Supporting Your Child’s Development

Don’t wait and see with your child’s development!

As a parent/caregiver, you know your child best and can observe and identify possible developmental concerns. The earlier concerns are identified the more you can do to help your child develop well.

If you have a child zero to six years of age, we can provide:

Screening and monitoring for healthy child development
Telephone support
Referrals to appropriate services

18-Month Well Baby Visit

It is important for your child to be seen by their health care provider at 18 months of age. This comprehensive visit is an opportunity to ask questions about your child’s development. Complete a free, online 18-Month Visit Planner tool to make a personalized plan to help discuss your child’s developmental health with your health care provider.

Developmental Screening Tools

Speech & Language, Hearing and Vision screening tools:
Looksee Checklist
Checklists with different areas of your child’s development from one month to six years old including activities you can do with your child. Download a free 18-month checklist from Looksee.

Support Your Child’s Development

As a parent/caregiver, there are many things that you can do to support your child’s development.

Play with Your Child

Let your child lead play time. Playtime can be fun for both you and your child and is very important for your child’s development.

You are your child’s favourite toy! Playing with your child can be simple and you don’t need expensive or fancy toys.

Play helps:

Build a strong relationship with your child
Teach your child about themselves, others and the world around them
Improve your child’s language skills
Develop your child’s social skills by learning to get along with others
Improve your child’s self-esteem as they build confidence when they have fun playing with others
Develop your child’s ability to deal with their feelings

Video: Everyday Play, Health Nexus. Used with permission from Health Nexus.

Read, Sing and Speak to Your Child

Reading, singing and speaking to your child supports your child’s development by:

Hearing you use many different emotions and expressive sounds.
Inviting your child to look, point, touch and answer questions when reading.
Improving language skills by imitating sounds, recognizing pictures and learning words.

Video: Playing with Language – Reading Books

Encourage Your Child to Be Physically Active

As a parent/caregiver, your child relies on you to provide opportunities to be active. Physical activity will help your child:

Have fun and feel great
Learn and do better in school
Build social skills and confidence
Strengthen muscles, heart and bones
Have a healthy body weight
Build a lifelong enjoyment to be active

Get involved in activities that are age appropriate, fun and safe. Avoid using the television as a babysitter. For free, fun physical activities, visit Have a Ball Together (for zero to six years old).

Encourage Healthy Eating

Follow these feeding tips to help give your child the nutrition they need to grow and develop. Getting children to eat healthy foods can be challenging. Healthy eating helps your child grow and develop, learn at school and develop good eating habits.