Page 96 - April Issue

mother, baby & child April 2011 in focus: toddler | interaction group: “Build imitation and language skills
by playing simple games and spending one
Head of Occupational Therapy Department on one time with your child every day.”
in the Child Early Intervention Medical
Center. “During early development, By age 18 to 24 months, she says
parents lay the foundation for early that toddlers will engage in parallel play.
social skill development,” she says and if “This is an important stage in your child’s
children are socially unable to interact and development,” she stresses and you will
feel unsupported by their peers, Dasani see them play alongside another child, they
interjects that it can negatively affect school may interact briefly to exchange toys or
functioning and relationships. “Building negotiate play space however their games
your toddlers social skills from an early age will not yet overlap and interact. “Support
enables them to have the right foundation them in their play by demonstrating toy
to be socially successful,” she urges. In use,” Dasani says and show your child new
fact during feeding, adds Jennifer Logan, imaginative ways to use toys and practice
Occupational Therapist in Child Early taking turns with them to play.
Intervention Medical Center, babies develop
eye contact skills. “Children then quickly Age two to three years, says Logan, is
begin to develop communication skills and primarily when children are becoming more
early play skills with their parents,” she social. “Allowing your child to have access
says, “Basic play skills such as turn-taking, to play time with children in their own
joint attention and sharing are developed age group is essential for their social skill
with songs, games, storytelling and playful development,” she says. Her tip: “During
interactions with carers and siblings.” These play encourage the development of motor
skills form the basic building blocks for later skills by constructing fun obstacle courses
social skill development, she notes. or work stations, focusing on activities

Teaching

The key point to understand, notes
Benton, is that social skills do not develop
naturally, they must be taught. “Social skills
for toddlers such as sharing and playing
with others develop through training and
practice, and lots of it,” she says and each
time your toddler faces a situation where
their natural reaction is to bite, hit, push or
yell this is the perfect time for you to step
in and ‘teach’ them the appropriate social
skills they need to learn. These ‘mistakes’
are the times where you can teach skills
in a meaningful way. “A toddler needs a
training programme that is both kind and
firm, where they are taught appropriate
behaviour rather than being punished for
inappropriate behaviour,” she explains.

By Age

At 12 months of age, Dasani says that your
child will begin to mimic your actions, such
as hand actions in simple games like “peek-
a-boo”. “Your child will be affectionate
towards you kissing and hugging, during this
age your child’s language skills are rapidly
developing,” she says. Her tip for this age

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