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 with Others

Goal: Children form relationships and interact positively with familiar adults who are consistent and responsive to their needs.

Skill Progression: Separation

Age: 8-10 Months

Click here to go to all skills for ages 8-10 Months.

Demonstrates separation distress and stranger anxiety

Situations for Observation of Skill

Adult leaves the room and/or a stranger picks up the child.

Elicitation Strategy

Stranger holds and/or plays with the infant.

Behavior Observed

The infant shows extreme distress at separation and/or attention from a stranger.

Routines-based Intervention (Embedded Instruction)

Let parents know that wanting to keep the adult in view is typical. Seeing the adult makes the baby feel safe and secure. Encourage parents to take the child to different rooms with them and let him explore these different environments.

 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/.