Developmental Milestones

By 12 months children should be exhibiting a majority of these skills in his or her motor and speech-language development.

Motor Development

• Enjoys drinking from a cup
• Begins eating finger food
• Continues to explore everything by mouth
• Enjoys opening and closing cabinet doors
• Crawls well
• Pulls self to a standing position
• Stands alone holding onto furniture for support
• Walks holding onto furniture or with adult help

Speech, Language, and Cognitive Development

• Says first word
• Says da-da and ma-ma or equivalent
• “Dances” or bounces to music
• Interested in picture books
• Pays attention to conversations
• Claps hands, waves bye, if prompted
• Likes to place objects inside one another
• Social and Emotional Development
• Copies adult actions such as drinking from a cup, talking on the phone
• Responds to name
• Likes to watch self in mirror
• Expresses fear or anxiety toward strangers
• Wants caregivers or parent to be in constant sight
• Offers toys or objects to others, but expects them to be returned
• May become attached to a favorite toy or blanket
• Pushes away something he or she does not want

By 12 to 18  months children should be exhibiting a majority of these skills in his or her motor and speech-language development.

Motor Development

• Crawls well
• Stands alone, sits down
• Gestures or points to indicate wants
• Likes to push, pull, and dump things
• Pulls off hat, socks, and mittens
• Turns pages in a book
• Stacks 2 blocks
• Likes to poke, twist, and squeeze
• Enjoys flushing toilets and closing doors
• Enjoys carrying small objects while walking, often one in each hand
• Holds crayon and scribbles, but with little control
• Waves bye-bye and claps hands
• Walks without help
• Enjoys holding spoon when eating, but experiences difficulty in getting spoon into mouth
• Rolls a ball to adult on request

Speech, Language, and Cognitive Development

• Says 8 to 20 words you can understand
• Looks at person talking to him or her
• Says “Hi” or “Bye” if reminded
• Uses expressions like “Uh-oh”
• Asks for something by pointing or using one word
• Identifies object in a book
• Plays peek-a-boo
• Looks for objects that are hidden or out of sight
• Understands and follows simple one-step directions
• Likes to take things apart
• Social and Emotional Development
• Becomes upset when separated from parent
• Likes to hand objects to others
• Plays alone on floor with toys
• Recognizes self in mirror or pictures
• Enjoys being held and read to
• Imitates others especially by coughing, sneezing, or making animal sounds
• Enjoys an audience and applause

By 12 to 18  months children should be exhibiting a majority of these skills in his or her motor and speech-language development.

Motor Development

• Walks well
• Likes to run, but can’t always stop and turn well
• Drinks from a straw
• Feeds self with a spoon
• Helps wash hands
• Stacks 4 to 6 blocks
• Tosses or rolls a large ball
• Opens cabinets, drawers, and boxes
• Bends over to pick up toy without falling
• Walks up steps with help
• Takes steps backward
• Enjoys sitting on and moving small-wheeled riding toys
• Begins to gain some control of bowels and bladder; complete control may not be achieved until around age 3 (boys often do not complete toilet training until age 3 ½)

Speech, Language and Cognitive  Development

• Has a vocabulary between fifty and one hundred words
• Uses two to three word sentences
• Echoes single words that are spoken by someone else
• Talks to self and “jabbers” expressively
• Has “favorite” toys
• Likes to choose between two objects

Hums or tries to sing

Listens to short rhymes or finger plays

Points to eyes, ears, or nose when asked

Uses the words “Please” and “Thank you” if prompted

Makes animal sounds such as “moo”

Social and Emotional Development

Likes to imitate others

Begins to show signs of independence; says “no”

Has difficulty sharing

Very possessive

Finds it difficult to wait and wants it right now!

Gets angry sometimes and has temper tantrums

Acts shy around strangers

Comforts a distressed friend or parent

Refers to self by name

Uses the words “me” and “mine”

Enjoys looking at picture books

Tries to do many things alone

Enjoys adult attention

Enjoys pretending (wearing hats, talking on phone)

Enjoys exploring; gets into everything, and requires constant supervision

Generally unable to remember rules

Often gets physically aggressive when frustrated; slaps, hits, etc

Shows affection by returning a hug or kiss

May become attached to a toy or blanket

Motor Development

Walks up and down stairs by holding onto railing

Feeds self with spoon

Experiments by touching, smelling and tasting

Likes to push, pull, fill and dump

Can turn pages of a book

Stacks 2 to 4 objects

Scribbles with crayons or markers

Walks without help

Walks backwards

Tosses or rolls a large ball

Stoops or squats

Opens cabinets, drawers

Can bend over to pick up toy without falling

Speech, Language, and Mental Development

Enjoys simple stories, rhymes and songs

Uses 2 to 3 word sentences, such as “I do it!”

Says names of toys

Hums or tries to sing

Enjoys looking at books

Points to eyes, ears, or nose when asked

Repeats words

Understand and uses pronouns

Motor Development

Develops a taller, thinner, adult-like appearance

Develops a full set of baby teeth

Sleeps 10 to 12 hours at night

Sleeps through most nights without wetting the bed (occasional accidents are still quite common)

Uses the toilet with some help (many boys may not be ready for toilet learning until 3 ½)

Puts on shoes (but cannot tie laces)

Dresses self with some help (buttons, snaps, zippers)

Feeds self (with some spilling)

Tries to catch a large ball

Throws a ball overhead

Kicks a ball forward

Hops on 1 foot

Walks short distance on tip toe

Climbs up and down a small slide by self

Pedals a tricycle

Speech, Language, and Mental Development 

75 to 80 percent is understandable; talks in complete sentences of 3 to 5 words: “Mommy is drinking juice.”  “There’s a big dog.”

Stumbles over words sometimes; usually not a sign of stuttering

Listens attentively to short stories; likes familiar stories told without any changes in words

Repeats words and sounds

Enjoys listening to stories and repeating simple rhymes

Able to tell simple stories from pictures or books

Enjoys singing and can carry and simple tune

Understands “now,” “soon,” and “later”

Asks who, what, where, and why questions

Stacks 5 to 7 blocks

Enjoys playing with clay or play dough (pounds, rolls, and squeezes it)

Puts together a 6 piece puzzle

Draws a circle and square

Recognizes everyday sounds

Matches objects and pictures

Identifies common colors

Can count 2 to 3 objects

Can answer the question, “Are you a boy or a girl?”

Motor Development

Uses a spoon, fork, and dinner knife skillfully

Needs 10 to 12 hours sleep each night

Dresses self without much help

Walks a straight line

Hops on 1 foot

Pedals and steers a tricycle skillfully

Jumps over objects 5 to 6 inches high

Runs, jumps, hops, skips around obstacles with ease

Stacks 10 or more blocks

Forms shapes and objects out of clay or play dough

Threads small beads on a string

Catches, bounces, and throws a ball easily

Speech, Language, and Mental Development

Can place objects in a line from largest to smallest

Can recognize some letters if taught and may be able to print name

Recognizes familiar words in simple books or signs (STOP sign)

Understands the concepts of tallest, biggest, same, more, on, in, under, and above

Counts 1 to 7 objects out loud

Understands order of daily routines (breakfast before lunch, lunch before dinner, dinner before bedtime)

Speaks fairly complex sentences: “The baby ate the cookie before I could put it on the table.”

Enjoys singing simple songs, rhymes, and nonsense words

Adapts language to listener’s level of understanding. To baby sister: “Daddy go bye bye.”  To Mother:  “Daddy went to the store to buy food.”

Learns name, address, and phone number if taught

Asks and answers who, what , when, why, where questions

Continues 1 activity for 10 to 15 minutes

Names 6 to 8 colors and 3 shapes

Follows two unrelated directions:  “Put your milk on the table and get your coat on.”

Motor Development

Able to dress self with little assistance

Learns to skip

Throws ball overhead

Catches bounced balls

Rides a tricycle skillfully, may show interest in riding a bicycle with training wheels

Uses a fork and knife well

Cuts on a line with scissors

Hand dominance is established

Jumps over low objects

Speech, Language, and Mental Development

Knows basic colors like red, yellow, blue, green, orange

Able to memorize address and phone number

Understands that stories have a beginning, middle, and end

Enjoys telling his or her own stories

Understands that books are read from left to right, top to bottom

Enjoys riddles and jokes

Draws pictures that represent animals, people, and objects

Enjoys tracing or copying letters

Sorts objects by size

Identifies some letters of the alphabet and a few numbers

Understands more, less, and the same

Counts up to 10 objects

Understands before and after, above and below (position words)

Is project-minded; plans building, play scenarios, and drawings

Interested in cause and effect