North Carolina Early Learning and Development Progressions: Birth to Five

Domain: NC Foundations for Early Learning: Health and Physical Development (HPD)

Subdomain: Self-Care

Goal: Children develop independence in caring for themselves and their environment.

Skill Progression: Eating/drinking

Age: 12-15 Months

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

Suck-swallow-breathe pattern coordinated during a long drinking sequence

Situations for Observation of Skill

Observe the child during a mealtime.

Elicitation Strategy

Provide a two-handled cup with a lid, a spoon, and chopped table foods in small bites. Have all items on the child’s high chair tray.

Behavior Observed

The child holds the two-handled cup independently and takes long drinks with pauses and breaths after several swallows.

Routines-based Intervention (Embedded Instruction)

Encourage parents to introduce a variety of different foods and textures to children when they are young. Parents can coarsely chop almost any vegetable or fruit and avoid highly sugared or salted processes foods. Children are also more motivated to eat when they can feed themselves. Provide opportunities for finger feeding, spoon-feeding, and cup drinking. Even if the adult is feeding the child, give the child a separate spoon to help.

 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/.