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 form relationships and interact positively with familiar adults who are consistent and responsive to their needs.

Skill Progression: Separation

Age: 33-36 Months

You may choose a different domain, go back, or click on a skill below for more information.

Dramatic play may reflect separation or conflicts with adult (punishment of doll)

Situations for Observation of Skill

Observe the child playing with dolls and props from daily activities.

Elicitation Strategy

Suggest that the child go shopping and leave his baby with a babysitter. Offer to play the role of babysitter.

Behavior Observed

How the child handles the separation with the baby doll may be a re-creation of what his parents do with him to handle separation. It is also a reflection of how the child feels about separation.

Routines-based Intervention (Embedded Instruction)

Early childhood educators and parents can use dramatic play as a means of talking about issues that are reflected in the child’s play. (“How does that baby feel? What would make him feel better?”)

 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/.