Developmental Milestones

Children learn new skills every day, and it can be challenging to keep up with when and what they should be doing. This section is dedicated to providing a basic lists of skills acquired by the end of each year of life up until school age.

Areas of development have some overlap across disciplines. In general, cognitive-perceptual (CP), fine motor (FM) and self-care (SC) skills would be addressed by an occupational therapist. Gross motor (GM) skills could be addressed by a physical therapist. Finally, language (LA) and social/emotional (SE) skills could be addressed by a speech therapist.

Infants

CP: Bangs Objects
FM: Claps hands
GM: Pulls to stand
LA: Babbles
SC: Licks spoon
SE: Plays peek-a-boo

One-year-olds

CP: Activates toys
FM: Holds crayon with fingers
GM: Climbs into adult chairs
LA: Uses simple phrases
SC: Sucks through a straw
SE: Puts away toys

Two-year-olds

CP: Matches colors and shapes
FM: Snips with scissors
GM: Throws a ball several feet
LA: Refers to self by name
SC: Begins to use a fork
SE: Shares toys with others

Three-year-olds

CP: Matches letters and numbers
FM: Draws a cross
GM: Walks backwards
LA: Speaks in 3-5 word sentences
SC: Puts on socks and shoes
SE: Notices other people’s feelings

Four-year-olds

4yeardold

CP: Imitates 5 to 6-piece block designs
FM: Draw basic shapes & some letters
GM: Hops forward on one foot
LA: Speaks in complex sentences
SC: Dresses self including fasteners
SE: Understands concept of lying

Five-year-olds

CP: Understands opposites
FM: Writes own name
GM: Jumps rope
LA: Speaks fluently
SC: Ties shoelaces
SE: Distinguishes right from wrong