School Readiness for Global Developmental Delay (GDD)
What is Global Developmental Delay (GDD)?
Global Developmental Delay (GDD) is a term used to describe a condition in which a child exhibits significant delays in multiple areas of development. This diagnosis is typically used for children under the age of 5 who are behind their peers in meeting developmental milestones across several domains (motor skills, speech and language, cognitive skills, social and emotional skills, activities of daily living).
Learning:
May have difficulty in:
- Executive function (planning, impulse control, emotional control, working memory)
- Communication and social skills
- Following multi-step instructions
- Gross motor and fine motor planning and execution
Language
May have difficulty in:
- Understanding spoken language or expressing themselves
Motor skills
May have difficulty in:
- Gross motor skills including crawling, walking or running
- Fine motor skills such as grasping and manipulating objects or utensils
ADHD is associated with deficits in core Executive Functioning skills.
Why is Executive Functioning important?
Executive function coordinates the brain’s resources such as helping to manage attention, control impulses and regulate emotions. It also helps with memory organization and retrieval, self-monitoring and adaption to changes. Here are some examples of how Executive Functioning (EF) is being demonstrated by a child:
- Maintaining attention: Able to focus long enough to independently complete assignments, tasks, or chores
- Managing Emotions: Can respond to “no” from an adult, handle disappointment quickly and use non-aggressive ways to resolve conflicts, showing emotional maturity and resilience
- Self-monitoring: Awareness of own behaviours
- Task monitoring: Monitor task performance while on a task
- Planning/organisation: Putting thoughts and tasks into order
- Adapting to Changes: Adjust to changes in plans or routines with or without some prior warning and begin to make connections between concepts that are not directly related, displaying cognitive flexibility
As EF skills are affected in children and adolescents with ADHD, your child may face the following challenges at different life stages:
Our expertise in Executive Function training
Developing your children’s executive functioning skills is a journey and our expertise in Executive Function training aims to build skills while nurturing their ROM in Self-Regulation, feeling Organized and Motivated.
We offer:
- Individualised Attention: The training will involve one-on-one sessions that provide your child with tailored guidance and support to address their unique needs.
- Group Learning: Engaging group sessions consolidate skills learned in individual sessions, fostering social interactions that reinforce their learning.
- Real-world Engagement: Activities like imaginative play, obstacle courses, and board games can help your children apply their executive functioning skills as they practise planning, problem-solving, and strategic thinking in everyday situations.
- Practical Strategies: Your kids will learn to use tools like timers, work organisers, colour-coded notebooks, and memory aids to improve their executive functioning skills.
- Parental Involvement: With clear, practical guidance, you will be able to support the development of your child’s executive functioning skills at home.
Partnering with Parents in Executive Function Training
Parents are instrumental in nurturing a child’s executive functioning skills, which are critical for their success in school and later life. Here are some effective ways to develop these essential skills at home:
- Have a daily routine: Establishing a daily routine that includes specific times for activities like meals, homework, play, and bedtime helps children predict their day and understand the concept of time management. Routines provide a framework that supports children in managing their responsibilities and developing self-discipline.
- Reduce distractions: Identify what distracts your child and eliminate them when they need to focus
- Limit choices: To not overwhelm your child, offer choices with 2 or 3 options at a time to help them make good decisions
- Set small, reachable goals: Help your child understand success by taking small steps and build on met goals to achieve greater success
- Get organised: Set specific, reasonable spaces for child’s belongings (e.g. toys, books) so that there is less likelihood of losing them.
- Use charts and checklists: Simple step-by-step visuals are effective to remind and help your child keep track and sequence their tasks.
- Structured Activities: Engaging children in activities that require following a series of steps, such as cooking, crafting, or building with blocks, helps them learn how to plan, organise, and execute tasks. These activities not only improve their ability to follow directions but also enhance their problem-solving skills.
- Encouraging Self-Reflection: Teaching children to think about their own thinking, or metacognition, is vital. This can be encouraged through discussions about what strategies worked best for completing a task and what they might do differently next time. Such reflections help children understand their learning process and improve their decision-making skills.
Here are some effective strategies to help your child academically:
- Breakdown larger tasks: Divide larger tasks into easily completed parts
- Improve memory: Focus on one concept at a time. Teach your child memory strategies (e.g. grouping, chunking, mnemonics)
- Planning and organization: Use a daily planner of checklist to keep track of school work. Use labels or coloured files to organise worksheets.
- Take breaks: Encourage regular self-set breaks during tasks that are lengthy
- Identify obstacles: Together with teachers and your child, find out the challenges to your child’s academic performance and create plans to address them.
- Planning and organization: Use a daily planner of checklist to keep track of school work. Use labels or coloured files to organise worksheets.
- Establish a tracking system: Track successes and obstacles. Use it to celebrate success and address obstacles.
Experienced and Qualified Occupational Therapists in Singapore
Finding the right therapist who aligns with your values, skills and experience is crucial for both your and your child’s success. An occupational therapist is not merely a professional providing a service, but a trusted partner in your parenting journey.
At Cornerstone Therapy, we meticulously select our team based on their character traits, years of relevant experience, commitment to family empowerment, and knowledge in intervention approaches to build Self-Regulation, Organisation and Motivation (ROM).
The ROM Theory is the cornerstone of our therapy because we prioritise ensuring that your kid is regulated, organised and motivated during therapy. This ensures that the child will be actively engaged in the activities specially designed for them. This active engagement is how we achieve meaningful progress in speech, communication, and social skills, whether it’s through executive functioning skills training, speech and language therapy or other therapeutic forms.
By building and developing these skills, children in Singapore can then apply them to real-world environments more effectively, enabling them to interact with others more successfully, and embrace a broader array of learning opportunities. These are the outcomes that our occupational therapists strive to achieve.
Location: 20 Sin Ming Lane Midview City
#03-66 Singapore 573968