During the earliest months and years of life, the architecture of the brain is being built at an unparalleled rate in response to nurturing early experiences. 90% of brain development has happened by the age of 5. Find out more below plus advice, links to video clips, local and national information and guidance.
You can access a free interactive online course which helps parents, families, carers and professionals feel more confident when looking after their children and young people.
Important brain development occurs in the first years of a child’s life. As a parent or guardian, you can support your child’s early development by providing a safe and nurturing environment, with gentle care, touch, speech, and play.
0-6 months – Significant ‘wiring’ of the brain occurs in the first years of a child’s life and your baby’s brain is developing as a result of the relationships and experiences they are exposed to each day. Babies learn through observing their parents and caregivers, and how they react to various movements and sound such as crying, yelling, smiling and cooing.
6-9 months – By nine months your child’s brain has already undergone a rapid growth spurt that helps form connections between what they see, hear, feel and taste. Playtime and interactions with parents and family members provide key learning opportunities for early development.
3 years –The early years are a rapid period of brain development. Engaging with your child and providing a safe and caring environment has a significant positive impact on your child’s development.
Does your child constantly line toys up, or insist on filling boxes and bags?
Do they love to hide under the table, or paint their arms instead of a picture?
These repeated behaviours can be completely normal and may mean they are experiencing a ‘schema’.
It’s actually all part of their essential brain development and is called a schema.
- Schemas are patterns of play that children show whilst they are learning how things work.
- Children may ‘test out’ a schema on different objects, to see how it affects things. Children cannot be taught a schema, but may not always have the same schema.
- When they are involved in a schema it might seem like they are “obsessed” with doing things a certain way.
- There are several types of schemas and ways you can help your child whilst they are learning.
Find out more from Pacey or talk to ne of our early years team at the children’s centre.
There are lots of possible reasons for difficult behaviour in toddlers and young children. Often it’s just because they’re tired, hungry, over-excited, frustrated or bored.
If problem behaviour is causing you or your child distress, or upsetting the rest of the family, it’s important to deal with it.
As children grow and learn, they depend on you to keep them safe and teach them what is and is not good behaviour.
As your child becomes more independent, they may start to push your boundaries. This can be really challenging as a parent!
It helps to know that this is how children begin to understand the world around them and how their actions affect others. Young children’s brains are still developing and they don’t yet have the ability to control their emotions. Young children need support from an understanding adult to help them make sense of these feelings.
Most young children occasionally bite, hit or push another child. Toddlers are curious and may not understand that biting or pulling hair hurts.
This doesn’t mean your child will grow up to be aggressive. Here are ways to teach your child that this behaviour is unacceptable:
Don’t hit bite or kick back
This could make your child think it’s acceptable to do this. Instead, make it clear that what they’re doing hurts and you won’t allow it.
Put your child in another room
If you’re at home, try this for a short period. Check they’re safe before you leave them.
Talk to them
Children often go through phases of being upset or insecure and express their feelings by being aggressive. Finding out what’s worrying them is the first step to being able to help.
Show them you love them, but not their behaviour
Children may be behaving badly because they need more attention. Show them you love them by praising good behaviour and giving them plenty of cuddles when they’re not behaving badly.
Help them let their feelings out in another way
Find a big space, such as a park, and encourage your child to run and shout. Letting your child know that you recognise their feelings will make it easier for them to express themselves without hurting anyone else.
You could try saying things like: “I know you’re feeling angry about … “. As well as showing you recognise their frustration, it will help them be able to name their own feelings and think about them.
Temper tantrums usually start at around 18 months and are very common in toddlers as well as hitting and biting.
One reason for this is toddlers want to express themselves, but find it difficult. They feel frustrated, and the frustration comes out as a tantrum.
Once a child can talk more, they’re less likely to have tantrums. By the age of four, tantrums are far less common.
The tips below may help you cope with tantrums when they happen.
Find out why the tantrum is happening. Your child may be tired or hungry, in which case the solution is simple. They could be feeling frustrated or jealous, maybe of another child. They may need time, attention and love, even though they’re not being very loveable.
Understand and accept your child’s anger. You probably feel the same way yourself at times, but you can express it in other ways
Find A Distraction. If you think your child is starting a tantrum, find something to distract them with straight away. This could be something you can see out of the window. For example, you could say, “Look! A cat”. Make yourself sound as surprised and interested as you can.
Wait For It To Stop. Losing your temper or shouting back won’t end the tantrum. Ignore the looks you get from people around you and concentrate on staying calm.
Don’t Change Your Mind. Giving in won’t help in the long term. If you’ve said no, don’t change your mind and say yes just to end the tantrum. Otherwise, your child will start to think tantrums can get them what they want. For the same reason, it doesn’t help to bribe them with sweets or treats.
If you’re at home, try going into another room for a while. Make sure your child can’t hurt themselves first.
Be Prepared When You’re Out Shopping. Tantrums often happen in shops. This can be embarrassing, and embarrassment makes it harder to stay calm. Keep shopping trips as short as possible. Involve your child in the shopping by talking about what you need and letting them help you.
Try Holding Your Child Firmly Until The Tantrum Passes. Some parents find this helpful, but it can be hard to hold a struggling child. It usually works when your child is more upset than angry, and when you’re feeling calm enough to talk to them gently and reassure them.
The Healthy Child Programme is designed to offer every family support in making healthy choices. It includes immunisations, health information, developmental reviews, and access to a range of community services and resources.
Pregnancy and the first five years of life are one of the most important stages in life, as this is when the foundations of future health and wellbeing are laid down. The Healthy Child Programme is delivered and supported by Health Visiting teams during this phase.
The Healthy Child Programme continues to be delivered and supported by School Nursing teams once your child starts school.
If you have any worries about your baby’s or toddler’s development talk to your health visitor, even if it is some time since the last regular visit, or some time since you’ve been to a clinic. Health visitors can come to your home to talk through any concerns you have and can put you in touch with the people who can help if there are problems.
Our 0 to 19 health practitioners will get in touch to review your child’s development at the following key stages:
Health Visitor Antenatal Visit (between 28 and 32 weeks of pregnancy)
A 0 to 19 Specialist Public Health Nurse who specialises in Health Visiting, will receive information about your pregnancy from your midwife. For your first baby you will be visited at your home and we will discuss the support we can offer you.
Health Visitors work in partnership with midwives and aim to visit you after the 28th week of pregnancy. This will give you an opportunity to discuss your pregnancy, your health and wellbeing and your ideas about your baby and plans for after your baby is born. Health Visitors will introduce to you the Healthy Child Programme and tell you about your local services and Family Hub.
At this contact Health Visitors can give you information about how you can keep you and your baby safe and well, including information about diet, vitamin supplements, smoking cessation, maternal mental health, and baby’s sleeping position. They will also discuss the benefits of breastfeeding, helping you prepare, and have an informed choice, in feeding your baby.
When baby arrives (10-14 days following delivery)
Your health visitor will visit you again at your home and share information around feeding, safe sleeping and caring for your baby. We’ll review your baby’s development and discuss how you’re feeling and any extra help you may need.
Your health visitor will discuss ways of enhancing your baby’s interaction with you in the coming months by enjoying playing, talking and singing activities and promoting closeness by skin-to-skin care and contact.
Your health visitor will check your baby has had a hearing and newborn bloodspot screen and is growing and developing and will also talk about your own health and wellbeing.
6 – 8 week visit
We will visit you at home to discuss your baby’s development and wellbeing. We will listen to how you are all feeling physically and emotionally and share information on topics such as feeding, immunisations and settling your baby.
12 – 18 weeks
During your baby’s reviews your health visitor will discuss your baby’s health and development, and ask if you have any concerns. They talk to you about your baby’s development and signpost you to helpful information, support and guidance.
Following the birth of a baby some women can experience feeling low and emotional. This can occur between 4-12 days after childbirth and is often mild and perfectly normal.
Postnatal depression symptoms can occur within the first year of having had your baby and affects between one and four in every 10 women. Symptoms include low mood, feeling emotional and tearful, anxious, and loss of enjoyment in activities that you previously enjoyed.
If you feel you have symptoms of postnatal depression then you may need help from your Health Visitor or GP.
Your health visitor will sensitively discuss your emotional health and wellbeing with you. They will be able to organise extra support for you if you need it.
Within Torbay there are child health clinics that you can attend and be able to see a member of the health visiting team. Within the team there are Health Visitors, Community Staff Nurses and Community Nursery Nurses.
With these staff you will be able to discuss any aspect of your child’s growth and development or family’s health and well-being.
Within the clinic there is the availability to have your child weighed. The World Health Organisation suggests that healthy babies are weighed at two, three, and four months and at one year.
We are offering appointment only clinics for people who are worried about their baby or child’s development and for those that need to see a health visitor. Please give us a call or email us. Depending on your needs you will receive phone support or been seen face to face.
Aged 8 – 12 months and 2 – 2½ years
We offer developmental reviews for your baby/child at both these ages. These will usually take place either in your home or at one of our children’s centres by a 0 to19 Family Health Worker.
We will talk to you about how your baby/child is growing and developing. We’ll share information about oral health, healthy eating, vision, hearing, language development and keeping your child safe. At the 2 – 2 ½ year development review we’ll also discuss good sleeping habits, toilet training, speech and communicating with others.
It’s helpful, where possible, for both parents to attend. This gives you both a chance to ask questions and talk about any concerns you have.
If you are concerned about your child’s development it is important to seek support and advice. You can contact our health team by calling our advice line on 0300 333 5352 or email publichealthnursing.torbay@nhs.net. Our opening hours are 9am-5pm Monday-Friday (excluding bank holidays). A member of our 0 to19 team is able to complete an assessment of your child and refer to other services as needed, including: community paediatrician, speech and language therapy, hearing assessment, and vision assessment.
If your child attends school, nursery or a registered childminder, talk to them about your worries – they will be able to work with you to build your child’s skills and advise on any next steps needed.
A developmental milestone is an ability that is achieved by most children by a certain age. All children develop at different rates dependant on their family’s background, their personality and how they are parented. Developmental milestones can involve physical, social, emotional, cognitive, and communication skills.
You can get information and advice about this on the Birth-to-five development timeline. This is an interactive guide to child development from birth to five years old, including videos and advice to help parents, which can be found on the NHS website.
As a parent, your relationship with your child is important to help your child to develop mentally, physically and emotionally into adulthood. A baby that experiences regular and sensitive care learns that they are worthy of that care.
If you are concerned about your child’s development it is important to seek support and advice. You can contact our health team by calling our advice line on 0300 333 5352 or email publichealthnursing.torbay@nhs.net. Our opening hours are 9am-5pm Monday-Friday (excluding bank holidays).
If your child attends school, nursery or a registered childminder, talk to them about your worries – they will be able to work with you to build your child’s skills and advise on any next steps needed.
Speech, language and communication are central life skills. They help children to be understood, to learn, to develop and to build relationships. These skills will help every area of a child’s life and support them throughout their adulthood.
Your baby will start learning about language and how to communicate as soon as they are born. Long before they can speak clearly, babies understand the general meaning of what you’re saying. Over time they will start to connect noises and words to actions or things and develop an understanding of language. They also absorb your emotional tone.
You can do a lot to encourage your child’s communications skills:
Over the first nine months your baby will start to communicate with you through babbling. From around four months they will start to gurgle and coo. At six months or so your baby will be making a number of different sounds and at nine months these sounds will start to become more complex.
- Hold your baby close and look at them as you talk to them. Babies love faces and will watch you and respond as you talk.
- Chat about what you’re doing as you feed, change and bathe them.
- Sing to your baby – this helps them tune in to the rhythm of language.
- Repeat the sounds your baby makes back to them – this teaches your baby lessons about listening and taking turns in a conversation.
- Talk in a sing-song voice – this helps to keep your baby’s attention.
- Name and point to things you can both see, for example, “Look, a cat”. This will help your baby learn words and, in time, they’ll start to copy you. As your baby gets older, add more detail, such as, “Look, a black cat”.
- Start looking at books with your baby – you do not have to read the words on the page, just talk about what you can see.
- Only offer a dummy when it’s time for sleep. It’s hard to learn to talk with a dummy in your mouth. Aim to stop using dummies completely by 12 months.
- Play games like “peek-a-boo” and “round and round the garden”. This teaches your baby important skills like taking turns, paying attention and listening.
- If your child is trying to say a word but gets it wrong, say the word properly. For example, if they point to a cat and say “Ca!” you should respond with, “Yes, it’s a cat”. Do not criticise or tell them off for getting the word wrong.
- Increase your child’s vocabulary by giving them choices, such as, “Do you want an apple or a banana?”.
- Toys and books that make a noise will help your child’s listening skills.
- Enjoy singing nursery rhymes and songs together as your baby grows, especially those with actions, such as “Pat-a-cake”, “Row, row, row your boat” and “Wind the bobbin up”. Doing the actions helps your child to remember the words.
- Repeat words, for example, “Where are your shoes?”, “Are you wearing blue shoes today?” and “Let’s put your shoes on”. Repetition helps your child to remember words.
- Use simple instructions – your child will understand some instructions at this age, such as “Get your coat” or ‘”Shut the door”. Keeping instructions short and simple will help your child understand.
- Try asking “Where’s your…” – ask your child to point to their ear, nose, foot, and so on.
- Limit your child’s daily TV time to no more than 30 minutes for children younger than 24 months. Playing and listening to stories is more helpful when they’re learning to talk.
- Help them build sentences – your child will start to put simple sentences together at around age 2. Try to reply using sentences that are a few words longer. For example, if they say, “sock off”, respond with “yes, we’re taking your sock off”.
- Get your child’s attention by saying their name at the start of a sentence. If you ask a question, give them plenty of time to answer you.
- Teach them about words that go together – for example, you could show them a ball, teddy and a rattle and then say the word ‘toy’.
- Start using sounds with meaning (symbolic sounds), like saying “whoops” or “uh-oh” when you drop something accidentally, or saying “meow” while showing them a picture of a cat.
- Switch off the television and radio – background noise makes it harder for your child to listen to you.
- Talk as you clean – children this age love to help. Chat about what you’re doing as you do chores like shopping, cooking and cleaning together.
I CAN is a national charity which has a lot of advice about helping your child’s speech development and what to expect with their speech development at what ages.
Talking Point – Communication is Vital
Talking Point – Progress Checker
Torbay Speech and Language Therapy department run an open referral system. This means anyone can refer a child, you do not need to ask a professional to do this for you. However, they do not accept referrals without parents’ knowledge and permission.
You can self-refer by downloading and completing a referral form and sending it to the Speech and Language Therapy Service (details on referral form).
Through a national schemed called ‘Bookstart’, the BookTrust provides free reading packs for children aged 0-12 months and 3-4 years.
The packs are given at two key ages before school to help families read together every day and inspire children to develop a love of books and reading.
These are given in person to families by health, library and early years professionals, who support families, ensuring that every child receives their Bookstart packs.
Read more about what Bookstart can offer you.
Children develop in their minds, their bodies and their feelings. They all develop at different rates depending upon their genetics, their personality and how they are parented. Your relationship with your child is important to help them to develop mentally, physically and emotionally into adulthood. A baby that experiences regular and sensitive care learns that they are worthy of that care.
The development process involves learning and mastering skills like sitting, walking, talking, skipping, and tying shoes. Children learn these skills, called developmental milestones, during predictable time periods.
Cognitive Development
This is the child’s ability to learn and solve problems. For example, this includes a two-month-old baby learning to explore the environment with hands or eyes or a five-year-old learning how to do simple math problems.
Social and Emotional Development
This is the child’s ability to interact with others, including helping themselves and self-control. Examples of this type of development would include: a six-week-old baby smiling, a ten-month-old baby waving bye-bye, or a five-year-old boy knowing how to take turns in games at school.
Speech and Language Development
This is the child’s ability to both understand and use language. For example, this includes a 12-month-old baby saying his first words, a two-year-old naming parts of her body, or a five-year-old learning to say “feet” instead of “foots”.
Fine motor skill development
This is the child’s ability to use small muscles, specifically their hands and fingers, to pick up small objects, hold a spoon, turn pages in a book, or use a crayon to draw. Find out more in our physical development section.
Gross motor skill development
This is the child’s ability to use large muscles. For example, a six-month-old baby learns how to sit up with some support, a 12-month-old baby learns to pull up to a stand holding onto furniture, and a five-year-old learns to skip. Find out more in our physical development section.
Learning to look after yourself is an essential life skill. Being able to wash, dress, eat and toilet independently are important milestones in a child’s development.
Not only do you as a parent or carer spend the first few years feeding, cleaning and dressing your child but whilst doing so you should be teaching them to do these activities for themselves. Click on the links below to find out more
Lay your baby down on their back so they can kick their legs.
Pulling, pushing, grasping and playing with other people are great ways to practice different kinds of movements.
Once your baby has started crawling, let them crawl around the floor, but make sure it’s safe first – see the NHS UK baby safety guide.
Playing outdoors helps your baby learn about their surroundings.
You can take your baby swimming from a very young age – there’s no need to wait until they’ve been vaccinated. Find out more by clicking on the links below.
The development process involves learning and mastering skills like sitting, walking, talking, skipping, and tying shoes. Children learn these skills, called developmental milestones, during predictable time periods.
Your child will receive five health and development reviews during their first 3 years. You can find out more about these on the NHS UK website.
Cognitive Development
This is the child’s ability to learn and solve problems. For example, this includes a two-month-old baby learning to explore the environment with hands or eyes or a five-year-old learning how to do simple math problems.
Social and Emotional Development
This is the child’s ability to interact with others, including helping themselves and self-control. Examples of this type of development would include: a six-week-old baby smiling, a ten-month-old baby waving bye-bye, or a five-year-old boy knowing how to take turns in games at school.
Speech and Language Development
This is the child’s ability to both understand and use language. For example, this includes a 12-month-old baby saying his first words, a two-year-old naming parts of her body, or a five-year-old learning to say “feet” instead of “foots”.
Fine motor skill development
This is the child’s ability to use small muscles, specifically their hands and fingers, to pick up small objects, hold a spoon, turn pages in a book, or use a crayon to draw. Find out more in our physical development section.
Gross motor skill development
This is the child’s ability to use large muscles. For example, a six-month-old baby learns how to sit up with some support, a 12-month-old baby learns to pull up to a stand holding onto furniture, and a five-year-old learns to skip. Find out more in our physical development section.
Hearing is essential for developing spoken language skills. All newborn babies are offered a hearing screening assessment. Sometimes there’s an unclear result that requires a follow-up. This doesn’t automatically mean that a child has hearing problems.
Some children may have normal hearing at birth but go on to experience temporary hearing loss (perhaps due to ‘glue ear’, where congestion behind the ear drum prevents the drum moving effectively). More unusually, a small number of children may experience a progressive hearing loss, where hearing may decline over time.
The 9-12 month and 2-2½ year development reviews provide opportunities to meet with a Health Visitor when you can discuss this and other areas of your child’s development. However, if you have concerns about your child’s hearing at any time, you can contact your Health Visitor for advice. They may encourage you to make further observations in different listening situations and if appropriate, refer your child to an Audiologist for assessment.
Follow the links below to read more about your child’s hearing:
National Deaf Children’s Society: Glue Ear
National Deaf Children’s Society: deaf awareness information
Between six and twelve months of age, babies grow and develop rapidly.
Your baby may be learning to roll over, sit up, crawl or walk. All of these changes bring new feelings for you both. Babies learn best when you give them the space and time to explore and creating safe and stimulating environments is important.
During this time your baby might show signs of being ready to try food. You might have a variety of feelings about this as it marks the beginning of a new stage.
This may be a time when you start to think about leaving your baby with other caregivers. It is important to think about how to do this in a way that feels safe for all of you.
You can access a free interactive online course which helps parents, families, carers and professionals feel more confident when looking after their children and young people.
Your baby is now a year old and may be a lot more mobile. Parenting can start to become demanding in a different way. You now need to think about safety and appropriate boundaries as well as caring for your baby.
Some parents miss their tiny baby and others are pleased that their baby has a little more independence. Remember as this independence grows your baby will still need you.
Between the ages of one to two years old there will be lots of changes as your child moves away from babyhood to being a toddler. Your child will want to to explore their surroundings as this is their safe space to learn new skills.
There are new things to learn like beginning to walk and developing speech and language. They are also learning how to deal with lots of different emotions. Children take their lead from parents and carers as their main role models.
Children will continue to return to you for reassurance that things are ok. This is all part of your child’s rapid brain development. Whether things go well or not they need you to help them feel safe and secure. Use a soothing and calm tone of voice and give gentle reassurance that all is ok if they seem worried. Show your pride and excitement when they try new things and manage new skills.
Between the ages of two to five years old there will be lots of changes as your child moves away from babyhood to being able to manage a lot more on their own. Your child may be spending a lot more of their time with other people, going to preschool and nursery. This is a big change for young children.
There are new skills to learn like potty training and speech and language. These new skills will be learnt through play.
Enjoy this special time together – remember you are your child’s first teacher!
Download or view our emotional development booklet
A motor skill is an action that involves the movement of muscles in the body.
Gross motor skills are larger movements your baby makes with his arms, legs, feet, or his entire body. Crawling, running, and jumping are gross motor skills.
Your baby will still be getting to grips with sitting as they reach six months so lots of ‘sitting practise’ on the floor will help them build their muscles. Your baby will enjoy playing with their feet too!
- Spending time on the floor is still one of the best ways for your baby to develop their physical skills. In time they will like to pull up to a stand.
- Try and be sock free if it is warm enough at home. They can ‘explore’ their toes and it also helps them with the crawling action.
- When your baby gets frustrated because they can’t quite get to where they want (they often go backwards when they want to got forwards!) be close by to reassure and encourage.
Fine motor skills are smaller actions. When your baby picks things up between his finger and thumb, or wriggles his toes in the sand, he’s using his fine motor skills. But it’s not just about fingers and toes; when your baby uses his lips and tongue to taste and feel objects he’s using fine motor skills, too.
When your baby is newborn, his brain is not mature enough to control skilled movement. Development starts at his head, and then moves down his body. So your newborn baby can control his mouth, face, lips and tongue, with the rest following in time.
Your baby learns to control his neck before his shoulders, and his shoulders before his back. Your baby can control his arms before his hands, and control his hands before his fingers.
In any area of your baby’s body, his gross motor skills develop before his fine motor skills. So he’ll be able to bring his arms together before he learns how to pass a toy from hand to hand.
For your baby to really do things for himself, he’ll need to use gross and fine skills together. He’ll gradually get better at this as he grows into toddlerhood.
For example, by the time your child reaches two years old he’ll be able to use a shape-sorting toy. He’ll use gross motor skills to hold his body steady enough to grasp the shapes firmly. He will then use fine motor skills to twist or turn each shape to fit the right slot.
You can encourage your baby’s development by playing games that challenge him a little. When he can sit well unsupported, put his favourite toy just out of reach. This will mean he must balance as he makes a grab for his toy. Watch for any changes in how he uses his legs, arms and fingers.
Download or view our physical development booklet here.
Playing isn’t just fun: it’s also the best way for young children to learn. By playing, children can practise all the skills they’ll need as they grow up.
Play is so important that it is considered a human right for children.
Playing with children throughout their baby days and childhood will build strong and lasting bonds. It helps build their self esteem, confidence and gives better life chances.
Play is good for us. Children learn best through play and this learning happens every day through the experiences and the fun they have.
To grow and develop, children need time and attention from someone who’s happy to play with them.
Children learn from everything they do and everything that’s going on around them.
When you’re washing up, let your child join in – for example, by washing the saucepan lids. When you cook, show them what you’re doing and talk to them as you’re working.
Getting them involved in the things you do will teach them about taking turns to help and being independent. They’ll also learn by copying what you do.
Sometimes things have to happen at certain times, and it’s important that your child learns this. But when you’re together, try not to have a strict timetable. Your child is unlikely to fit in with it and you’ll both get frustrated.
There’s no rule that says clearing up has to be done before you go to the playground, especially if the sun’s shining and your child’s bursting with energy.
As far as you can, move things around to suit both your and your child’s mood.
- Every time you give your baby attention, chat and smile, or let them know you are there for them when they are upset, they are learning to trust you.
- Every time you talk, sing and read to your child you are helping them learn the words that they need to communicate their thoughts and feelings.
- Every time you help your child to learn a new skill or understand a new experience, you are helping them feel good about themselves and make sense of their world.
An ASQ (Ages and Stages Questionnaire) is a parent-completed questionnaire that reliably identifies developmental progress of children from one month to 5½ years.
ASQs assess the following developmental areas: communication, gross motor skills (big/ whole body movements), fine motor skills (use of fingers), problem solving abilities and personal-social skills. This can help to detect early on if there is a developmental delay so intervention and support can be offered.
The Health Visiting team offer 2 routine developmental reviews for children, the first takes place just before your child’s first birthday and a second at 2 to 2 ½ years. At these appointments you may want to ask for support regarding any developmental or behaviour concerns you may have.
2 questionnaires are sent to parents/carers before the review, each questionnaire involves 30 questions about the child’s abilities. Each questionnaire takes 10–15 minutes for parents to complete and just 2–3 minutes for professionals to score. The review can take place in either the home environment or in a clinic setting. The visit generally takes 45-60 minutes to complete.
The questionnaire is only part of the review; there will be additional time to discuss all aspects of general health and wellbeing such as diet, home safety, toilet training and behaviour support.
Once your child starts school, they will have a further developmental review. The Ages and Stages Questionnaire (ASQ-3) screens and assesses the developmental performance of children in the areas of communication, gross motor skills, fine motor skills, problem solving, and personal-social skills. It is used to identify children that would benefit from in-depth evaluation for developmental delays. You will receive this questionnaire in your child’s book bag from school a couple of months before their 5th birthday. This will allow the School Nurses to have a sound overall picture of your child and whether there are areas that may need further development.
add ASQ video from HCI
You are the best person to help your child develop. There are lots of things you can do to help your child talk, listen and understand. The most important thing is to spend time talking and playing together. For fun, free, simple activities and ideas for kids aged 0-5 visit some of the websites below.
For 1.7 million children in the UK, learning to talk and understand words feels like an impossible hurdle. So we give children and young people the skills they need so they aren’t left behind, waiting to be understood.
Tiny Happy People is here to help you develop your child’s language skills. Explore our simple activities and play ideas and find out about babies and toddlers’ amazing early development.
Simple and fun child development activities to try at home
NHS Baby and toddler play ideas
You can give your child lots of different opportunities to play, and it does not need to be difficult or expensive. Find out more here.
BookTrust supports children and families to experience the joy of reading.
Four films entitled ‘through the eyes of a child’ for parents of children between birth and 3 years. The Communication Trust films are full of useful advice on how parents can encourage their child to talk and interact with them.
Hey Sigmund – Tips on building resilience
Building Resilience in Children – 20 Practical, Powerful Strategies (Backed by Science).
HM Government provides digital information, strategies and videos for parents to use at home.
Information to help you understand and support children and young people’s speech, language and communication.