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

Goal: Children demonstrate a positive sense of self-identify and self-awareness.

Skill Progression: Awareness of self through actions

Age: 15-18 Months

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Uses trial-and-error to accomplish a goal (e.g., moves, shifts, rearranges, modifies)

Situations for Observation of Skill

Watch the child do a routine or engage with household materials that are not familiar (snap on/off lids and bowls of different sizes, measuring spoons, tissue and box, etc.)

Elicitation Strategy

Present a variety of materials and watch what the child does.

Behavior Observed

Does the child experiment with how to combine materials and shift them around? This rearrangement indicates the child has an idea of what should happen. He has a goal and is working to achieve it.

Routines-based Intervention (Embedded Instruction)

Explain to parents that allowing children to explore and experiment to figure out how to combine things does not require expensive puzzles or toys. Let the child play with materials in the cupboards when the adult is in the kitchen.

 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/.