Family issues

School Readiness for Infants and Toddlers Sandra Peterson
Most people don’t realize that children start to learn from the day they are born. They learn new things everyday and that is why brain development is crucial to an infant. In the article School Readiness for Infants and Toddlers? Really? Yes, Really! by Sandra Peterson, the author hits all the main points that need to develop in an infant or toddlers brain so that they can be school ready. These include, curiosity, memory, information gathering, problem solving, and persistence through frustration. According to Sandra Peterson “Infants are born with a strong desire to explore and learn”. This contributes to their development of curiosity. Instead of always saying no, let your child explore their surroundings, let them touch and feel and experience new things. If they have a toy that makes noise, talk to them about what noise that toy is making, for example say, “Did you hear the puppy bark? Press right here again”. In her section about attention, Sandra Peterson states that, “As infants slowly develop the ability to manage, or regulate, their reactions, they have longer periods of being alert and paying attention”. Attention is key to functioning in a school setting, and outside of school as well. You can encourage longer attention spans by giving a child more activities to do with a single object or asking descriptive colors about an object. “What color is it? Is it big or small?”. This can help them stay focused in a school setting and it will stay with them the rest of their life. The next section her article covers is memory. The way that infants can reproduce and mimic an action that they see happens is just fascinating and this is also an essential part of life that will stay with them for the rest of their lives. Sandra Peterson says that there are ways you can improve a child’s memory, she includes that “returning toys, clothing, and books to specified areas helps toddlers develop