We support children in the areas of:
- Motor development
- Everyday living
- Communication and feeding
- Eating and drinking.
Motor development
| Skill |
Definition |
| Head control |
Maintaining head in a midline position (in the middle) and the ability to move the head freely to look around the
environment. |
| Rolling |
Rolling is the ability to move into lying on one side. |
| Crawling |
Moving forward using hands and knees. |
| Sitting |
Being able to sit independently without using hands for support. |
| Balance and coordination |
Balance is the ability to stay upright or stay in control of body movement. Coordination is the ability to perform smooth fluid, accurate and controlled movements. |
| Walking |
Walking develops in three stages: standing, cruising and independent stepping. Standing is maintaining an upright posture on two feet without support. Cruising is side stepping while holding onto furniture. Walking is stepping one foot in front of the other for a minimum of 10 steps without any support. |
Everyday living
| Skill |
Definition |
| Dressing |
Putting clothes on and off including fastenings. |
| Head function |
Using fingers and hands in tasks. |
| Seating |
The ability to achieve and maintain good posture in a seated position, on a seat or the floor, such as when sitting at a desk or table. |
| Personal hygiene |
|
| Play |
|
Communication
| Skill |
Definition |
| Early communication |
This includes looking at you when you speak, turning towards noise, babbling, smiling and pointing to get your attention. |
| Attention and listening |
The ability to listen to and focus on people and activities. |
Understanding spoken
language |
Understanding spoken information, instructions, meanings of words and grammar.
|
| Saying words and sentences |
The ability to use vocabulary appropriately, link words together to form sentences and use accurate grammar. |
| Speech sounds |
The sounds that we make to form words. |
| Stammering |
Repeating and/or getting stuck on sounds and/or parts of words. |
| Social interaction |
Wanting and knowing how to communicate with others. This can include being able to hold a conversation, using and interpreting eye contact, body language and facial expression. |
| Voice |
The quality of the voice, for example how smooth and strong it is. |
Feeding, eating and drinking
| Skill |
Short definition |
| Body positioning |
Sits in upright position (with support if needed) with head kept in the middle. Able to release hands to drink, eat and play. |
| Chewing and swallowing |
Chewing and swallowing food and drink in a safe effective way. |
| Using cutlery |
Using cutlery accepted tools, to safely and effectively transport food from a plate to the mouth. |
