- Limit screen time. NO screen time before age two. Ages three to five, only two hours a day.
- Make sure your toddler crawls. It must be bilateral: right foot, left hand, left foot, right hand. This is the first step to building the corpus callosum which is critical for hemispheric transcension..
- 80% of the brain is developed by age three. Sing to, read to, coo and caress your infant. This will develop gray matter in the brain for future success.
- By age four, check your child’s balance. Can he stand on one foot to the count of ten? Can he walk heel/toe six feet? Balance is a memory precursor. Memory and balance are inextricably linked. That is why when we are old and lose our balance, we often lose our memory. Build a balance beam and have him practice daily. Look on the Internet to find ways of improving balance. It is a CRITICAL SKILL.
- Make sure your child stays hydrated. 73% of the brain is water and needs hydration to function properly.
- Restrict food dyes and sugary foods. They are horrible for ADHD children.
- By age five, ask your child to raise his right hand. If he does not respond immediately, put a red dot on his right hand every morning and all throughout the day, say “RED, RIGHT.”
- Have your child throw and catch a ball. For toddlers, roll a ball to him on the floor. This will build convergence of the eyes which is critical for reading. When you go for an eye exam, make sure the doctor checks for convergence. Only five per cent of children have convergence deficiency, but it will cause reading problems.
- Read to your child daily and ask questions about the story. Make puppets and act out the story to build comprehension skills. When you are finished reading the story, have him draw a picture of what happened in the story.
These are some ideas for helping your child develop skills not often mentioned but are important for success.
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