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This resource is a platform where parents can find a multitude of nursery rhymes to sing with their child. It is related to Composing texts (encoding) Literacy continuum Process/Learning Progression Element writing. This is supported by Luke and Freebody's (1999) Four resource model which asserts that phonological awareness is essential for breaking the code of written language. This is inter linked with Dege & Schwarzer (2011) research which suggests that music may  be a useful tool in phonological awareness development.

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Love this app since the birth of my first child 4.5 years ago but lately can't get sound through. Updated the app and tried deleting and reinstalling the app. Would love to have it working again.

I have an iPhone 11, iOS 13.5.1

Thanks

Hi Ismbty, the app is working on iPhone 11 when we test it. Is it possible that your phone is in silent mode, via the silent switch? The app respects this mode so the phone needs to be off silent before the audio will play.

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Love this app since the birth of my first child 4.5 years ago but lately can't get sound through. Updated the app and tried deleting and reinstalling the app. Would love to have it working again. I have an iPhone 11, iOS 13.5.1 Thanks Hi Ismbty, the app is working on iPhone 11 when we test it.

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This resource offers a beginners guide on how to implement sign with your baby and the benefits of doing so. It is related to Encoding of the Literacy Continuum Process and Learning Progression Element of Speaking. This is supported by emergent literacy perspective which focuses on literacy development that occurs before children enter a formal school environment (Dickinson & Neuman, 2005).

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This resource offers a list of activities to assist in the development of fine motor skills. This related to Composing texts (encoding) from the Literacy continuum Process and writing from the Learning Progression Elements. This resource is supported by the Department of Education and Trainings (2019) Literacy teaching toolkit on Fine motor skills which is backed up by Cameron et al. (2016) research into the link between handwriting proficiency and the development of fine motor skills in early childhood.

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Here is a collection of 40 fine motor skills activities for young children that are easy to set up and promote a whole range of skills. They're creative, open-ended, appropriate and varied with ideas for practising motor skills through art, sensory play and simple manipulative games, and there are so many to choose from!

One of the most important ways we can help our children while playing with them at home or in a childcare/ classroom setting is through setting up simple activities that help to develop fine motor skills. Young children need to be able to hold and use scissors and pencils appropriately before using them in a classroom context. We cannot expect them to be able to write if they haven't yet developed the strength needed in their hands and fingers.

There are plenty of easy ways to strengthen these muscles, practise co-ordination and develop hand:eye co-ordination using simple, everyday materials and a bit of creative fun! Here are 40 that we have done over the past few years with babies to 5 year olds. There are a million variations you could make from each of these to cater for your own child's particular interests and learning dispositions. Use these as a springboard and pin it for future reference too!

[ Herbal play dough with natural materials to explore]

My personal favourite tool for developing all fine motor skills is the humble ball of homemade play dough. It can be used in SO many ways by adding other combinations of materials to it, and automatically strengthens little hands as they roll, squeeze, twist and build with it. Here is a whole post about the benefits of playing with play dough and a handy guide to starting out with building your own play dough tool kit. Of course, baking with real dough is another wonderful way to play and learn simultaneously!
The many benefits of play dough (and a tool kit)
Other activities we have loved have included exploring sensory play materials, transporting small parts, threading beads, hands-on art projects, cutting and sticking, tearing and scrunching papers, opening and closing fastenings and countless others. Here is a selection of some of those favourites, all of which can be adapted for different age groups and abilities.
Threading with beads onto pipe cleaners Threading, posting and slotting toys for babies and toddlers Poking straws into holes Pasta necklaces Monster play dough Weaving around cardboard Fairy sparkle playdough Pipe cleaners and colanders Beads on spaghetti Hair rollers sticky construction First sewing basket Edible fingerpainting Making marks in fairy dust Decorating play dough eggs Mark making and scooping in lavender sensory salt Building 3D models Sorting and pattern making with shells Patterning with lego Lid posting game Snipping and doodling sticky stained glass windows Whisking up coloured sensory soap Salt dough alphabet modelling Pebble sorting Stacking cups Play dough cupcakes Foam and water window art

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40 Fine Motor Skills Activities - The Imagination Tree

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Here is a collection of 40 fine motor skills activities for young children that are easy to set up and promote a whole range of basic learning skills.

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Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see? Bill Martin Jr and Eric Carle

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Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see? Bill Martin Jr and Eric Carle

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This resource is an example of story books that uses repetitive phrases (phonological patterns) which enhances chidrens phonological learning (Fellowes & Oakley, 2014).  This relates to composing texts (encoding) Literacy continuum Process/ Learning Progression Element of writing. This is supported by the Victorian Early Years and Development Framework [VEYLDF] (Victorian Department of Education and Training, 2016) in relation to literacy and language skills development which includes 'phonology- awareness of speech sounds'.

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Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See  Read Aloud

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This resource is a platform where parents can find ideas for dramatic play experiences, however, for the play experience to be sociodramatic it needs to be shared with others (Department of Education and Training, 2020). This resource is related to composing texts (encoding) from the Literacy continuum Process and speaking from the Learning Progression Elements. This is supported by research conducted by Weisberg, Zosh, Hirsh-Pasek & Golinkoff in 2013, into the impact of play on language development and speech.

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Huge List of Dramatic Play Ideas for Preschoolers

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Spice up the home living area with one of these fun & creative dramatic play ideas. Children will pretend to be chefs, pilots, doctors and more!

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This resource is a platform where parents can find information on promoting phonological awareness in children. This resource is related to composing texts (encoding) from the Literacy continuum Process and the Learning Progression Element writing. This is supported by Luke and Freebody's (1999) Four resource model as well as outcome 5: Communication in the VEYLDF (Victorian Department of Education and Training, 2016) which mentions patterns in speech.

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Preschoolers who seem to be having more difficulty than others their age with listening or speaking should see a Speech Pathologist as soon as possible. Speaking and listening skills are important in their own right, plus early speech-language difficulties are often related to later problems with learning to read and write.

To find your local Speech Pathologists in Australia, use the "Find a Speech Pathologist" function on the Speech Pathology Australia website. If you can't get a publicly-funded assessment any time soon, you can self-refer to a private therapist, and private health insurance (if you have it) might help pay, or keep your receipts for tax return time. You can also ask your GP for a referral under the Enhanced Primary Care/Chronic Disease Management program, for Medicare rebates on up to five sessions per year.

If you're outside Australia, try this site.

Also please take a look at the Read It Again Pre-K website which contains a free curriculum supplement (!!) to build preschoolers' language and pre-literacy skills. The UK's Communication Trust also has good information and resources, as does the Hanen Centre.
Children whose speech and language is on track
If you aren't concerned about your preschooler's speech-language skills, but want to give her or him a head start on literacy, the most important thing you can do is play a lot together and have a lot of conversations with him or her, making what you say just a little bit longer and more complex than what your child is saying, and where possible expanding on her or his contributions (recasting) before adding information, for example:

Child: Teddy, up.

Parent: Teddy, get up. Can he get up?

Child: No, stuck.

Parent: Oh dear, teddy's stuck. Let me help.

Child: You help.

Parent: Yep, I'll help him up. There you go, teddy. Where will you sit?

Child: Sit here.

Parent: Sit here, teddy. That's it. Now, does teddy want a drink?

Child: Yeah, juice.

Parent: Teddy wants some juice. He's thirsty. OK, I'll get some juice.

Phonological awareness

Before they start school, preschoolers are usually starting to become aware that words have not only meaning but also structure.

Many children enjoy chanting things like "mum bum" and "silly billy" (ha! hilarious because of both the meaning and the sound), and show obvious enjoyment of the rhyming bits of books and songs. Or they might be able to clap, tap or stomp out syllables in words: "croc-o-dile", "hel-i-cop-ter" etc. Or they might be able to tell you that the words "mum" and "music" both start with the same sound.

This indicates that they are starting to be aware that words not only have meaning, but they also have structure. This awareness is a key step towards getting ready to learn to read, and starting to be able to discriminate individual speech sounds in words.

Phonemic awareness

The first sound in a word is the most salient, and thus easiest for little kids to discriminate. Next-easiest is the final sound, and sounds in word middles are quite hard.

Talking to kids about whether words start with the same sound is a good place to start, and if they are in print you can also point out that they start with the same letter ("Oh look, cup and cat both start with this letter "c"). Say the sound in preference to the letter name.

If you want to actively teach your child to discriminate first sounds, begin with words that start with early-developing consonants that can be stretched out for a long time ("m", "n", "f", "sh", "s", "w" and "y", as long as your child can say these all correctly) as well as words that start with vowel sounds, but be careful not to confuse vowel letters with vowel sounds. The words "apple", "art", "apron", "August", "aeroplane" and "asleep" all start with different sounds - you can find a list of the 44 sounds here, with links to example wordlists.

The Preschool University website also has lots of good stuff for parents.
Blending and segmenting
Sound-blending is a key skill which demonstrates phonemic awareness and is vital for reading and spelling.

Show your child how two or three different sounds (e.g. "i"..."n" or "m"..."a"..."n") can be "shmooshed" together to make a word. Start with the early-developing, easy-to-stretch-out consonants "m", "n", "f", "sh" and "s" and whatever vowels you like, unless you're using letters, in which case you might like to use spellings from my moveable alphabet or similar alphabets, which contain things like "sh" and "ff" and "ss" and a range of vowel spellings.

Here are some two-sound words you might like to start with:

may, me, my, moo, more, am, um, aim, I'm, arm.

neigh, knee, no/know, in, on, earn.

if, off, fee, foe, far, fur, four/for, fair/fare, fear

ace, ice, say, sea/see, sigh, so/sow (seeds)/sew, sue, sir, sore/saw, sow (the pig), soy.

ash, she, shy, show, shoe/shoo, sure/shore, share, shear.

Next, try blending three-sound words like "moon", "fan", "wish" and "yes". Make sure you always say SOUNDS not letter names. It's useful to know the names of letters, but sounds are what matter most for early literacy, and sounds and letter names can get very mixed up. This often shows up in misspellings like "lft" for "left", "ms" for "mess" and "nam" for "name".

Once your child can blend two or three sounds, add words with two consonants together and/or more sounds e.g. "t-r-u-ck", "l-a-m-p", "b-r-i-ck-s". Don't forget that sometimes the number of sounds and the number of letters in a word can be quite different e.g. "a...e" plus "t" makes "ate", and so does "eigh" plus "t" (eight).

Segmenting is the reverse of blending, where a word is taken apart into its component sounds. You can demonstrate and practice this to your child, and show how once a word is taken apart into its component sounds, we write each one with letters. Sounding words out aloud while you write them (e.g. when writing the shopping list) is also a good way to show your preschooler that words are made of sounds and letters are how we write these sounds down.

Letter recognition and reading/writing words

Because letter recognition and recall has become fast and automatic for literate adults, it's often hard for us to remember that this is extremely difficult to learn.

Imagine if I converted the alphabet into Wingdings characters and expected you to quickly be able to use them to read and write words. Agh. Linking sounds and letters is a form of paired associate learning, which takes time and repetition.

If you have a preschooler who is demanding to be taught how to read and spell, start with just a few letters and make/write little words for your child to read and copy. Make sure they form letters correctly right from the start, perhaps starting off by tracing them and showing starting point and direction with dots and arrows, plus lots of modelling the correct way to write each one.

If you use the letters in the first book or books of a set of decodable readers like the Pocket Rockets, Pip and Tim books (available affordably as apps), Dandelion Launchers (available as talking iBooks) or free SA Speld Phonic Books, and you've taught your child how to blend sounds into words, she or he should be able to soon start successfully reading these little books.

There are also some cute and fun computer activities which your child might like to use to help them learn about sounds and letters, such as the app/internet game Phonics Hero* which has a free 7-day trial period, and the apps listed under the first heading "Learning sounds and letter recognition/formation" on this page. Bob Books Reading Magic 1, Reading Raven, Hairy Letters and ABC Pocket Phonics are IMHO also among the best apps for young beginners.
*Note that the link to Phonics Hero above is an affiliate link, which means that if you follow it and subscribe to Phonics Hero, I get a small commission. I had been recommending Phonics Hero for over two years for free before accepting the offer of an affiliate link.
You can also use my free First Phonics Picture Book to introduce your child to 42 of the 44 the sounds of English and the main/one major spelling pattern for each.

There is an excellent free online linguistic phonics course intended for parents of 4-6 year-olds here. Highly recommended.

Which school?

Parents of preschoolers often put a lot of effort into checking out their local schools and trying to find the one that best fits their child, but sometimes without a lot of well-researched knowledge about what questions to ask about literacy programs. For some ideas of what to look for in a literacy program, see this page for parents of 5-6 year olds.

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Preschoolers who seem to be having more difficulty than others their age with listening or speaking should see a Speech Pathologist as soon as possible. Speaking and listening skills are important in their own right, plus early speech-language difficulties are often related to later problems with learning to read and write.

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Raising children's network: Reading with babies from birth

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Raising children's network: Reading with babies from birth

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This resource offers a guide to reading to babies from birth and a list of stories that can be used to read to babies. This is related to composing texts (encoding) from the Literacy continuum Process specifically Learning Progression Element, speaking but can also be applied to writing. Which is supported by the emergent perspective of literacy development as well as Bruner's theory of Scaffolding (Dickinson & Neuman, 2005).

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Why reading with your baby is important

Sharing stories, talking and singing helps your baby's development in lots of ways.

Doing these activities every day helps your baby get familiar with sounds, words, language and, eventually, the value and joy of books. This all builds your baby's early literacy skills and helps him go on to read successfully later in life.

Reading stories also stimulates your baby's imagination and helps her learn about the world around her. It's a great time for you to bond with your baby and share time together too.

Sharing books with your baby

Even young babies can learn from the experience of reading books with you. For example, you can:

read slowly and spend time on each page after you read the words - this lets your baby focus on the shape of words and pictures

turn the pages when you read with your baby - this shows him how to use a book

point out and name familiar and new things your baby sees on the page, instead of reading the words - the more words children hear, the more words they learn

change the tone of your voice as you read - this makes it easier for your baby to pick up on different speech sounds, which is an important step towards learning to make sounds himself.

Here are some general tips to help you make the most of reading time with your little one:

Set up a special reading space at home - for example, a chair, lounge or beanbag that's big and comfortable enough for you and baby, with a box of books or bookshelf nearby.

Make a routine, and try to share at least one book every day. For example, sharing a book can be a relaxing way to end the day.

Turn off the TV or radio, and find a quiet space so your baby can hear your voice.

Try out funny noises and sounds - play and have fun!

Hold the book fairly close to your baby so she can see. You can hold your baby close, on your knee or sit in front of her while you read, so she can see your face too.

Visit your local library - it's free to join and borrow. The staff will be able to recommend age-appropriate books for you and your baby to enjoy.

What to read with your baby

There are so many books to choose from that it can be hard to know where to start.

In general, babies enjoy books that have good rhymes, rhythm and repetition. This repetition and rhyming helps children learn.

From when your baby is born, you might like to look for:

books with bright colours or simple, large and high-contrast pictures like black and white pictures - these are interesting and easy for babies to focus on

books with different textures so your baby can hear, see and feel the book

books with pictures of babies and faces

soft, waterproof plastic and cloth books that can go in your baby's mouth and into the bath.

Here are some books your baby might enjoy:

Baby touch colours by Ladybird Books

Baby touch words by Ladybird Books and Justine Smith

Brown bear brown bear, What do you see? by Bill Martin Junior

Polar bear polar bear, What do you hear? by Bill Martin Junior

Aussie babies can by Magabala Books

Aussie toddlers can by Magabala Books

I went walking by Sue Machin

Walking through the jungle by Julie Lacome

How many kisses do you want tonight? by Varsha Bajaj

Crocodile beat by Gail Jorgensen and Patricia Mullins

Everywhere babies by Susan Meyers.

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Sharing stories, talking and singing helps your baby's development in lots of ways. Doing these activities every day helps your baby get familiar with sounds, words, language and, eventually, the value and joy of books. This all builds your baby's early literacy skills and helps him go on to read successfully later in life.

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Writing into Literacy- Sonia Cabell (Ted talk)

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Writing into Literacy- Sonia Cabell (Ted talk)

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This resource offers a TED talk by Sonia Cabell about writing development in children within their early years and prevention of reading difficulties. This related to Composing texts (Encoding) Literacy continuum Process/Learning Progression Element writing and speaking which is supported by the the scaffolding techniques from the sociocultural framework (Bruner, 1972, & Vygotsky, 1978 in Dickenson & Neuman, 2005).

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Writing Into Literacy | Sonia Cabell | TEDxFSU

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This resource is an ipad application that teaches children the early stages of hand writing through tracing. This related to composing texts (encoding) of the Literacy continuum Process/Learning Progression Element of writing. This is supported by the bottom up theory to literacy development as well research from Graham, Berninger, Abbott, Abbott & Whitaker (1997) into how handwriting fluency contributes directly to writing fluency.

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iTrace is a fun and effective app that teaches kids handwriting. Children love the app, so they concentrate easily and achieve results faster than learning via paper.

We designed iTrace over 5 years ago to teach children to write block and cursive letters and numbers. Our mission back then - and today - remains to make early childhood education productive and relaxed, natural at the same time.

While creating the app, we found out that children learn best when they repeat every exercise at least 3 times. In iTrace, a child traces each letter 3 times on every level out of 30 for each letter. Of course, every child learns at a different pace, so an app adjusts the number of levels to meet the needs of their individual student.

The app is ideal for homeschooling as well as classroom setting at Preschool, Pre-K, Kindergarten, and K1-K2 levels.

iTrace Key Features:
- Uppercase and lowercase letters
- Cursive and block letters
- Numbers 0 through 9
- Words: child's name, 350 preloaded words from the iTrace library and unlimited words that can be added by you
- Support of 3 different letter fonts: Zaner-Blosser, HWT (Handwriting Without Tears) and D'Nealian (with customized letters for each font!)
- Full support for both Left and Right handwriting orientation.
- 5 animated scenes that gather relevant words together to make learning fun with 50 animated objects (iPad only)
- History of each child's progress
- Unlimited children accounts
- Available at a reduced price with Volume Purchase Program for educational institutions

We created iTrace for kids:
- The app tracks and adjusts to your child's individual progress to keep their interest and to encourage progress
- To support how children learn writing skills, iTrace will replay exercises several times gradually increasing complexity and difficulty level (just like a game!)
- The app will reward progress with over 600 varying prizes for every completed exercise
- iTrace leverages context and animation to teach writing by encouraging children to select animated scenes composed of meaningfully combined objects

We created iTrace to help parents and teachers:
- The app tracks your child's progress on each individual letter and number to help them master handwriting and for adults to measure improvement
- iTrace supports easily switching to the Left-handed mode and to cursive letters.
- For offline practice, iTrace supports customization and printing of PDF worksheets on the paper.

We built iTrace to guard children's privacy:
- No ads inside the app. We do not interrupt the learning process with anything unhelpful or irrelevant.
- No collection of personal data. We do not ask for any contact details except the first name of your student to personalize their experience.
- Purchases can only be made by adults from a part of the app that children cannot access.
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iTrace is appreciated by parents, schools, and media:

"With an engaging, kid-friendly interface and many options to customize and track children's progress, iTrace is a valuable app for parents, teachers and occupational therapists.",
Libby Curran, People Magazine's Teacher of the Year

Featured in the App Store's "Education" category under Best New Apps!

- TUAW: "The app is brightly illustrated and well designed, certain to appeal to young students. Meant for the core 3-7 age group, kids can learn to trace uppercase and lower-case letters, as well as numbers."

- Teachers With Apps: "This app is what every parent/teacher should have their children use to help learn proper letter formation. As a teacher, it helps fit handwriting into the school day so much easier!"

- 2Wired 2Tired: "...kids LOVE everything electronic. iTrace will make learning how to write letters, numbers, and words, both fun and interesting for your children.

- Mommy's Busy: "If you're looking for a fun, interactive way for your child to learn [...] you should consider trying iTrace."
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If you have any ideas or feedback that you would like to share, please contact us at iTrace@devpocket.com. We are sincerely interested in knowing more about your experience with iTrace.

Version 2.5.7

We have changed a few things inside the app, you won't notice anything.

Great for Toddler

This is a great app for my 3 year old who has a very short attention span however I am having an issue with the sound. It would be awesome if it would say the letter she's working on so she can recognize the letter as well as write the letter

Great for working on handwriting for kids

This app is engaging and really has helped my older daughter with her handwriting skills. Now I'm using this same app with her little sister to improve her skills also. To the developers of this app please keep up the good work with this app and any other you may have in the App Store.

Good app

Really love the options, gentle music, history and extras.
Please connect cursive letters at least in the premodern words. The letter name and sound after each writing would be a good bonus option.

The developer, Michael Bogorad, indicated that the app's privacy practices may include handling of data as described below. For more information, see the developer's privacy policy.

Data Not Linked to You

The following data may be collected but it is not linked to your identity:

Privacy practices may vary, for example, based on the features you use or your age. Learn More

Information

Compatibility

iPhone

Requires iOS 9.0 or later.

iPad

Requires iPadOS 9.0 or later.

iPod touch

Requires iOS 9.0 or later.

Mac

Requires macOS 11 or later and a Mac with Apple M1 chip.

Languages

English, Russian

Family Sharing

With Family Sharing set up, up to six family members can use this app.

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‎We designed iTrace over 5 years ago to teach children to write block and cursive letters and numbers. Our mission back then - and today - remains to make early childhood education productive and relaxed, natural at the same time. While creating the app, we found out that children learn best when...

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Below are examples of childrens writing development

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Emergent writers discover many ways to send written messages. The writing samples on this page demonstrate different kinds of writing evident in a kindergarten classroom. Each sample demonstrates one or more of the qualities of effective writing.

Drawing and Imitative Writing

In this type of early writing, the child writes a message or shares ideas with others through drawings and imitative writing. Scribbling and random letters are often considered to be an imitation of "grown-up" writing.

The first example here shows individuality. Notice the use of made-up letters to imitate writing.

The second example shows an attempt at appropriate formation of letters and words.

Copying Words

In this type of early writing, the child copies words from handy resources like books, posters, and word walls. The writer may or may not be aware of the meaning of the words.

The first sample here shows the child's ability to use art, form letters, and copy a title from a book. The writing focuses on the topic "My Favorite Story."

In the second sample, the writer copies a string of unrelated words for the topic "Fishy Words." The writing shows a beginning use of words and formation of letters.

Drawing and Strings of Letters

In this type of early writing, the child writes with random letters but has a definite message to convey. The letters often have no relationship to conventional letter sounds or spelling. (Sometimes a teacher or scribe translates the message into conventional form.)

The writer of the first sample translates her string of letters as "playing with my baby sister." Through art, the child focuses on the topic. A beginning ability to form letters is shown.

According to the writer of the second sample, the title is "Riding My Bike." An early attempt at forming letters is shown. The illustration supplies some of the meaning.

Early Phonetic Writing

In this type of early writing, the child writes connected letters (mostly consonants) to represent words. Sometimes the sound of the letter itself is used for a word; for example, "r" is the word are.

This writing translates as follows: "I ask my dad if he will call a playmate for me." The writing focuses on a topic and shows an early attempt at writing a sentence.

In this sample, symbols and consonant sounds are used to show that the writer loves her dollhouse. This writing displays individuality, an early example of voice.

Phonetic Writing

In this type of early writing, the child writes words using letters to represent each sound that is heard. Consonants and vowels are used. Some punctuation may also be used.

This writing focuses on a topic and makes sense. The writer shows an awareness of consonant and vowel sounds and uses words and sentences. The art complements the writing.

The writer of this sample uses both consonants and vowels to spell words and write a sentence. The art carries details and demonstrates an emerging voice.

Conventional/Some Phonetic Writing

In this type of writing, the child increasingly writes with conventional spellings and structures. Formation of letters is also more conventional.

This writer focuses on a topic and shows individuality. The writing uses words and sentences appropriately.

The writer's message makes sense and shows an understanding of the friendly letter. The writing exhibits the appropriate use of words and sentences.

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Emergent writers discover many ways to send written messages. The writing samples on this page demonstrate different kinds of writing evident in a kindergarten classroom. Each sample demonstrates one or more of the qualities of effective writing. In this type of early writing, the child writes a message or shares ideas with others through drawings and imitative writing.

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'Use behaviours to: refude or reject, reflect a preference or desire.'

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'Use informal behaviours to intentionally communicate a message in a familiar environment with familiar people to: request attention'

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Here Albie is on a walk. Each time Albie wants to touch something on our walk he reaches his hand out
'Children use conventional behaviours to intentionally communicate: Request items, people or events present at the time'

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Here Albie is getting excited about a meal time
'Use behaviours that are not intentionally directed at another person to: Reflect a state of wellbeing, for example, contentment, joy worry pain'

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This resource is an Australian government document in line with the NQF and EYLF which outlines stages of development children should be meeting at various ages. It is related to the Literacy continuum Process composing texts (encoding) and Learning Progression Element of speaking. This document and a lot of the early childhood policy context is  supported by Arnold Gesell's Maturation theory to child development. I have included this resource as one to use with caution as the maturation perspective reduces complex behaviour, perceptual and learning processes to genetic factors and ignores environmental factors (Roberton, 1993 in Dalton, 2005).  While reading this resource, it is essential to keep in mind that not all children develop in the same way or at the same time (Fellowes & Oakley, 2014).