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Uses trial-and-error to accomplish a goal (e.g., moves, shifts, rearranges, modifies)
Seeks adult’s praise when accomplishes a task
Pushes for autonomy and persists with tasks of moderate difficulty
Physically and verbally shows caring to adult
Separation anxiety peaks; vocalizes to an adult from a distance
Shows awareness of adult’s wishes and expectations
Uses conscience-like words (e.g., “no,” “don’t”) before doing something out of bounds
Demonstrates exaggerated facial expression as a game to get a response from an adult
Seeks out adult for comfort, but beginning to self-calm
Expresses caring for another vocally and physically
Climbs into adult chair to sit or stand up
Walks with legs closer together
Throws underhand while sitting
Maneuvers low climbers and baby slides
Walks while pulling or pushing toys
Begins to run stiffly, but falls easily
Walks into a ball to try to kick it
Skills combined into Reach/Grasp/Release
Reach: Reaches with lead and and assist hands
Small objects transferred from hand to hand, rather than palm to fingers
Holds crayon using fisted grasp
Reach: Alternates reach with first one hand, then the other
Grasp: Holds crayon using fisted grasp
Spontaneously scribbles on paper or other surface
Makes random marks in different directions
Tries to put shoes on, usually gets half way
Feeds self with spoon, turns in mouth, spilling
Minimal loss of food during chewing
Eats most meats and raw vegetables
Lifts cup to mouth with one hand, may tip or drop cup
Lifts foot for adult to put on pants or shoe
Washes hands with soap with help and direction
Indicates discomfort when soiled
Sits on the toilet for one minute alone
Visits the bathroom with adults and watches them
Identifies objects named in pictures by pointing
Points to at least 3 body parts
Follows single step directions
Understands that a questioning intonation implies a response is needed
Repeats words heard in conversations
Responds to requests for clarification (e.g., “huh,” “what?”)
Points to request actions or information
Uses single words with intonation to request actions (e.g., “up”)
Attempts to combine consonants and vowels into words
Reduces consonants (“boo” for “blue”)
Final consonant deletion evident (“be” for “bed”)
Eliminates some initial consonants
Accurately imitates some words
Uses commands ("Stop it" "Don't")
Pretends to sleep, eat, etc. with actions directed toward self
Incorporates familiar objects that adults have used into play (e.g., phone, comb, wash cloth, etc.)
Produces holophrastic speech (i.e., one word may mean many things)
Generalizes nouns to other similar objects
Produces a few verbs (e.g., kiss, kick, open, sleep)
Uses some descriptive words (e.g., cold, full, all gone, broken, some, more)
Uses positional words (e.g., down, up)
Carries a book around while walking
Holds a book open to look at it independently
Gets a book and gives it to the adult to read
Shows familiarity with text by saying words associated with a picture
Chooses books for adult to read by recognizing the picture on cover
Spontaneously scribbles on paper (or other surface) - no understanding of true writing
Uses a variety of objects together in different ways in trial-and-error
Recognizes and identifies familiar places and pictures of objects and people by pointing
Reflects thinking in problem solving with toys
Represents self and others in dramatic play
Makes decisions about activities and sequences of actions within activities
Imitate sounds, words, and movements
Pays attention to details of objects and people
Dances in different directions and in circles
Makes random scribbles with crayon or marker, begins to use fingers in grasp some of the time
Pretends to sleep, eat, talk on phone (Auto-symbolic play)
Interacts with new adults and children
Vocalizes to parents from a distance
Uses words “mama” and “dada” and maybe names of family members
Stares longer at persons of another race (recognizes difference)
Approaches other children (recognizes similarity in size, faces, and play preferences)
Recites numbers with no meaning
Time: Associates objects with events that occur (coat on is followed by going out)
Imitates patterns of movement and singing
Gets an object from another room
Turns a familiar picture or book right-side up
Explores the characteristics of animals, plants (pets the cat, pulls a flower petal)
Varies behaviors to see what the results will be (splashes in water)
 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/.