Self-expression is a very important aspect of childhood development. Your child should be able to express his feelings, emotions, thoughts and creativity, with freedom and safety. Creating an environment filled with respect, love, and compassion is often one of the best ways to help your child’s self-expression, as without these, a child may find it difficult to open up.

There are in general, three types of self-expression: Artistic expression, Playful expression, and Building expression.

Artistic expression is one of the best ways in which your child can express himself. Give him some colour pencils and paper, and you could be surprised with the types of drawings or colourings he could come up with. Painting, drawing, colouring, and writing are all ways that provide a solid outlet for the many emotions your child may be feeling or facing in his day-to-day activities.

Letting your child paint or draw pictures with free reign helps open up his mind. It is an essential component to a child’s development, and children often form thoughts and ideas through their drawings, even if the pictures seem to be made up of unrelated objects or shapes! This type of self-expression is especially important in developing communication and emotional skills, as well as psychological awareness.

Playing, a form of expression!

Playful expression is yet another way of helping your child express himself. By allowing him to play with other children, through sports and other fun activities, you can teach him cooperation, relationship skills, and even how to respect others. Furthermore, you can also guide your children by setting up reasonable boundaries and rules. This helps to get children to play and have fun responsibly, without actually interfering with their playtime and therefore their development as well.

Watching television for long hours should not be encouraged, as it is a one-way medium and does not help promote any creative or critical thinking in him. Instead, get the whole family involved in a board game, or other interactive games that can enhance your child’s creativity and thinking skills.

Building blocks to development

A final way of promoting self-expression is through ‘Building Expression’, which is the building of objects. Things that require construction, such as dollhouses or model robots and cars are all good ways of promoting your child’s natural progression and creativity. By following the instructions for putting together these objects, he learns, and becomes more aware of the role of guidelines. This also helps him make use of his creative skills to produce the end result. Following guidelines, rules, and instructions, combined with some creativity are all essential aspects that children need to learn.

Get your child to express!

It is not necessary for you to buy expensive toys and art materials to help build your child’s self-expression. Even simple board games can help with his developmental skills, and you can extend your children’s playtime through comments or questions. In addition, try to stimulate creative idea, by encouraging your child to come up with new and different ways of using his toys or other equipment.

Don’t try to restrict; always have safe play materials easily available for your children to play with. Most importantly, keep your mind open to new and original ideas, and always encourage your children to use their skills or creativity! Many real-life situations that they may face in the future will often use the skills they have learnt through early childhood development.

Getting your child to share his toys may almost be like trying to get him to eat his vegetables. No matter what you say, he’s not going to budge from his decision. It becomes worse should you force him to give up his toys, often making him throw tantrums in protest. All children tend to be possessive when it comes to something they love, which is why it may take some coaxing on your part before he is willing to share his prized possessions.

Don’t force him!

Your 2-year-old son comes crying to you because his elder brother, who is four, refuses to share his train with him. You ask your elder son to share, but he ignores you, so you take the train away from him, shout or punish him to show that you disapprove of his actions and give the train to your younger son. This may leave your son with no choice except to give in, but forcing him won’t instil the spirit of generosity in your son. In fact, this may cause him to further resent the act of sharing with his siblings or peers.

It is not fair to expect your older children to share with their younger siblings, as younger children always want to have what their brothers or sisters are playing with. Just because your 2-year-old son wants to have a turn at playing the train, there is no reason why your elder son should give it up for him. Teaching siblings to respect each other’s space is just as important as the generosity of sharing that you wish to instil in them.

Let him fight his own battles

If your children are playing tugand- war over a toy, resist the urge to intervene and try to solve the problem. This often leads to a win-lose situation with one of your children getting hurt. Furthermore, your children will then tend to rely on you to solve their problems for them. Should things get out of hand, you can try to overcome this by holding both children responsible for the squabble and not blaming it on only one child. Encourage your children to come up with their own solution while holding back the toy from them. Make it clear that unless they reach a decision to play on more peaceful terms, they are not getting the toy back.

Everything takes time…

You can’t expect a difference in so short a time, however, there are some steps in which you could take to help your children learn how to share and to be generous about it.

• Be a role model. Children are very good observers and often tend to imitate the things that you do. Whenever you can, look for opportunities to share things with your partner or other family members, clearly describing the process as you go along.
• Teach your child to share by sharing with him. Try playing give and take games with your child. If your son is possessive about a certain toy, ask him gently if you can hold it for a minute. When he gives it to you, hold it or play with it and then return it to him. Make sure that you only keep the toy for a few seconds before returning it to him. Do this a few times so that he can see that although he gives you the toy for a while, he is not losing it, which will make him more willing to share his toys with others in the future.
• Catch your children being good! Recognise and give praise when your child does something good or shares something with a peer. Simply saying, “I like the way you’re sharing your toys with James” will make your children more eager to get that kind of attention from his mother and will probably want to do something similar again.

Sharing may not be the most natural thing to a child, but with your guidance and understanding, you can help instil a sense of generosity and the willingness to share. Everything needs time and practise, but sharing is not impossible if you bring it on the right way!

Play is essential to kids, but has an even more vital role in children with special needs, that is to stimulate their development and learning.

In fact, play has been utilised by some professionals to assist them interact with children and to help children express their feelings and emotions. Play therapy has also been used as part of effective intervention programmes, such as early intervention, speech therapy, parent management therapy, family-centred intervention with children experiencing a broad range of behavioural and physical disorders, such as language disorders, conduct disorders, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism and cerebral palsy.

Various play materials (eg toys, art materials) and methods are utilised in play therapy, which is usually provided and guided by trained professionals. At home, parents are strongly encouraged to use play as a medium to build positive parent-child relationship, and to support their child’s development in vocabulary abilities, communication skills, social skills and problem-solving skills.

Why Play?

ADHD – Children with ADHD have short attention span, and are hyperactive and impulsive. The symptoms of this behavioural disorder make it hard for the children to focus on and complete a task. ADHD children often have tough times concentrating in the classroom and socialising with children of the same age. Engaging in appropriate play and activities help an ADHD child to develop better focus attention, gain self-confidence, and learn to socialise and interact properly with other children. In addition, play time also serves as an opportunity to foster warm and positive parent-child relationship, which is often strained due to the symptoms of the disorder.

Autism – Autistic children have extreme difficulty connecting themselves to other children in ordinary ways. They prefer to play alone, become obsessed with objects and get absorbed in their own world. They are also less able to recognise emotional expressions and social cues, thus affecting their social-communication development.

Play that focuses on the child’s interest and that encourages interaction can help improve their communication and interpersonal skills.

Cerebral palsy – Cerebral palsy is an inborn condition that affects the muscle tone, movement and motor skills, causing stiffness, movement difficulties and involuntary movements. Children with cerebral palsy experience a certain degree of physical inability. Simple tasks, such as standing still or grasping objects, can be difficult for them.

They may not be readily engaged in play, but they need to play to develop their gross and fine motor skills, as well as for their sensory development.

Suitable play and toys for children with special needs

Children in their developing years are keen learners. They are curious about everything that occurs around them. Whatever they see, hear and smell are all like mysteries waiting to be unveiled. Curiosity is simply their natural desire to learn, explore, discover and understand things.

Be Curious, My Child

A curious child will continue to explore and learn, probably well into his adulthood. Therefore, supporting your child's natural ability to be curious will help him become a life-long learner. Moreover, during the process of discovery, your child has the chance to develop his creativity and learns to solve problem on his own.

As a parent, you can provide opportunities and an environment to help nurture your child's curiosity:

• Frequently expose your child to new knowledge and experience through reading books, participating in outdoor activities and playing various games.
• Encourage your child to question if he has doubts or queries, and guide him to finding the answers. You'll want your little learner to be not afraid of asking and testing out new ideas.

From Fascinating to Frustrating

While trying to encourage your child's natural ability to wonder and question, you may at times find those why's and how's annoying, especially when you're busy. You may also feel uncomfortable answering some questions, or frustrated if you don't know how to answer.

However, be careful not to brush away his curiosity too quickly by shutting him up or ignoring his questions. Curiosity can be easily killed with responses, eg ‘don't disturb me' or ‘don't ask'. Squashing your child's curiosity too frequently may hamper a critical early childhood learning process.

There may be a reason behind those endless questions, such as trying to seek your attention, or not satisfied with the answer provided. Whichever reason it may be, you can try the following ways to handle the different situations.

1. If your child repeatedly asks the same question, ask instead if he knows the answer. He'll probably answer his own question and stop at it. Sometimes he just wants to have your attention or approval.
2. If you're busy, say so and tell him that you'll get back to him later. Simply dismissing your child or ignoring his questions often lead him to finding his own answer that may be misleading.
3. If you don't have the answer, be honest and tell him you don't know or that you'll find out and share the answer with him later. Always tell it in a proper manner; otherwise he'll never stop asking.
4. When dealing with questions that are difficult to answer, ask for some time to think about it. This allows you to plan the best age-appropriate response for your child. Don't lie to your child; if he finds out he may not believe in his parents anymore.
5. You can also encourage your child to seek answers for himself by going to the library, or by getting help from other family members or school teachers.

Ways for Parents to Encourage Creativity

• Allow them to play and express their ideas. Play is an important part of learning which helps develop creative thinking in children. It allows them to experience creativity through their five senses – sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch. Parents can attempt to stimulate imagination and creativity through makebelieve and imaginative play.
• Provide an environment that encourages creativity. This can range from making sure that the child is comfortable in expressing ideas without fear of being rejected to making sure that his safety is being taken care of so that he or she can focus on exploring the world with little or no disruption.
• Ask great questions and do not limit their questions. It is also important for parents to be flexible with their children’s answers or responses. Even when it is wrong, they need not scold the child. Rather, take the opportunity to teach the child to find the right answer. Problem solving is a vital component of creative thinking.
• Stimulate creative thinking with age-related activities. There are many activities that parents can engage their children in, including arts, music, sports and cooking. Others such as reading books and watching educational television and multimedia programmes may also help cultivate creativity in children.

Myth # 1: My child is too young to use the computer

This is not true. Research shows that children learn fastest from one to six years of age. At this age, children absorb the most from what they see or learn. Nonetheless, many researches have also recommended that the best age to let children learn to use computer is from the age of three to four years as they would have developed logical thinking and a certain level of intelligence by then.

Myth # 2: Books alone are good enough for learning

It is not wrong to provide your child with all the books in the world. However, you need to know that there are different learning dimensions for your child. Besides reading, ‘play’ is one such activity that helps your child to develop vital intellectual skills. In the same way, computer use can help your child develop one or more of those skills.

Myth # 3: My child will become addicted and be less sociable

This may not happen if we do our part in helping our children strike a balance between time spent on the computer and other activities. For example, we can set rules and conditions such as limiting the time spent a day on the computer or limit its use only for purposes that can benefit learning.

Benefits of Early Computer Use in Children

Enhanced learning skills – Research shows that computer use helps stimulate growing minds, improve recognition of alphabets, verbal skills and communication, and conceptual skills. It also helps your child to adapt and learn faster.

Stimulate creativity – The opportunities to develop creativity through computer use are endless. Programmes which allow your child to compose music, solve complex logic problems, and others help open up a ‘window of opportunity’ for imagination and creativity.

Increased problem solving skills – Those who use the computer are used to working through a problem logically and getting to the root of the problem. This will help your child to have a more logical thought process, as well as to improve his problem-solving skills.

2. Read To Your Child
Children who are read to when growing up often fare better than their counterparts who aren’t. Reading is one of the fastest ways for a child to pick up learning skills and no one does a better job than a parent. Make reading a thing to do every day, even if just for five minutes. A good time to do this is before bedtime. Make sure you read with fun in your voice to make it all the more exciting for your child. When your child is at an age where he or she can start reading, do this together with a favourite book.

3. Limit Television Viewing
The TV is often a bad excuse for parents who have no time so make sure you limit the hours your child spends on this. Instead spend them doing things together. Children need to hear and talk to adults in order to learn. Just watching television will not make this happen.

4. Have A Positive Attitude Towards Learning
Be positive and enthusiastic when your child comes back from school telling you of the new things he or she has learnt. Keep abreast of what is going on in school and take a pro-active approach in finding out your child’s progress in school. Take an interest and if possible, try to enhance your child’s learning progress with your own personal involvement.

5. Give Your Child The Much Needed Praise
Children thrive on praises. So if your child has done well, let him or her know this. This will not only encourage your child but also shows that you care. Another good way to do this is by putting up drawings done by your child on the refrigerator.

6. Encourage Your Child To Use Learning Materials
Learning tools such as the dictionary and encyclopaedia can be very useful indeed when your child is picking up new vocabulary or knowledge. Encourage them to constantly refer to these two when they want the answers to some queries they may have.

7. Take Them Out!
To the library, the museum, an exhibition or even the playground. Exposing your child to such activities will help encourage learning as well as motivate your child to learn more. Not only that, it is something fun for the entire family to do!

But preschool is more than just learning how to read and write. It is about providing your child with quality Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) that will give him a solid foundation for learning and for life ... and that certainly encompasses much more than knowing your A-B-Cs and 1-2-3s.

Association of Professional Early Childhood Educators, Malaysia (MAPECE) President, Professor Dr Chiam Heng Keng says that the National Preschool Curriculum (NPC) ensures that preschools remain child-centered and not parent- or teacher-centered. “It is a curriculum that fits the child and not the other way round. It is developmentally appropriate and promotes learning through play, which is a very important part of childhood.”

“The NPC is skills-based, not content-based,” she says. “For instance, the focus is on developing the skills of communicating, counting, thinking, reasoning, getting information and making sense of that information, making friends and so on. Homework and examinations are discouraged.”

Choices Aplenty
There are so many preschool providers in Malaysia today that parents are spoilt for choice. According to Dato’ Alimuddin, it was back in the 1950s when preschools began making their presence felt here. “At that time, preschools were established mainly by the private sector and catered to wealthy families in the urban areas. The government established its first public preschools in the 1970s with the aim of narrowing the gap between the urban and rural children. The KEMAS preschools opened in 1971, Perpaduan preschools in 1976 and Ministry of Education preschools in 1992,” he says. “The NPC is delivered through government-run preschools and private preschools that have been registered with the Ministry of Education. This is enforced and monitored by our officers in the State Education Departments. ”

“Parents today understand that a quality preschool education is the foundation of their children’s future. The demand is growing as more parents enrol their children in preschool,” he says. “The government is rising to meet this demand by increasing the number of public preschools and preschool classes.”

ECCE Is Your Responsibility Too
Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) is provided not just through preschools but at home too. You can build a strong foundation for your children’s future by creating for them the right environment and ensuring that they have positive experiences at all times – whether they are at home or at preschool.

UNDERSTAND IT
Start by first familiarising yourself with the concept of ECCE. You have taken the first step by reading this article. Read more and talk to people who understand and are practising ECCE.

SELECT A QUALITY PRESCHOOL
Datin Radziah advises parents to seek preschools with a curriculum that is developmentally appropriate. “Government-run preschools subscribe to the NPC, so you can trust that they are developmentally appropriate. But you cannot be entirely sure with private preschools, so please select a registered centre,” she says. “If you do decide to enrol your child in a private preschool, ensure that it encourages children to learn through play and has activities appropriate to the children’s age and stage of development. The children should not be sitting at their desks and writing all the time.”

Below are some other points to bear in mind when selecting a preschool:

• Child-safe, child-friendly Your child’s safety is top priority. This is why it is so important that a preschool is registered as this means that it satisfies local safety, fire and hygiene requirements. In addition to this, see if othersafety measures are taken. For instance, ensure that the outdoor area is properly fenced, there are no sharp corners on the tables, and that the sinks and toilets are child-sized.
• Comfortable number of children When it comes to preschools, more is not necessarily merrier! As open communication is important in the learning process, an ideal class size is between 12 and 15 children with one teacher and one assistant.
• Good and qualified preschool teachers A good preschool teacher is kind, cheerful and loves children. She is interested and actively involved in what the children are doing. She is dressed in clothes that allow her to kneel down to the children’s level when talking to them, run around or even crawl with them during playtime. She has the appropriate professional or academic qualifications, is knowledgeable about the National Preschool Curriculum and is able to explain how she applies it in her classes.
• Happy, expressive & productive children You should see children working together in groups on projects, making friends and generally just having fun. They are expressive, confident and openly communicate with each other as well as their teacher during class.

REINFORCE LESSONS AT HOME
Take an interest in your child. Talk to him, listen to him, find out what he is doing in class and discuss his progress with his teacher. Find ways to reinforce his preschool lessons at home. For some useful ideas, please visit www.mypositiveparenting.org/articles/english/v3-article13.htm.

LET YOUR CHILD PLAY!
“A recent study of early childhood practices in Finland found that until age seven, all early childhood experiences of Finnish children are play-based. Instead of lower academic results, studies showed that by age twelve, Finnish children outperform those in all other industrialised countries in reading, maths and science skills!” says Dr Chiam. So parents, give your children the time and space for free, unstructured play. Set play dates, especially if you have a tight work schedule. As a parent, your biggest concern today would probably be your children’s safety. However, by not allowing your children to indulge in unstructured outdoor play, you are depriving them of gross motor activity and social play. Do not keep your children indoors but closely supervise them to ensure safe play.

Parenting involves not only disciplining your child, but also teaching him how to manage/control his emotions. Experts have identified a parenting approach known as emotion coaching that can help children form secure attachments to their parents (please see box). Emotion coaching means helping children with their emotional development, first by helping them understand their emotions and second, for parents to react appropriately to those emotions. Here is how you can do this:

Talk with your child
Ask your child how he’s feeling and give him your full attention when he is speaking. Listen with empathy. Encourage him as he tries to identify and communicate his feelings to you. Help him along the way if necessary.

Be in tune with your child’s emotions
Know how your child is feeling by observing his body language, his facial expressions and listening to his tone of voice. By being sensitive to his cues, you are able to offer support and understanding when your child is sad, angry or frustrated and celebrate together when he is happy or excited.

Answer your child’s questions
Your curious preschooler will be asking you lots of questions. Always try your best to answer them. Do not be dismissive or tell him to stop bothering you with his questions. Doing so will only instill fear of asking questions and destroy his enthusiasm for learning. If you do not know the answer, take the time to find out together with your child.

When your child makes a mistake
Comfort your child by acknowledging his feelings after having made a mistake. Assure him that it is okay to feel bad about it. Help him clean up or rectify the mistake. This way, you provide him with a solution to the situation. Avoid scolding your child as this only causes him to become fearful. He does not learn how to rectify the problem and will soon repeat the same mistake, be scolded again and end up thinking he would never get it right.

Set limits
While all feelings – good and bad – are acceptable, not all behaviours are acceptable. For instance, your child may be angry with his friend for scribbling in his book but that does not mean he can hit her. Make sure your child knows what is appropriate and inappropriate behaviour, and help him find solutions to his problems. Instead of hitting his friend, what could he have done?

TRY THIS!

• Treasure Hunt
Organise a treasure hunt for your child. Each clue has a simple mathematical sum she has to solve in order to get the next clue. Have her solve all the clues and she gets a reward. As for your reward, it’s the thrill that comes from knowing that your child can add and subtract.

• Bring in the PC
Use the PC as a learning tool. Buy some educational computer games or locate educational websites specially designed for kids. The interactive features and colourful animation will capture your child’s attention within minutes. Some good websites to visit are: www.britishcouncil.org/kids.htm, www.fatlion.com/science and www.kids.discovery.com

Some children learn and retain information more effectively as they interact with others. For example, if your child has indicated in class that she wants to be a vet when she grows up, why not introduce her to one? The chance to converse with a real veterinarian gives your child great exposure and is a wonderful learning opportunity.

• The Real Deal
Find out what your child is learning in preschool and make it real for her. If her teacher has just taught her about Malaysian fruits, you can surprise her with fruity snacks or desserts at home. Encourage her to talk to you about each fruit’s texture, shape, colour and taste, and the difference between one fruit and another.

Some experts believe that learning begins before birth. Talking to your baby while he’s still in the womb enhances the expectation of parenthood and helps you bond with your baby at an early stage. After birth, your child learns when he acquires new experiences and information that shape his personality, abilities and actions.

Learning is a lifelong process and the first five or six years of your child’s life are most crucial. His development during these formative years will pave the way for his future academic, creative and social accomplishments.

HOW YOUR CHILD LEARNS

Most little boys have this fascination with insects and frogs, and are constantly scaring their moms by bringing these creatures home. And then there are little girls who like trying on their moms’ makeup and clothes. At the same time, children from age three onwards are always full of questions, like “Why does this bug have six legs? Why are your shoes so big? How come dad doesn’t wear make-up? Why, mom, why?”

All this may test a parent’s patience at times. But it is also a sign that the children are eager to learn and discover as much as possible about things going on around them.

This is part of our children’s natural inclination to learn. By asking questions, playing with bugs or smearing on lipstick, they are constantly trying to understand how the world works. All the while, their brains are absorbing and making sense of all this information, and adding to their consciousness, which advances their intellect.

That’s not all. Children will then have to actively learn to use their new knowledge. In order to use it, they have to understand the information, decide if it is relevant and learn how to apply it in situations or solve problems with it.

Child psychologists have discovered that children learn a lot through play. Symbolic play such as ‘house’ or ‘tea-time’ helps your child ‘experience’ and better understand the adult world. Shape-sorting games and simple puzzles enhance your child’s analytical skills. Sports and ‘formal games’, such as Snakesand- Ladders or checkers, help your child learn to observe rules.

Another way your child can learn is through work. Meaningful work helps to nurture his mental development and teach him about responsibility and independence. It will be fun for your child, especially if you encourage him to think of ‘work’ as ‘play’. He can perform simple tasks like setting the table or picking up his toys, which he sees as helping the adults. This will make him feel useful and ‘grown-up’.

If your child has just learnt something and really loves it, he will want to do it over and over again. Playing with the same puzzle, for instance. You may wonder what the thrill is in playing with the same thing for more than 20 times, as he already knows how to solve it. This is just his way of learning, and perfecting, a particular skill.

WHAT YOUR CHILD LEARNS

What your child learns at home helps prepare him for kindergarten. Give him a head start by introducing him to ABC’s and 123’s in advance. Read books at bedtime from as early as possible, so that he will develop a love for knowledge and stories from these books. Armed with this knowledge, he will have a better time in kindergarten.

He also learns how to understand the concept of relativity (‘more than’ or ‘less than’) and numbers. Besides these, he also learns reasoning and observation.

While he learns these thinking skills, your child will discover that his explanations are just as important as his answers. For example, when given a set of pictures consisting of three fruits and a book, he will have to explain why he circled the book as the odd one out. His reason could be that the book can’t be eaten, while the fruits can. Even though his explanation is simple, it still shows how he arrived at his answer, which is an important aspect of good thinking.

Besides thinking skills, your child will also learn counting skills. More than just 123, counting abilities teach him how to more accurately differentiate between concepts like ‘big’, ‘small’, ‘bigger’ and ‘smaller’. Using everyday things (like toys or food) in addition and subtraction exercises is an effective way for children to grasp basic mathematical concepts. No expensive toys are required here
– old bottle caps or ice-cream sticks can be used.

Language is another important skill. Learning language develops your child’s literacy skills, enhancing his reading, writing and creativity skills later on. It is vital that you pay attention to your child’s language progress, as delay or failure could be major signs of a learning disability (see below). Talk to your child in a normal conversational voice. Do not use baby talk or emulate his speech.

The learning skills described above may sound very intense, but kindergartens teach them in fun ways. They are the basis for more complicated lessons that he will learn in primary school.

HELPING YOUR CHILD LEARN

You are your child’s first and most influential teacher. It is very important to motivate his desire to learn right from infancy.

Praise is one of the ways to motivate your child to learn. Each of his achievements is worthy of praise. It might be the first time he rolled over, or the first time he managed to draw a circle. Praise will encourage your child to want to learn more and do better next time.

Sometimes your child may have difficulty picking up a certain skill. Here, you will need to be patient. You may have to persevere in helping him. Sometimes, you may have to sit back and let him struggle with it on his own, until he gets the hang of it.

A big part of the kindergarten experience is learning social development and being more independent. Your child will be eager to show you that he can do things on his own now. There is no point in coddling him, as this may inhibit him from learning things on his own.

Still, he may need help in doing his homework. This doesn’t mean doing it for him, but rather, helping him figure out why he got stuck. Help him develop his reasoning and problem-solving skills.

If your child is struggling with a subject, don’t lose your temper with him. If he feels that he is being forced into learning something, he will naturally grow to resent it. It is normal for children to have some difficulties in learning certain things. Some children learn things faster than others. Avoid comparing him with his siblings or friends.

If you want to know how your child is doing in kindergarten, talk to his teacher. Together, you can discuss your child’s progress. You can also find out how he is coping with the lessons, getting along
with his classmates and generally enjoying himself. The teacher will tell you if your child is not doing
well. Both of you can discuss how to help him do better.

These are practical tips that will motivate your child to perform better in kindergarten. What he learns now will take him much further in the coming school years.

These children are not slow or unintelligent. They each have a condition called a learning disability. A learning disability is caused by a problem in the way the child’s brain processes information. This problem impedes his learning ability.

One of the main clues to a learning disability is a delay in the child’s language development.Your child begins learning language at birth. Language is more than just being able to make sounds. Language is a system of symbols that your child uses to learn, express himself and exchange information.

You can mark your child’s language milestones starting from infancy. By the time he is 6 months old, he should be cooing. It helps him learn the rules of conversation. He should be able to look at you when you are speaking to him, smile in response, and take turns with you in cooing and babbling.

By the time he is a year old, he should know his name and be able to say his first proper word. By 2 years old, he should be uttering two-word phrases, like ‘mama play’. The complexity of his sentences continues to increase throughout toddlerhood, right into his kindergarten and school years.

If your child is not meeting these language milestones, take him to his paediatrician! Slow language development is one of the first signs of a learning disorder.

Even if it is not a learning disability, your child could have a hearing impairment or other developmental disorders, such as autism. All these conditions will affect his learning.

The worst thing you can do for your child is to wait until he goes to kindergarten or even primary school. He has many years in between that are crucial to his learning. Early recognition of a learning disability means that you can take the necessary steps to help him.

Even though there are no cures for learning disabilities, there are remedial measures (such as special teaching methods) that can help our children resume normal learning. Most importantly, they have to realise that it is not their fault, and that other people with learning disabilities have gone on to achieve success in various academic and sporting fields.