Parents must always be interested in preschool developmental milestones, because these can give principal indications as to the development of your preschooler in a number of areas and how they measure up to to other children of similar age.  

This is not intended to concern parents, but to serve as an early warning system to permit them to intervene early to improve development in preschoolers in areas such as vision, speech and language, gross and fine motor, sequencing and thus on.

The true problem is that, if you discover that your child is slower in development in a given area, the methods of enhancing and encouraging these areas are few and far between!  My chief emphasis is to give a positive, inexpensive and successful method of training any deficiencies in preschool visual development, and given that vision is the main sense in learning, I can practically make certain that I can provide targeted therapies to help any child who shows any deficiencies in these developmental milestones.

Anyway, here are some wide-ranging milestones which could give you useful information as to how your child is developing.

Three Years

At this age your child is becoming more independent and you can be expecting him to dress himself, button clothes, brush his teeth with help, stack 9-10 blocks, draw circles and squares, use scissors, walk up steps by alternating his feet, jump from a step, hop, walk on his toes, pedal a tricycle, play with make-believe friends, have a large vocabulary and use 3-4 word sentences and his speech should be 3/4 discernible. Over the next year his speech will become fully comprehensible.

Other developmental milestones include starting to ask ‘why' questions, telling stories, recalling nursery rhymes, appreciating special events, and comprehending every day routines.

Your three year old will now begin to play considerately with other children in small groups, share his toys and improve friendships. Playtime will take account of structured games and fantasy activities.

Most children take one sleep during the afternoon of about 1 hour in length (he will cease taking naps between 3-6 years of age) at this age and are able to sleep all night. If not make sure that your child has a good bedtime routine and has developed the appropriate sleep associations.

Four Years

At this age you can anticipate your child to dress himself, brush his teeth without help, play board and card games and follow simple rules, name 4 colors, hop, walk down stairs alternating feet, talk in 4-5 word sentences, sing songs, listen to stories, shares things spontaneously, count to 4, and his speech should be fully understandable. Over the next few years he will be able to count to ten, recognize letters of the alphabet, and be able to remember his phone number and address.

Five Years

At this age you can expect your child to dress himself, brush his teeth without help, play cooperatively with other children, play board and card games and follow the rules, name colors, hop, walk down stairs alternating feet, skip, talk in 4-5 word sentences, sing songs, listen to stories, shares things impulsively, realize some letters of the alphabet, print letters, know his phone number and address and his speech should be fully understandable.

This is a time of growing self-sufficiency and children at this age require to be considered more responsible. To help encourage this sense of responsibility, now is a good time to begin providing your child an allowance. The amount is not very important, but is usually 50¢ to $1.00 per year in age and should be used for special things that your child wants. Managing an allowance will help to instruct your child about the value of money and the importance of saving. Despite the fact that it is also critical that your child begin to have standard age appropriate chores (setting or clearing the table, taking out the garbage, cleaning their room, etc.) around the house, these should almost certainly not be shackled to their allowance. Positive reinforcement is significant for completed chores, and failure to finish chores can be punished by loss of a privilege (TV, video games, etc.). Permitting your child to have a choice of which chore to do at times helps with compliance.

Promote self esteem and a positive self image in your child by using encouraging reinforcement and frequent praise for things that he has accomplished. Encourage your child to be curious, explore and undertake new challenges.

The Role Of Vision

All through the above mentioned developmental milestones vision plays a chief role, even for things like gross motor development, counting and recognizing letters.  Vision development needs developing visual skills, and if a child displays any deficiencies in these areas, their learning future could be massively affected, and yet teachers and parents are usually at a loss to realize what to do to assist.

As a Behavioral Optometrist for over 20 years, I have developed a special program of therapies which will dramatically pick up your child's learning ability, whether they are behind their peers or not.  Normally such therapies would cost thousands of dollars, but I have decided to release them in a layout you can do at home for a fraction of the cost you would normally pay.

So, don't leave your child struggling with preschool developmental delays. Check out preschool vision and discover how uncomplicated it is to assist your child in their preschool development.