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 express positive feelings about themselves and confidence in what they can do.

Skill Progression: Expresses confidence in abilities and persistence toward goals

Age: 15-18 Months

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Pushes for autonomy and persists with tasks of moderate difficulty

Situations for Observation of Skill

Watch the child during daily living skills such as dressing, eating, and play activities.

Elicitation Strategy

No elicitation needed.

Behavior Observed

The child resists help or takes items from the adult, communicating he wants to do the task by himself. If the child persists with the task after protesting, it indicates desire for autonomy rather than negative behavior.

Routines-based Intervention (Embedded Instruction)

Help early childhood educators and parents understand that resistance to requests may be a demand for autonomy. Allow the child to do as much as he can before offering assistance. When assistance is provided, let the child finish the task.

 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/.