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Children learn new skills every day, and it can be challenging to keep up with when and what they should be doing. This section is dedicated to providing a basic lists of skills acquired by the end of each year of life up until school age. If your child is not achieving goals according to typical development, you may want to take notice and seek a prescription from your primary care physician to have an evaluation completed by a therapist. Areas of development have some overlap across disciplines. In general, cognitive-perceptual (CP), fine motor (FM) and self-care (SC) skills would be addressed by an occupational therapist. Gross motor (GM) skills would be addressed by a physical therapist. Finally, language (LA) and social/emotional (SE) skills would be addressed by a speech therapist.
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Infants
CP: Bangs Objects
FM: Claps hands
GM: Pulls to stand
LA: Babbles
SC: Licks spoon
SE: Plays peek-a-boo -
One-year-olds
CP: Activates toys
FM: Holds crayon with fingers
GM: Climbs into adult chairs
LA: Uses simple phrases
SC: Sucks through a straw
SE: Puts away toys -
Two-year-olds
CP: Matches colors and shapes
FM: Snips with scissors
GM: Throws a ball several feet
LA: Refers to self by name
SC: Begins to use a fork
SE: Shares toys with others
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Three-year-olds
CP: Matches letters and numbers
FM: Draws a cross
GM: Walks backwards
LA: Speaks in 3-5 word sentences
SC: Puts on socks and shoes
SE: Notices other people’s feelings -
Four-year-olds
CP: Imitates 5 to 6-piece block designs
FM: Draw basic shapes & some letters
GM: Hops forward on one foot
LA: Speaks in complex sentences
SC: Dresses self including fasteners
SE: Understands concept of lying -
Five-year-olds
CP: Understands opposites
FM: Writes own name
GM: Jumps rope
LA: Speaks fluently
SC: Ties shoelaces
SE: Distinguishes right from wrong