The Six Developmental Milestones

Milestones

Characteristics of each Milestone, and some examples

Age achieved in typical children

Shows interest in different sensations for 3+ seconds

Remains calm and focused for 2 + minutes

Recovers from distress within 20 minutes with help from you

Shows interest in you (not only in inanimate objects)

3 months

Responds to your overtures (with a smile, frown, reach, vocalization, or other intentional behavior).

Responds to your overtures with obvious pleasure

Responds to your overtures with curiosity and assertive interest (by studying your face, for example)

Anticipates an object that was shown and then removed (smiles or babbles to show interest)

Becomes displeased when you are unresponsive during play for 30 seconds or longer

Protests and grows angry when frustrated

Recovers from distress within 15 minutes with your help

8 months

Responds to your gestures with intentional gestures (reaches out in response to your outstretched arms, returns your vocalization or look)

Initiates interactions with you ( reaches for your nose or hair or for a toy, raises arms to be picked up)

Demonstrates the following emotions:

• Closeness (by hugging back when hugged, reaching out to be picked up)
• Pleasure & excitement (by smiling joyfully while putting finger in your mouth and putting it in child's own
• Assertive curiosity (by touching and exploring your hair)
• Protest or anger (by pushing food off table or screaming when desired toy not brought)
• Fear (by turning away, looking scared or crying when a stranger approaches too quickly

Recovers from distress within 10 minutes by being involved in social interactions

9 months

4. Complex Communication (Complex Sense of Self)

Closes 10 or more circles of communication in a row for example, takes you by hand, walks you to refrigerator, points, vocalizes, responds to your questions with more noise and gestures, and continues gestural exchange until you open the door to get what the child wants

Imitates your behavior in an intentional way (puts on a hat, then parades around room looking for admiration)

• vocalizations or words
• facial expressions
• reciprocal touching or holding
• movement in space (roughhousing, for example)
• large motor activity (chase games, climbing games)
• communication across space (can close 10 circles with you from across the room

• Closeness (uses facial expression, gestures, and vocalizations to reach out for a hug, kiss or cuddle, or uses imitation, such as talking on toy phone while you are using a real phone)
• Pleasure and excitement (uses looks and vocalizations to invite another person to share excitement over something: shares "Jokes" with other children or adults by laughing together at some provocation)
• Assertive curiosity (explores independently; uses ability to communicate across space to feel close to you while exploring or playing on own)
• Anger (deliberately hits, pinches, yells, bangs, screams, or lies on floor to demonstrate anger; occasionally uses cold or angry looks instead)
• Limit setting (understands and respond to your limits whether expressed through words - "No, stop that!" - or gestures - shaking finger, angry face)

12 – 18 months

Creates pretend dreams with two or more ideas (trucks crash then pick up rocks, dolls hug then have a tea party; ideas need not relate)

Uses words, pictures, gestures to convey two or more ideas at a time ("No sleep. Play"); ideas need not be related

• words
• multiple gestures in a row
• touch (lots of hugging or roughhousing)

Plays simple motor games with rules (taking turns throwing ball)

• Closeness (has doll say: "Hug me." then child answers: "I give you kiss.")
• Pleasure and excitement (makes funny words then laughs)
• Assertive curiosity (makes pretend airplane zoom around room, then says its's going to the moon)
• Fear (stages drama in which doll is afraid of loud noise then call for mother)
• Anger (has soldiers shoot guns at one another then fall down)
• Limit setting (has dolls follow rules at tea party)

Uses pretend play to recover from and deal with distress (plays out eating the cookie the child couldn't really have)

24 – 36 months

6. Emotional Thinking

In pretend play, two or more ideas are logically tied together, even if the ideas themselves are unrealistic (the car is visiting the moon and gets there by flying fast)

Builds on adult's pretend play idea (child is cooking soup, adult asks what's in it, child answers, "Rocks and dirt.")

In speech, connects ideas logically; ideas are grounded in reality ("No go sleep. Want to watch television.")

Closes two or more verbal circles of communication ("Want to go outside"; adult asks, "Why?" "To play.")

• words
• multiple gestures in a row (pretending to be an angry dog)
• touch (lots of hugging as part of pretend drama in which child is the daddy)

Plays spatial and motor games with rules (taking turns going down a slide)

• Closeness (doll gets hurt and Mommy fixes it.)
• Pleasure and excitement (says bathroom words, such as "doody," and laughs)
• Assertive curiosity (good soldiers search for missing princess)
• Fear (monster scares baby doll)
• Anger (good soldiers fight bad ones)
• Limit setting (soldiers can hit only bad guys because of the rules)

Uses pretend play that has a logical sequence of ideas to recover from distress, often suggesting way of coping with the distress (the child becomes the teacher, bossing the class)

36 – 48 months