Hey BK fam,
I was hoping for feedback from you re: your impressions of EL developmental transitions/milestones.
As I was skimming through some of the posts, I was reminded of detecting distinct developmental transitions in my kids. Some really seemed overnight, while others were more of a , "wow, last week or month, this definitely wasn’t like this). Some are also more obvious, like the transition into walking or talking or reading, while others were more subtle, like a switch into a more logistical vs automatic way of formulating concepts (hope that makes sense).
Anyway, a long time ago I stopped even trying to look up ‘milestone’ sorts of information because they didn’t really seem to apply. My experiences have shown me that a sustained EL child is really not the same as a child who hasn’t had EL motivated exposure/explanations/experiences. On that note, although I’m aware of Doman’s lists, I was thinking that we could get the conversation going on what we consider to be ‘typical’ of an EL child. I’m genuinely curious about this, but I’ve also found that I don’t talk about it in person, since it comes across as ‘bragging’ to others, when I’m just trying to satisfy a non-judgmental understanding for what children really may be capable of doing.
Information re: walking, talking/communication, etc., is nice & encouraged, but I’m also really interested in other markers, like object permanence, time, space, causality … .
One example, K @ 27 months articulating actions in time, such as informing us that something occurred today and stressing that it did not occur yesterday, or that something will happen tomorrow. Perhaps this is normal, but I don’t seem to recall J doing it that early, nor other children demonstrating clear grasps for similarly abstract concepts.
Another bizarre one, J @ 49 months demonstrating understanding re: the finality of death, as well as curiosity re: his own death. Yes, children are known to mention death sooner, but it’s more along the lines of imaginary play, and in studies has been found to be applied to the self until later. It took us by surprise, but that’s what we’ve been dealing with here lately. shrug
On a lighter note, I’ll mention that J was blowing bubbles through a bubble wand when he was one and K going up the ladder and down water slides by herself when she was 12 months. This means that she was doing it before at regular parks, but I just remember other people’s reactions at the water park during our visit when it opened, which is how I recall that she was 12 months.
So yeah, I’d love to hear from you all if you can think of any other sorts of milestones that aren’t so traditional, yet may be for EL children.
Thanks!