How to Evaluate Your Baby by Understanding the Developmental Profile

Perhaps the most important evaluations are those which mother is doing all day every day as she teaches her baby and cares for him. She becomes an expert on what he can do easily and consistently and on those things that are still a challenge for him.

He will be changing every minute of every day. Whenever he makes a major change mother should note that on her daily checklists or in a simple diary she keeps of his growth and development. Each stage on the Profile is a major stage, and once he achieves a new ability he will often need many months to strengthen and perfect it.
Sometimes parents expect that a baby will move up to a new stage on the Profile in all six areas simultaneously. This is almost never the case.

First of all, most babies do not arrive at birth in absolutely perfect neurological condition. In fact, very few babies are neurologically perfect at birth or in the first 12 months of life.

Each baby has his areas of strength and weakness. Again, the very purpose of The Institutes Developmental Profile is to find out exactly which areas are strong so parents can reinforce them, and which areas need extra stimulation or opportunity so that these areas develop fully.

The formal evaluations that we have carefully outlined so far are important in this process, but just as important will be the daily observations of mother and father as they see how the baby responds to his program and the demands of everyday life.

With a clear understanding of the Developmental Profile, parents know exactly what to look for; i.e. cute baby girl clothes, that way they can assess the significance of events that might otherwise have gone unnoticed.

This is why a clear understanding of the Developmental Profile is so important. Once parents have this understanding, they are the keenest and best observers in the world, not to mention the very best teachers, coaches, and unique baby girl clothes for their children.

On the motor side of the Developmental Profile resides the human expression of these abilities: standing upright and walking, the ability to use words to communicate, and the ability to oppose thumb and index finger in order to pick up the newborn baby girl clothes.

If you evaluated your baby at birth and began a program shortly thereafter, it is time for the fourth evaluation, you may be surprised to find that your baby’s responses at lower stages are stronger and more consistent. Some areas that you may have marked “Functional” two months ago are now perfect.

Mother should remember that each day her baby matures he becomes more sure of what he wants and what he does not want. She must therefore continue to choose the best times in the day to evaluate the baby so that she can get a clear picture of what he can and cannot do.

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