More on Maturity

Some large child care centers are able to provide individual classroom environments for children whose chronological ages closely approximate each another. Although accommodating children of the same age, teachers recognize that these children may possess a wide range of developmental skills. Nevertheless, these classroom environments contain a fairly uniform or homogeneous group of children. Such a classroom provides many advantages for care givers in their ability to provide children with quality care including; providing age-appropriate materials and creating schedules and routines that meet most children's requirements for learning and play. However, for other child care programs, a lack of resources often require that children of disparate or diverse age groups be served in the same classroom. This creates additional challenges for teachers as they endeavor to meet the needs of children whose range of skills and abilities are broad and far-reaching. To their credit, teachers do a tremendous job coping with these challenges and providing for the unique needs of their children.

These situations often occur when children "graduate" from one classroom to another. The transitions that a two-year-old makes moving to a three-year-old classroom can be particularly difficult. We often address this as a "maturity" issue regarding children who are no longer appropriate to be served in their previous classroom but whose social, emotional, communication or cognitive skills leave them unprepared for the expectations that accompany their new learning environment. If the transition proves particularly difficult or is protracted over a long period of time, questions may also arise whether the problems children encounter are the result of immaturity or may due to a developmental delay. Because it may be difficult to determine what the basis of the problem may be, seeking additional assistance and support to assess the situation is always recommended.

When children are under stress or feeling anxious, it is not unusual for them to act immaturely or regress to behaviors that they had outgrown including; thumb sucking, nightmares, bed-wetting or "baby-talk". In addition, other indicators associated with immature behavior such as; increased activity levels, impulsivity and inattention may be pronounced when children are anxious or stressed. For suggestions regarding managing these behaviors, refer to my posts on anxiety and basic needs.