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What is Kindergarten readiness?

 

Kindergarten readiness refers to a child’s readiness to make a smooth

and successful transition and integration into the school environment and

its routines and expectation. These skill expectations include social,

language, play, physical and self care abilities which, when well established,

make learning easy from both the teachers and the children. 

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What are the building blocks necessary to develop kindergarten readiness?

 

• Self regulation: The ability to obtain, maintain and change emotion, behavior, attention and activity level appropriate for a task or situation.

 

• Sensory processing: Accurate processing of sensory stimulation in the environment as well as in one’s own body which effects attention, behavior and learning.

 

• Receptive language (understanding): Comprehension of spoken language (vocabulary, instructions, questions, concepts) for group instructions as well as peer interaction.

 

• Expressive language (using language): Formulating sentences that have age appropriate grammar (e.g. using pronouns ‘he/she’ correctly) and word order, using specific vocabulary, and telling a simple story.

 

• Articulation: The ability to clearly pronounce individual sounds in words and sentences.

 

• Executive Functioning: Higher order reasoning and thinking skills (e.g. working out how to make the desired building, collecting the materials and overcoming challenges in the process).

 

• Emotional Development/regulation: The ability to perceive emotion, integrate emotion to facilitate thought, understand emotions and regulate emotions. It also means responding  age appropriately to a frustration and managing to ‘contain’ tantrums or recovering quickly from an upset.

 

• Social skills: Determined by the ability to engage in reciprocal interaction with others (either verbally or non-verbally), to compromise with others and to be able to recognize and follow social norms.

 

• Planning and sequencing: The sequential multi-step task/activity performance to achieve a well-defined result.​

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Why should I seek therapy if I notice difficulties with preschool readiness in my child?

Therapeutic intervention to help a child with preschool readiness difficulties is important to:

 

• Develop confidence in learning to follow instructions and understand spoken information.

 

• Help them to develop friendships and feel confident when communicating.

 

• Support social skills to allow the child be comfortable meeting new people and playing with others.

 

• Help them follow routines and complete unfamiliar tasks that may be challenging.

 

• Identify the areas of breakdown if it is unclear what the specific area of difficulty is but there is a sense that they are struggling with their learning, communication, behavior, gross or fine motor skills and/or social interaction.

 

What type of therapy is recommended for kindergarten readiness difficulties?

If your child has difficulties with kindergarten readiness, it is recommended they consult an Occupational Therapist and/or a Speech & Language Pathologist to address the functional areas of concern.