Preschool

Question 1

Preschool age is…

Answer 1

Toddlerhood on
The time at which an infant is walking.
Motor skills continue to develop and expand.
- Tons of experimenting
- Strong influence of environment

Question 2

What big changes occur during preschool?

Answer 2

Addition of cognition
- Understand how to use those motor skills.
Socialization
Communication
- Even for nonverbal children
Strongly influenced by environment
- Social norms

Question 3

What important sensitive periods occur during preschool?

Answer 3

Begin to interact and participate with the world (or don’t)
Play: intrinsically motivated and pleasurable
- A mirror of development, a child’s primary occupation.
Development of trends during this sensitive time
- Obesity/sedentary/virtual world
- Sports ready/activity driven/real world with options for adaptive responses.
Disabilities like ASD and down syndrome begin to be an issue.

Question 4

What big changes occur during preschool?

Answer 4

Basic human milestones, walking, sitting up, rolling over- the same across the board.
Physical brain growth is seen.

Question 5

What occurs in the brain after 1-2 years?

Answer 5

Brain growth correlates with sensory and motor exposure (or lack of it)
Neural plasticity

Question 6

Why physical brain growth is seen in preschool?

Answer 6

As language develops
Cause and effect
New synaptic connection
- Based on adaptive responses

Question 7

What happens with kids with mobility issues?

Answer 7

May miss opportunity.
Role of OT with all disabilities
Importance of early intervention

Question 8

What postural skills develop in preschool?

Answer 8

The ability to put your body where you want it and maintain it there.
- Upright against gravity
- Balance
- Stability
* Static
* Dynamic rotation
* Stability limits
- Flow
* Mobility
* Stability
* Stability superimposed on mobility.

Question 9

What are equilibrium reactions?

Answer 9

Keep us from falling.
Tiny adjustments that lead to flow
- Without them you get “clumsy.”
- Can copy and do isolated tasks, fail when putting it together.

Question 10

What postural development occurs from 12-18 months?

Answer 10

Good walker and getting better!
Sit in a small chair.
Plays well is standing (dynamic)
Squats to pick things up.
Pushes and pulls toys.
Climb into big chair.
Up the stairs holding hand.
Flings things
Starts to run.
High support.

Question 11

What postural development occurs from 18-24 months?

Answer 11

Loves gross motor play (this is how they get good at it)
Runs, climbs.
Jungle gym/slides
Push cars
Kicks ball forward.
Throws ball at target.
Jumps up and down (in place 2 feet)
Walks up and down the stairs.
- Holding on

Question 12

What postural development occurs from 24-36 months?

Answer 12

Very good walker and runner, stable on feet
Rides peddle car or tricycle.
Coordination of reciprocal LE
Catches ball against chest.
Jumps from step.
Hops on one foot (toward 3)

Question 13

What postural development occurs from 3-4y?

Answer 13

Confidence in motor skills
- Running, jumping
- Skipping
- Stands on one foot.
- Alternates feet on stairs
- Jumps from higher levels.

Question 14

Describe communication development in preschool?

Answer 14

At 3 yrs. - over 1000 words
- 3-word sentences
- Private speech (talking to themselves, indicates thoughtful control of behavior, rehearsals)
4 yrs. - connect sentences.
5 yrs. - proper use of tense and plurals (environment)
Between 4-5 yrs. they can have conversations.
At 5-up to 8000 words!
- Words, grammar, tense
- Children with poor language may avoid activities and play with children their age.

Question 15

Describe the sensory system in preschoolers.

Answer 15

Eyes, ears, noise, taste, balance, proprioception, tactile
- Working together for function
- Perceptual motor skill- a volitional motor response to sensory stimuli (or perceived stimuli)
- Visual perceptual skills - the ability to interpret visual stimuli and make (or not) a response.
Kids with delayed sensory perceptual skills, often hit major milestones, walking, running.
- Clumsy
- Fall apart with complex tasks.
* Climbing
* Walking in line
* Fine motor tasks
- ASD

Question 16

Describe sensory integration in preschoolers.

Answer 16

The ability of the brain (CNS) to automatically combine all the information coming in from the senses (PNS) and make accurate decisions.
- A. Jean Ayres 1950
Sensory information is interpreted and combined with past experiences and abilities to create new experiences.
- Innate drive to seek sensory experiences.
- “Sensory rich diet/environment”

Question 17

Describe visual skills and visual perception in preschoolers.

Answer 17

Visual scanning - saccadic eye movement
Visual tracking
Visual acuity (ETDRS chart vs Snellen)
- Static (by 5yrs)
- Dynamic quickly follows.
- Important for “eye hand coordination”
- Early identification
Visual discrimination (tie to motor and cognitive)
- Telling things apart without touching
- Size, shape, color
- Visual matching
* Figure ground

Question 18

Describe the sense of touch in preschoolers.

Answer 18

Once reflexes are integrated
Information about the environment
Tied to cognition.
Discriminative touch
- Favorite blanket
- Needed to develop dexterity and hand skills.
- Holding a baby chick vs. a jump rope handle
Haptic perception
- Memory and experience
- Knowing what something feels like without touching.
Common issue tactile defensiveness
- Avoids tactile.
- Craves firm.

Question 19

Describe the development of self care skills in preschoolers.

Answer 19

Dependent upon
- Developmental level
- Opportunity
- Helicopter mom
- Big sister
- Culture
- Physical state
Typical order in North America for dressing
- 1yr. - assist with dressing holds arms out, pulls off shoes and socks.
- 2yrs. - removes all clothes, can put on a shirt (may be backwards)
- 3yrs. - shirt and shoes (wrong feet ok), unites shoes, large buttons, and easy openers.
- 4yr. – zippers, shoes on right feet, dress without help (maybe a little)
* Tying shoes (4-5 yrs.)

Question 20

Describe school readiness in preschoolers.

Answer 20

Typically, independent with ADLS
- Help with buttons, juice boxes.
Communication skills
Using materials
- Crayons, scissors
- Often switch or support with other hand
- Hand dominance by 5-7 yrs.
In hand manipulation skills
- Translation
* Tip to palm
* Palm to tip
- Shift
- Rotation (simple complex)
- Intact by 7- improves into adulthood.

Question 21

Describe graphomotor skills in preschoolers.

Answer 21

Ulnar palmer grasp
Incomplete or radial grasp
Tripod grasp
Bimanual coordination

Question 22

Describe fine motor in preschoolers.

Answer 22

Hand development
- Power
* Cylindrical
* Spherical
* Disc
* Hook
* Lateral pinch
- Precision
* Pincer
* Three jaw chuck
* Lateral

Question 23

What is the importance of the arches in the hand?

Answer 23

Key to a functional hand
Proximal Transverse
- Stability
Others
- Mobility
Simian crease: present in people with down syndrome and FAS

Question 24

What are the types of power grasps?

Answer 24

Spherical grip
Cylindrical grip
Hook grip
Lateral or plate

Question 25

What are the types of precision grasps?

Answer 25

3 jaw chuck
Lateral
Pincer, tip

Question 26

What fine motor milestones occur from 12-18m?

Answer 26

Scribbles with crayon
Stacks blocks
Points at pictures and body parts
Holds two toys in hand and a toy in each hand.

Question 27

What FM milestones occur from 18-24m?

Answer 27

4-5 piece puzzle
Builds towers (4-5 blocks)
Crayon at fingertips
- Lines, vertical
String beads
Turn pages of a book
Simple tools (play hammer, fork)

Question 28

What FM milestones occur from 2-3y?

Answer 28

Snips with scissors
Colors in large forms away from the body.
Draws circles.

Question 29

What FM milestones occur from 3-4y?

Answer 29

Tripod grasp
Colors in lines
Start to copy letters.
Cut simple shapes.
Manipulates with hands.

Question 30

What FM milestones occur from 4-5y?

Answer 30

Ready to write!! Any earlier may cause stress.
Dynamic tripod grasp
Draws stick figures, trunk, and limbs.
Copies name
String small beads

Question 31

What FM milestones occur from 5-6y?

Answer 31

Prints name.
Cuts well with scissors, all shapes
Uses two hands together well.

Question 32

Describe attention in preschoolers?

Answer 32

Increases as the child ages.
Year rule, age x 2-5
Memory
- Rote memory (parrot)
* ABC’, Songs
- Short term (few minutes)
- Long term
- Difficult to assess until they are very verbal.
Following rules
Desire to be independent.
Stranger/ separation anxiety

Question 33

What is play?

Answer 33

Main occupation of children
- Automatic and innate
- “Playfulness”
- Opportunity to practice
*Gross motor, fine motor, social, psychological
* Learning of norms
Development of self-efficacy

Question 34

What are the 6 types of play?

Answer 34

Attunement play: mother and child
Physical play
Play with objects (object play)
Social play: includes pretend play and others play.
- Includes onlooker, parallel, associative, cooperative.
Symbolic play (comes with language)
Rules play

Question 35

What are other ways to describe play?

Answer 35

Solitary play
Onlooker play: first social type of play
Parallel play: 2 yrs.
Associative play: 2 ½ yrs., playing but not really.
- They want to be around other children but not really involved with them.
Constructive play: 3-4 yrs. into middle childhood
Cooperative play: 4-5 yrs.
Rule play: 5-6 yrs.

Question 36

What is the Development Framework of Play?

Answer 36

Observation of cognitive development
Exploratory/sensorimotor
- Puts everything in their mouth.
- Throws it.
- Explore toys through their sense.
Relational play
Constructive play
Dramatic play
Games-with-rules play.
Rough-and tumble play

Question 37

What is fantasy play?

Answer 37

Comes around about the same time as language.
Safe place to try things out.
- Emotional growth
Four stages
- Reality play: “I have to have a gun if I am a policeman.”
- Object fantasy: “The basket is a car.”
- Person fantasy: inanimate things have feelings.
- Announced Fantasy: “We are playing cowboys and Indians; you be the cowboy.”
* Roles and expectations

Question 38

What cognitive and social development milestones occur from 12-18m?

Answer 38

Symbolic play
Parallel play
Begins to use trial and error.
Recognizes names of body parts
Begins to move away from parents.
Recognizes facial expressions.

Question 39

What cognitive and social development milestones occur from 18-24m?

Answer 39

Links multiple steps (2, 3,4)
Unrealistic objects for pretend play, makes toys “dance.”
Object permanence is completely developed.
Expresses affection and emotions
Enjoys solitary play.
Engages in parallel play.

Question 40

What cognitive and social development milestones occur from 24-36m?

Answer 40

Creates play scenarios.
Sorts shapes and colors
Matches
Cooperative play, taking turns begins.
Constructive play
Parallel play is still big.
Interest in peers
Shy with strangers

Question 41

What cognitive and social development milestones occur from 3-4y?

Answer 41

Imaginary play
Categorizes and sorts.
Humor
Prefers same sex playmates, circle time, art.
Associative play, taking turns.
Since of social aspects, taking turns
Group play
Seeks challenges.

Question 42

What cognitive and social development milestones occur from 4-5y?

Answer 42

Understands and remembers rules of games.
Constructive play
Makes up stories.
Starts to think abstract.
Role play often mimics parents
Sings whole songs.

Question 43

What cognitive and social development milestones occur from 5-6y?

Answer 43

Reason through simple problems
Play more on real life.
Organized games
Goals and “winning”
Has friends - group play
Understands other’s feelings.
Strong sense of right or wrong, no gray

Question 44

What is asynchronous development?

Answer 44

Occurs in children with disabilities.
Limits of development in kids who can’t play typically.
- Immobile kids
- Kids with high tone
- Kids with cognition issues
- Kids with communication issues
- COVID