Preschool
February 2018
Literacy Milestones: Ages 3-4
Andrea DeBruin-Parecki, Kathryn Perkinson, Lance Ferderer
Identifying a reading problem is a challenge without a sense for what typical literacy development looks like. Find out what language accomplishments are typical for most children at the age of three to four.
Most children learn to read by age 7. Learning to read is built on a foundation of language skills that children start learning at birth — a process that is both complicated and amazing. Most children develop certain skills as they move through the early stages of learning language.
The following list of such accomplishments is based on current research in the field, where studies continue and there is still much to learn. As you look over the list, keep in mind that children vary a great deal in how they develop and learn.
If you have questions or concerns about your child's progress, talk with your child's doctor, teacher, or a speech and language therapist. For children with any kind of disability or learning problem, the sooner they can get the special help they need, the easier it will be for them to learn.
From ages 3-4, most preschoolers become able to:
- Enjoy listening to and talking about storybooks
- Understand that print carries a message
- Make attempts to read and write
- Identify familiar signs and labels
- Participate in rhyming games
- Identify some letters and make some letter-sound matches
- Use known letters (or their best attempt to write the letters) to represent written language especially for meaningful words like their names or phrases such as "I love you"
Mathmatics
Three-year-olds improve their logical reasoning skills as they play. They can put together simple puzzles, and understand that a whole object can be separated into parts. They identify and describe objects that are the "same" or "different". Three-year-olds can count up to "five," and begin to recognize written numerals "0" through "9." When counting items in a collection, they can now label each object with just one number word to determine the total ("one to one correspondence").
Read the full article here: http://www.pbs.org/parents/childdevelopmenttracker/three/mathematics.html
Social and Emotional Growth
The significance of social and emotional development is seen in every area of a child's life. A child will have a strong foundation for later development if he or she can manage personal feelings, understand others' feelings and needs, and interact positively with others. Differences in social and emotional development result from a child's inborn temperament, cultural influences, disabilities, behaviors modeled by adults, the level of security felt in a child's relationships with adults, and the opportunities provided for social interaction.
Read the full article here:
www.pbs.org/parents/childdevelopmenttracker/three/socialandemotionalgrowth.html