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 demonstrate the social and behavioral skills needed to successfully participate in groups.

Skill Progression: Behavioral regulation

Age: 15-18 Months

Click here to go to all skills for ages 15-18 Months.

Uses conscience-like words (e.g., “no,” “don’t”) before doing something out of bounds

Situations for Observation of Skill

Watch the infant during daily routines and play with the adult.

Elicitation Strategy

No elicitation may be needed, but the adult may place off limits items within the child’s reach if needed.

Behavior Observed

The infant talks to herself before acting, indicating that desired behavior is known. The infant uses self-talk to try to help her control her behavior.

Routines-based Intervention (Embedded Instruction)

Parents can teach the child to shake her head “no” when using the word when she is starting to reach for something off limits. Adults need to model the gesture and word with a firm but gentle tone of voice, and help the child physically withdraw from the event.

 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/.