North Carolina Early Learning and Development Progressions: Birth to Five

Domain: NC Foundations for Early Learning: Language Development and Communication (LDC)

Subdomain: Learning to Communicate

Goal: Children understand communications from others.

Skill Progression: Understand communication from others

Age: 12-15 Months

Click here to go to all skills for ages 12-15 Months.

Understands “where” questions (e.g., “Where is the blankie?")

Situations for Observation of Skill

Observe the infant during play with the adult. Have a variety of familiar toys or objects within view as well as some in another room.

Elicitation Strategy

Ask the adult to request a specific toy for them to play with, first from those near the child, and later one from another room.

Behavior Observed

The infant points to and/or vocalizes toward the desired items, showing comprehension of the “where” question.

Routines-based Intervention (Embedded Instruction)

Mobility now allows children to access more objects and engage in more exploration. This gives parents the chance to expand the child’s vocabulary with each new encounter or activity. Children learn nouns first, so label the name of the object rather than the characteristics (e.g., “Shoe” not “blue”).

 North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, 2015

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