Most mothers in the
community of El Tallan have never heard of early childhood development and have
difficulty imagining that engaging infants in stimulating activities can have a
huge impact on cognitive and motor development.
Many people share the belief that children are born with the ability to
speak Spanish, and that speaking to children before they can respond verbally is
pointless. These attitudes were
significant barriers to the mothers adopting new practices in early childhood
development and were taken into consideration when planning the class.
Immediately upon
entering the educational session, the participants heard playful catchy tunes
that allowed for easy recall. One song
in particular repeated the importance of washing hands, which could spark a
child’s interest in washing hands by making it a fun activity. Another song requested that the listener
touch various body parts as a way to learn the names of parts of the body and
practice coordination. We encouraged the
mothers to sing along with the songs and learn them sufficiently to sing with
their children. Given that about half of
the mothers in the group could not read, it was important to give them tools
that can be easily memorized.
After explaining
early childhood development and its importance for proper physical and mental
development, we presented activities for stimulating development in children of
various age groups and allowed the mothers to practice with the children who
had accompanied their mothers to the session.
The following
activities were provided by the national Ministry of Health and recommended to
the participating mothers:
Children
0-5 months of age
|
Repeat the sounds
and babbling the baby produces. Serves to reaffirm their vocalizations.
|
The child should
take the initiative and run their hands to grasp objects and achieve at least
one of them to keep a few seconds in his hands.
|
Massage the baby.
Place it upside down and gently pass the fingertips down the side of spine.
|
Take baby leg
below the knee and bring the chest. (With your other hand hold the other leg)
Then switch legs.
|
Hang pleasing
objects near the child; move the rope to swing to and from. Verbally invite
him to repeat the action; celebrated when it succeeds.
|
Repeat the child
several vowel sounds and labial sounds (m, b, p) that are easy to play and
watch the movement of the lips.
|
Children
6-11 months of age
|
Take object out
of child’s hand and gently pull it forward, repeat play.
|
Encourage child
to remove and place objects in a box or basket.
|
Show him a toy
and invite child to grab it. Make it so that the child must crawl to reach
it.
|
Place it face up,
put a hand on the foot and push back to bend the knee.
|
Place the baby
face down on a cylindrical object that rolls and move it back and forth.
|
Hide objects and
ask where they are, (cover them with something, revealing some part of it).
|
Show books to
observe the figures and tell stories.
|
Children
1-2 years of age
|
Imitate actions
and sounds of animals.
|
Encourage child
to assemble towers up to 3 cubes.
|
Cover an object
and ask the child to try to find it.
|
Show child pages
of a book and discuss the figures observed.
|
Show child how to
place small objects inside a bottle and verbalize each step.
|
Point to parts of
the body and say the body part.
|
Help child climb
stairs.
|
Children
2-3 years of age
|
Help child jump
up to land on low surfaces.
|
Help child stand
on one foot.
|
Provide a box or
other object that the child can hid inside.
|
Invite child to
throw a ball to you as high as possible.
|
Show child images
of various items, and ask child to name the different items.
|
Help to develop
autonomy, allow child to dress and undress with little help.
|
Talk to your
child at every opportunity.
|
Give simple
instructions and make sure you understand them and obey.
|
Brush your teeth
together so child can watch and imitate movements.
|
After the health
promoters described and demonstrated the activities, several mothers were
selected to repeat and practice the actions.
Some participants showed hints of embarrassment, and seemed to feel
silly about conducting the activities in front other mothers. This could be a reflection of their
discomfort with being observed by their peers during the activity, or possibly
they felt it was ridiculous to do these kinds of activities with children.
Despite their initial discomfort with demonstrating the newly acquired behaviors, the mothers appeared to become more comfortable as the activities continued, but clearly some needed ongoing encouragement to follow through with our request to engage children in these activities at home. Clearly the personal house visits were a necessary component to raising each mother’s comfort level and competency with the activities.
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