North Carolina Early Learning and Development Progressions: Birth to Five

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

Subdomain: Developing a Sense of Self

Goal: Children demonstrate a positive sense of self-identify and self-awareness.

Skill Progression: Awareness of self through emotional expressions and verbalizations

Age: 2-4 Months

Click here to go to all skills for ages 2-4 Months.

Smiles at self in mirror

Situations for Observation of Skill

Watch after the baby’s bath when drying him off in front of the mirror.

Elicitation Strategy

Hold the baby close to a large mirror or hold a hand-held mirror 8-10 inches from the baby’s face.

Behavior Observed

Watch the child’s response to seeing his mirror image. Staring and smiling may be seen.

Routines-based Intervention (Embedded Instruction)

Mirror play encourages the infant to become familiar with his characteristics. This can be part of bath time, diapering, or playtime.

 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/.