Child Game Development – Signs of Developmental Problems

The development of a child’s play has a number of phases and important moments. Although every child develops at his own pace, there are age limits for when a child must have mastered things. This article describes the characteristics and skills of children aged 2 to 7 years to check whether there is an abnormal development course, obstacles, a possible developmental delay or perhaps a developmental disorder in terms of play.

Child’s Game Development Course – Checklist for Signs of Game Development Problems

Characteristics and skills are listed below, followed by (a guideline for) the ultimate age at which a child should be able to master certain games; whether or not it is part of the developmental stage or is age inappropriate. This overview is intended to identify any problems, developmental abnormalities or a possible disorder at an early stage.

Play – Game Developmental Delay – Play Development – Developmental Disorder

Developmental delay – Developmental disability

Although every child develops at their own pace, there comes a certain age at which a child should be able to master a certain task or skill. This is related to the normal, average development course of average (early) childhood development.

Developmental delay

We speak of a disadvantage if a child deviates only slightly from the average.

Developmental disorder

A disorder is when a child deviates significantly from the average, is very behind or is different from his or her peers.

Developmental overview Game Child

The overview below regarding the progress in the field of game development is suitable for use by parents, caregivers, group leaders, general practitioners, clinics, teachers, school doctors, etc. to identify any problems and raise the alarm for help. to call if there are any problems. There is a division into 5 signals – overviews with associated characteristics or skills – which indicate when the phenomenon should no longer occur. Or put differently: if a certain phenomenon still occurs or does not occur, it can be considered anomalous.

Identifying Game Development Problems

It should be expressly noted that this is not a diagnostic criteria or a causal model, but only a checklist for global screening and identifying characteristics in order to (early) identify any developmental problems.

Age Appropriate Development Game

For play, the following signals are a sign that the child’s development is not proceeding undisturbed or at age level:

Stereotypical movement, no order
No imitation, no pretending
Child does not use imagination
Is unable to play with others
Insufficient attention and concentration to complete game

These five signals are discussed in more detail – with age limits – in the overviews below.

Phases of Game Game Development – What does a child master in terms of play? Age limits

Stereotypical Movement – No Order	Ultimate Age
Child is not interested in objects	2 years
Does not use objects properly, for example stacks cars and not blocks	2.5 years
Repeats the same movement or movement pattern over and over again, without introducing variation	2.5 years
Peculiar movements such as rocking, waving hands, waving pages of a book; movements that cannot be interrupted	3 years
Scratches without looking at what it does on paper (‘accidental’ drawing)	3 years
Cannot match two pictures of the same species (human with human/animal with animal)	4 years
Is not interested in combining play materials (e.g. blocks, cars and dolls)	5 years
Child sees no difference between big and small	5 years
Can’t dress himself yet	6 years
Remains stuck in the flat surface, does not create structures such as houses, villages, etc.	6 years
Cannot group toys in such a way that they are a faithful copy of reality	7 years

No Imitation – No Pretend	Ultimate Age
Child does not imitate words	2 years
Does not imitate what it sees, in attitude or gesture (e.g. waving hello)	2 years
Child cannot imitate the sounds of animals	3 years
Child does not imitate the actions of children	4 years
Child cannot play with dolls	4 years
No role playing; can’t play mommy and daddy	4 years
Child cannot ‘pretend’ (no ‘pretend play’)	5 years
Child cannot draw figures (circle, triangle, etc.)	5 years
Child cannot repeat sentences	5 years
Cannot change roles, for example in puppet shows	6 years

Doesn’t use Fantasy	Ultimate Age
Only draws along the edge of the paper, the paper does not become full	3 years
Child does not dare to play with clay and paint	4 years
Child does not like listening to fairy tales	5 years
Child doesn’t want to wear dress-up clothes	5 years
Child becomes anxious about masks	5 years
Cannot play a role it does not know (e.g. wizard or witch)	6 years
Games must always be played in the same way and in the same order	6 years
A child cannot make a fantasy tree or, for example, a fantasy bird	6 years
Child does not like adventure	7 years
Clings desperately to how it should be, how it really is	7 years

Unable to Play with Others	Ultimate Age
Child does not participate in group play	5 years
Child disrupts the play of others	5 years
Child does not keep agreements	5 years
Cannot perform a task together with another child, gets into arguments or withdraws	5 years
Never listen when another child tells his/her story in the circle	5 years
Child doesn’t want to go to school	6 years
The child wanders off on his own and sometimes skips school	6 years
Child has no friends	7 years
Child changes game rules to win	6 years
Is (almost) never chosen by other children at birthday parties	7 years

Insufficient Attention – Concentration to Finish Game	Ultimate Age
Child cannot focus his/her attention on the toy	3 years
Child cannot choose what to play with	4 years
Child is busy with ten things at the same time	5 years
Child starts everything, but doesn’t finish anything	5 years
Hears and sees everything, causing it to forget what it is doing	6 years
Child dreams away during his/her activities	7 years
Child cannot stop even though he has finished	7 years

Motor Development – Signs of developmental problems
Social Development Child – Signs of Developmental Problems
Personality Development Children – Signals Problems
Speech-language development – Signs of Developmental Problems
Development of Self-reliance – Signs of a Development Problem