North Carolina Early Learning and Development Progressions: Birth to Five

Domain: NC Foundations for Early Learning: Emotional and Social Development (ESD)

Subdomain: Learning About Feelings

Goal: Children recognize and respond to the needs and feelings of others.

Skill Progression: Recognizes and responds to needs and feelings of others

Age: 21-24 Months

Click here to go to all skills for ages 21-24 Months.

Uses words relating to mental state for self and others (e.g., happy, sad, want, like)

Situations for Observation of Skill

Observe the child in daily routines and in play interactions with another. Have props for acting out daily routines (dishes, food, blanket, pillow, etc.)

Elicitation Strategy

Children of this age are beginning to dramatize routines. Engage in play related to states, such as “hungry,” “tired,” “sick,” etc., as well as feelings. “That makes me sad.”

Behavior Observed

The child responds to the states and feelings of the other players (peers, siblings, adults).

Routines-based Intervention (Embedded Instruction)

Encourage early childhood educators and parents to engage in dramatic play activities with the child. They will have an opportunity to model being caring and allow the child to practice different ways to influence others feelings and actions.

 North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, 2015

©2015 by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/.