Parents are their children’s first teachers, but don’t always know the best ways to get them ready to start school.
School readiness is a measure of how prepared a child is to succeed in school, cognitively, socially and emotionally. Parents play an enormous role in closing the gap between pre-school and school going age. So do the day caregivers, seeing that modern living demands that both parents have to work. In the absence of stimulating day activities it is possible that children may develop backlogs in their normal development. On the other side it is possible that certain setbacks like the birth process, illnesses, injuries, infections, accidents, disturbances in appropriate emotional development, or just the lack of stimulating activities in preparation for schooling have not been provided for.
In many cases children are seated in front of the television and opportunities for fine and gross motor development are restricted. It is a given that children learn through play and movement and such activities form the foundations of successful learning later in life.
A child’s health, and the timely recognition of developmental delays, is another critical aspect of school readiness. Some children have neurodevelopmental delays based on various factors of which have been mentioned. If a child has not reached their developmental milestones, it may indicate the presence of neurodevelopmental delays. Such a situation may have a serious impact on successful learning at school going age.
Parents are advised to read the information on this website related to Integrated Learning Therapy (ILT). During a school readiness assessment various developmental tasks are given to a child to assess those skills the child has already acquired and those not acquired. The screening done assesses the maturity levels in the following areas: emotional development, neurodevelopment, physical development, cognitive development, fine and gross motor skills, as well as visual and auditory skills.
In short, the period of early childhood represents a critical time for brain development in terms of its rapidity and complexity.
School readiness implicates that each child enters school ready to engage in and benefit from early learning experiences which will ensure successful schooling and learning.
In the process to get a child ready for school parents can do a lot to develop the child in the following areas:
· Approaches and attitudes to learning
· Health and physical well-being
· Language and communication development
· Social and emotional development
· Cognitive and general knowledge
· Identifying possible barriers to learning and development
· Identifying possible development and neurodevelopment delays