-overs.
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Seeks warmth and security in relationships with family and others.
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Likes to hear stories that provide reassurance.
Read-aloud rituals provide positive literature experiences.
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Begins to assert independence. Takes delight in own accomplishments. Makes absolute judgments about right and wrong.
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Books and films can reflect emotions. Enjoys when young characters show initiative. Expects bad behavior to be punished and good behavior to be rewarded. Requires poetic justice and happy endings.
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Reads letters in sequence.
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Bibliography
Dorr, Aimee. Television and Children: A Special Medium for a Special Audience. Beverly Hills: Sage Publications, 1986.
Huck, Charlotte, Susan Hepler, and Janet Hickman. Children's Literature in the Elementary School. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1997.
Nambiar, Aparna. Understanding Films: A Media Education Kit for children for children from lower income group. (Master's thesis, Pune: Department of Communication Media for Children, SNDT College of Home Science, 2000).
Silverblatt, Art. Media Literacy: Keys to Interpreting Media Messages. London: Praeger Publications, 2001.
Websites
BBC, "Parent's Music Room," http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/parents/yourchild/childdev_chart.shtml.
Child Development Institute, "Language Development in Children," http://www.childdevelopmentinfo.com/development/language_development.shtml.
U.S. Department of Education, "Early Childhood Growth Chart," http://www.kidsource.com/kidsource/content4/growth.chart/page1.html.
Vincent Iannelli, M.D. "Younger Infants Child Development," http://pediatrics.about.com/cs/growthdevelopment/a/child_dev.htm.
Aparna is qualified in the field of Communication Media for Children and wishes to use her skills in this field to help children become better consumers of the Media. She has worked with children and is currently a freelance writer.
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