The Science
Brain development in the first three years of life lays the foundation of all future learning and success.
Research has shown that over one million neural connections are formed every second in a baby’s brain.1Infants and toddlers have remarkable brain plasticity – meaning that while babies are born with almost all the neurons they’ll ever need, neural connections are forming at a faster, more efficient rate than in any other time in life, allowing for the brain to shape itself by taking in experiences of the world around them.
Read More
The environment in which infants and toddlers interact with others has a major influence on which neural connections are strengthened and which will shut off. Supporting school readiness early in life means engaging children through healthy relationships and helping them explore the world around them in safe and nurturing ways. The beginning stages of acquiring school readiness skills such as language, reasoning, and self-regulation are developed in the context of safe, consistent, and caring relationships with adults. Widely regarded as the core developmental areas for school readiness, infants and toddlers need the help of caring adults to help them develop the following key areas: physical development, social and emotional development, language/communication, cognition, and approaches to learning.2
Infants and toddlers need the help of caring adults to help them develop the following key areas: physical development, social and emotional development, language/communication, cognition, and approaches to learning.3 Physical development includes reaching milestones such as typical height, weight, and gross motor skills, as well as supporting physical health, such as vision and hearing. Social and emotional development (also described as promoting infant mental health) involves obtaining all the skills necessary to relegate one’s emotions and form relationships with others. Language development begins through early back and forth communication or cues between babies and caring adults, which in turn leads to expressive and receptive language abilities. Cognitive development involves mastery of skills that are more readily associated with school success, such as memory, problem-solving, and attention. The approaches to the learning domain combine cognitive and social-emotional development as they relate to learning environments; these skills include the ability to initiate and maintain interest in a topic or task and to also delay gratification (also known as executive function skills).
It’s important to remember that all domains (i.e. areas of development) are interconnected so hindering or promoting one will directly influence the trajectory of other developmental areas.4 Supporting school readiness means supporting all developmental domains, not just the domains associated with school achievement (e.g. language and approaches to learning).5 Moreover, research findings on later school achievement have elevated the importance of supporting children’s social and emotional development starting at birth. ZERO TO THREE has identified the following social-emotional characteristics as essential for children’s school readiness and future success in formal education: confidence, curiosity, intentionality, self-control, relatedness (being able to engage with others based on a sense of understanding), capacity to communicate and cooperativeness.6
In addition to supporting children in all developmental domains, caregivers are also responsible for protecting children from stress and other events that may delay or arrest healthy development. Toxic stress has a detrimental impact on children’s overall development and is usually caused by situations or events related to poverty, violence, abuse, neglect, and/or abandonment. Caregivers can help make stress more tolerable for children and help build children’s resiliency by establishing strong and secure relationships starting at birth, and by nurturing and reassuring children in times when stress cannot be avoided.
- https://www.zerotothree.org/espanol/brain-development
- Horm, D., Norris, D., Perry, D., Chazan-Cohen, R., and Halle, T. (2016). Developmental Foundations of School Readiness for Infants and Toddlers, A Research to Practice Report, OPRE Report # 2016-07, Washington, DC: Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
- Horm, D., Norris, D., Perry, D., Chazan-Cohen, R., and Halle, T. (2016). Developmental Foundations of School Readiness for Infants and Toddlers, A Research to Practice Report, OPRE Report # 2016-07, Washington, DC: Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
- Horm, D., Norris, D., Perry, D., Chazan-Cohen, R., and Halle, T. (2016). Developmental Foundations of School Readiness for Infants and Toddlers, A Research to Practice Report, OPRE Report # 2016-07, Washington, DC: Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
- Horm, D., Norris, D., Perry, D., Chazan-Cohen, R., and Halle, T. (2016). Developmental Foundations of School Readiness for Infants and Toddlers, A Research to Practice Report, OPRE Report # 2016-07, Washington, DC: Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
- ZERO TO THREE Policy Resource “To Find the Roots of School Readiness, Look Back to the Beginning,” Sep 17, 2015, By Claire Lerner https://www.zerotothree.org/resources/162-to-find-the-roots-of-school-readiness-look-back-to-the-beginning
Videos
Watch some of our favorite educational videos on school readiness.
Brain Wonders
This video provides an overview of brain development and provides practical tips and examples for helping build a baby’s brain.
School Readiness
This video reviews the school readiness areas of language, literacy, thinking, and social-emotional skills, and provides examples for how caregivers can use every day experiences to help prepare children for school.
Early Childhood Mental Health
This video describes what infant mental health is, why it’s important children’s overall development, and how caregivers can identify mental health concerns and also promote good mental health.
Common Questions
When do I start getting my child ready for Kindergarten?
How can I get my child ready for Kindergarten?
- Ensure your child has loving, stable, caring relationships,
- Try to read with your child every day,
- Talk with your child throughout the day,
- Take your son or daughter for well-child check-ups at the doctor,
- Provide nutritious meals and make sure your child gets physical activity,
- Take your child to fun events, the library, museums and other places where he or she can keep learning,
- Play with your child - Source
What are Early Learning Standards (or Guidelines) and how do they relate to the five domains?
What if I have a concern about one or more of my infant or toddler’s developmental domains?
How does stress impact school readiness?
Is it too early to work on STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) skills with my toddler?
What if my toddler doesn’t learn his letters or numbers before starting preschool?
I’m nervous about my toddler starting school/early learning center. What can I do to ensure a smooth transition?
Why do some children seem to be more willing to engage in learning than others?
Resources
General
- CDC: developmental milestones tracker (free app too)
- Vroom: family activities to support school readiness (free app too)
- Zero to Three: parent resources and newsletter - (sign up for parenting newsletter too)
- Child Mind Institute: a parent’s guide to developmental milestones
- American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA): speech, hearing, and language milestones from birth to five years
- Reach Out and Read Milestones of Early Literacy Development: for children from six months to five years
- Texas Infant, Toddler, and Three-Year-Old Early Learning Guidelines: available in English, Spanish, and Vietnamese
- M-CHAT-R, available on Act Early Texas: access this well-known autism developmental screening tool for toddlers on the Act Early Texas website, available in English, Spanish, and Vietnamese
- Early Childhood Intervention (ECI): learn more about ECI on their website
- Vanderbilt book list – supporting social and emotional development through reading
- Child safety and parenting tips
ZerotoThree
- School readiness Infographic
- Overview documents
- 24 – 36 months
- Language and literacy skills Developing self confidence
- Developing self control
- Developing thinking skills
- 12-24 months
- Language and literacy skills
- Developing thinking skills
- More developing thinking skills developing self control
- 0-12 months
Unicef
National Scientific Council on the Developing Child
Activities
Create an Early Learning Passport
- Description: The early learning passport is a folder that contains checklists, documents, and work samples that can be passed on to the child’s kindergarten teacher. The child’s skills and development are passed on to the teacher in a useful and organized way.
Social Interaction
- Description: Playdates, Board games (parents), Small groups, visuals, greetings (teachers). Encourage and create healthy social skills.
Play
- Description: Roleplay (parents), Play stations (teachers). Model language and actions that are useable in real-life situations.
Language
- Description: Books, Walks, Weather, Counting, Dinner talk, Model, Colors and Shapes, (Parents) Storytime, Nursery rhymes, scavenger hunts, obstacle courses, visual schedules, counting, diaries, following instructions (teachers). Develop language and communication skills.
Emotional Development
- Description: Feelings, identify emotions, facial expressions, explain emotions, sing songs (parents) role play, emotion pictures, explain emotions (teachers). Understand and recognize emotions in oneself and others.
Literacy
- Description: Read, point to words, point to picture, page turning, alphabet, rhyming books (parents) story time, page turner, question time, alphabet, letter of the week (teachers). Cultivate comprehension skills that will be used throughout life.
Fine Motor
- Description: Cutting and pasting, drawing, coloring, mazes (parents) craft, storage, play doh (teachers). Develop spatial skills, develop pencil control and endurance for pencil skills.
Physical skills
- Description: Wheelbarrow walking, swimming, animal walks, throw bean bags (parents) Hopscotch, obstacle course, ball skills (teachers). Encourage active, healthy living and build strength.