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Parenting

Finally, A Child Development Guidebook for Parents

Posted byBy ABS Contributor | Published on: CommentsComments (0)

Have you ever wished your child came with a manual?

With each of my children, I’ve had different worries and concerns throughout their development. With my son, it has been his speech.  He has trouble with certain letters and I’ve often wondered, as he gets older, if he needs to see a speech therapist. (Our pediatrician said that his trouble is normal, but that if he doesn’t improve in the next year, we’ll talk.)

With my daughter, I find myself comparing her to her brother’s development track record. She walked later, talked later and I worried (still worry; it’s what I do.)

I know I shouldn’t.  As we all know, children develop at their own rates.

However, 20 percent of children do experience some sort of developmental delay. Early intervention makes a world of difference and most parents I know are constantly searching for some sort of finite answer.  The books available are either too intimidating, don’t cover the age range that you may be interested in, or are written for professionals.

Until now.

Certified speech language pathologist, Kathryn Thorson Gruhn, has created the My Baby Compass program to help your child think, speak, move and thrive.  The program consists of 3 manuals, 14 booklets and a CD Rom, and covers three phases, birth to 2 years old, 2 to 4 and 4 to 7. It thoroughly covers identification of skills and activities in the areas of: speech (talks), hearing (hears), physical (moves), cognitive (understands),social/emotional (feels) and vision (contains skills only).

Gruhn provides activities and resources for helping parents with each milestone. Then, at the end of an age period, if the child hasn’t met the milestone, there’s a list of ways to help in that particular developmental area.  The series serves as a guide for communication between parents and the child’s health care provider. She also provides information on screenings and support.

Read More: Erin Lane, babycenter.com

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