Toddler and Preschooler

About Your Toddler and Preschooler – Brain Development

Toddlers and preschoolers learn how to speak and behave by watching people around them. A toddler's brain is busy categorizing, organizing, and connecting language, people and objects. By the time your child is four years old, she will likely be able to tell you her address, point to body parts and understand early math concepts. Unfortunately, it can seem like a long road to get to this point.

Some of the fun times ahead include learning cause and effect. This happens when your young toddler drops a toy on the ground and you pick it up and give it back to him. Then he drops it on the ground again. You pick it up and give it back and he drops it on the ground again. He is learning that he can drop the toy and his actions will cause you to respond by picking up the toy. He is learning that he has an effect on his world.

Your toddler will also be able to anticipate or expect what is going to happen next in certain situations. If you usually change her diaper after a nap, she might go straight to her changing area after her nap and lay down, waiting for you to change her diaper.

As your preschooler spends more time socializing with other children, he will begin to show signs of managing his own emotions or behaviours, with guidance from you, by using words to say he doesn't like something instead of crying, hitting or screaming.

• Cognitive Development – 12-18 Months
• Cognitive Development – 18-24 Months
• Cognitive Development – 24-30 Months
• Cognitive Development – 30-36 Months
• For Parents of a Child with a Disability – This fact sheet provides information to parents on practical things they can do to support their children with disabilities.
• Language: Your Baby's First Steps Toward Learning to Speak
• Literacy: First Steps Towards Reading & Writing
• A Parent's Guide to the Early Years: Video
• Services and Programs for Children – Information on specialized services and programs for children with disabilities.
• Your Child's Brain
• Your Child's Brain Structure