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Your Baby Is A Mover This is a part of a series of articles based on the book 'How to Maximize Your Child's Learning Ability' by Dr. Lauren Bradway and Barbara Albers Hill Enhancing existing mover skills If your baby is a mover, he will have excellent gross motor skills. His speed, agility, balance and coordination will be much admired by his peers and give him a certain position in his social circle. He will probably excel in sport and other outdoor activities as he grows older and will in all likelihood be looked up to as a leader because of his fearlessness in taking physical risks. While these skills may not be particularly important from an academic point of view, it does not mean that they are to be ignored. The way to enhance existing mover
skills in your infant is essentially through touch and providing them with
toys that require the use of gross motor movements. One of the most basic
ways of establishing physical contact would be for mothers to breastfeed
their children. In addition, parents can increase physical contact with
their infants by bathing with them and learning infant massage. Parents
could also provide their infants with a variety of stuffed toys to hug
and cuddle. Infants should also be given toys that encourage them to utilize
gross motor functions. For instance, suspending rings, bells and knobs
from the top of the baby's crib will encourage him to grab or kick at them.
Parents can also put a large cushion on the floor and keep a close eye
on their infants as they try to climb up onto it and get over to the other
side. Parents should place lightweight toys near their babies' feet to
stimulate them to kick. Parents can play a game with their children where
they cover different parts of the baby's body, like the hands, the feet,
or the abdomen with a piece of cloth and allow the baby to work himself
free of it.
Developing looker skills in mover infants Mover babies learn primarily through
movement. To make such children more receptive to visual stimulation, the
parents must try to present information visually as far as possible. The
infants should be made to realize the importance of 'seeing.' Parents should
point out different objects at home and while driving and name them, exhorting
the baby to 'see.' Parents can play games with their babies that will help
reinforce the importance of sight. They can play peek-a-boo with their
children, a 'now you see it, now you don't game,' hiding their faces, the
child's face or a toy behind their hands or a blanket and then making it
reappear. Parents can also cover their babies' eyes and ask them, "Where
are your eyes?" or "Where are mummy's eyes?" Parents should act particularly
surprised and delighted when they see something special. It would also
be a good idea for parents to take their babies outdoors so that they can
enjoy the sun and the fresh air and be exposed to a whole new world of
sights and sounds. Attach a mirror to the side of the baby's crib so he
will have something to look at besides the ceiling. Providing children
with glow-in-the-dark toys and playing with them using a jack-in-the-box
also enhances their looker skills.
Developing listener skills in mover infants The best way to accomplish this is to combine talking and listening with action and visuals. In this way, parents can appeal to the looker's natural learning style while teaching him a new way of absorbing information. Parents can tie a rattle to their babies' wrist or ankle so the baby will hear a sound every time he moves. Parents should sing to their children when rocking them to sleep or cuddling them. It is also a good idea to provide children with toys that show pictures that make corresponding sounds, or play tunes at a touch of a button. To make things more interesting, parents can use gestures while singing nursery rhymes and telling stories to their children. Hand gestures can also help illustrate concepts like 'big', 'small', 'hot', 'cold', 'goodbye', etc. Babies often pick up expressive sounds like "yuck", "ouch", "uh-oh", before they speak words. Thus, parents can use such expressive sounds while conversing with their babies. There is no harm in indulging in a little baby talk in order to make words easier for the baby to mimic. To add your views on this article or read others comments Click Here
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