14 children who cannot hear well need help early
How children develop new skills
Every child develops in 4 main areas: body (physical), thinking (mental),
talking and listening (communication), and getting along with other
people (social). In each area, a child learns new skills step by step.
For example, before a child can learn to walk, she must first learn many
simple kinds of body control:
1 First, she learns to
hold her head up
and to move her
arms and
legs.
2 Then she can
use her arms
and legs to sit
up.
3 While sitting, she
can reach and turn,
which improves
her balance.
4 Crawling helps her learn to
coordinate her arms and
legs, which also helps
her brain develop.
5 Then she pulls
herself up to a
standing
position.
In all areas of development, each new skill a child
learns builds on the skills she already knows and
makes it possible for her to learn other, more difficult
skills.
When a child does not learn a skill, she cannot learn
other skills that depend on it. For example, if she has
a problem holding up her head, she will then have
difficulty learning skills like sitting or crawling, in
which holding up the head is important.
Each new skill builds on
already-learned skills, like
building blocks.
Helping Children Who Are Deaf (2004)