I have long thought and known from experience that it only takes 24 hours a week to make a difference with a developmentally delayed child.
Most especially the same quality 24 hours a week given to any child from the time they are 4 months of age (earlier if possible) will ensure that a child is NOT developmentally delayed — barring specific medical issues.
Of course a child will do even better if parents follow through with a similar caregiving style – usually not the case!
17 years ago we started caring for a baby girl. She initially came 3 days a week (a little over 24 hours a week) to our house and lived as if she was our third child (minus the contact with my husband who was at work); a little ‘sister’ for my two sons.
After a year or so she stayed for 5 full days each week. She progressed beautifully. There was never a question of any developmental delays. No child in my care from infancy has shown any developmental delays, despite having all their vaccinations!
The arrangement worked out well because my niece was born in England at the same time and my sons could learn how a similar baby would be developing. (We’d done the same thing with a baby boy when their oldest boy cousin was born in England).
My oldest son hadn’t seen the now ‘not so little’ girl for a while until recently. She has grown into a lovely 17 year old and we take some credit for the quarter of her life she spent with us – she went to pre-school at 4 years of age. Her parents are most gracious, always introducing us as the family that took such good care of her.
My son commented that it was very obvious in their conversation that this girl was a product of our home! I always thought that she turned out well but never took credit for it.
Now I’m starting to wonder about my theory that 24 hours a week is an influential period of time in any young child’s life.
It is definitely the length of time it has taken me, using my methods, to bring another toddler (from about 15 months of age onwards — she had been in the daily care of various family members, including her father but not her mother, before then) out of the funk of her developmental and language delays – was she on the autism spectrum? — I may never know.
But I definitely had to make specific changes and adaptations in my methods (not to mention the vast amount of reading and learning I did) to enable her to become relatively mainstreamed and more socially acceptable to her family – albeit no one in the family ever suggested any form of delay existed! (about the time I started caring for her an old friend of ours did say ‘don’t you think she’s a funny little thing?’)
Once when her parents switched to a cheaper caregiver for the balance of her week (I only worked as her part time caregiver) her language disappeared!!! I was so shocked because I had worked so hard and come so far with her that I had to ask her mother “what happened to her language?†She said that the new caregiver didn’t talk much to them as parents “perhaps she’s not talking to our daughter?â€
The new caregiver was fired and the previous one reinstated. The child’s language returned; there was no permanent loss – phew.
That’s when I came to realize that the 24 hours a week had actually worked (it was the combined time that two — one being me — friendly and enthusiastic caregivers worked and played with the child). When, as a 3 year old, this child showed readiness for toilet learning while I was in charge, it was the other caregiver who easily followed through with my lead and as a result the child was completely trained within a week.
The developmental growth in that child has been permanent. She has shown herself to be bright, curious and willing to learn. She is a strong willed soul, as is her whole family in something of an extreme fashion! I doubt that any observable delays will be found once she enters formal schooling.
My other theory is that children with developmental delays are for the most part also highly intelligent (a factor frequently missed in the modern care of babies and toddlers, hence ‘the terrible twos’) so the rigor of their early days needs to be full of interesting activities, indoor or outdoor – not activities organized by an institution or facility but activities of interest, planned to be child centered by the parents or caregivers and on a one to one basis, making the child’s world an interesting place and introducing them at the same time to real world activities and a real world social life.
So there it is at a minimum:
* 24 hours a week
* Child centered
* One to one activities which keep the child interested and connected with the world around them
* Continuity of caregiving practices throughout each week
* All care lovingly given
What more could any child ask for?
It’s only 24 hours a week!