ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the vast number of physiological, cognitive and psychosocial changes that occur during this developmental stage, and on how to engage, assess and work with preschool children and their families. It covers from early infancy through toddlerhood up to the age of five years. After the babies are born, comparisons may continue, with parents sharing stories about the birth, current feeding and sleeping routines and developmental milestones. During early infancy J. Piaget described infants going through what he termed the 'sensori-motor' stage of cognitive development in which they begin to develop rudimentary thought. Infants from the age of four months begin to recognise turn-taking in language and the power of their verbal communication. The chapter attempts to highlight what could be considered within the normal range of childhood development, to enable recognition of whether the difficulties that carers describe, or the child's observed behaviour, require further professional attention.
