These can be thought as a checklist. They are age-specific tasks that most children can do at a certain age range. They are behavior or physical skills achieved by infants or children as they grow and develop.
While most of these milestones typically take place during a certain window of time, parents and caregivers must remember that each child is unique. Although each milestone has an age level, the actual age when a normally developing child reaches that milestone can vary quite a bit.
All kids develop at different rates. These developmental abilities also tend to build on one another.
When we talk about normal development, we are talking about four main developmental skill sets.
1. Fine motor (ability to coordinate small muscles in movements usually with the eyes).
-Fist clenched at rest: 1month.
-Hands predominantly open: 3months
-Hands come together in the midline: 4-5 months.
-Voluntary grasp and reaches out for object: 5months.
-Transfer of object from hand to hand: 6-7months.
-Ulnar grasp (grasping an object by pressing the fingers against the palm): 5months.
-Pincer’s grasp (grasping an object with just the thumb and forefinger): 10 months.
-Casting objects: 10-12 months.
-Makes towers of 2 cubes: 15months.
-Good use of cup and spoon: 18months.
-Scribbles circle: 21months.
2. Gross motor (refers to whole body movement).
-Neck control with slight head lag when pulled to sitting position: 3months.
-Bears weight on forearm when laying face downwards: 3months.
-No head lag, back straight: 5months.
-Rolls front to back: 4months.
-Rolls back to front: 5months.
-Sitting with straight back with supports: 5months.
-Sitting with no support: 6months.
-Pulls to stand: 9months.
-Walks holding unto furniture: 11months.
-Walks unsupported: 12-15months.
-Climbs stairs: 15months.
-Picks up toys without falling: 18months.
-Run, climbs up and down stairs: 24months.
3. Social\ cognitive.
-Quietens when talked to: 1month.
-Social smile: 2months.
-Follows object through 180 degrees: 3months.
-Laughs aloud: 4months.
-Smiles at images in the mirror: 5months.
-Searches for dropped toys: 6months.
-Feeds self with biscuit: 7months.
-Separation anxiety: 6-12months.
-Interactive games: 9months.
-Waves ‘bye-bye’: 10months.
-Learns to play: 12months.
-Feeds self with cup and spoon: 15months.
-Takes off socks or shoe: 18months.
-Parallel play(when children play alongside each other and do not try to influence one another’s behavior): 12-24months.
-Knows and names four parts of the body: 24months.
-Cooperative play: 36-48months.
-Babbling (with labial consonants ma, da, ba): 5-8months.
-Localizing sounds: 6months.
-Imitates sounds made by others: 9-12months.
-First clear words: 9-12months.
-Understanding one step command (go, come): 15months.
-Vocabulary-(10-50 words): 13-18months.
-Two word sentences: 18-24months.
-Three words sentences: 24-36months.
-Four words sentences: 36-48monhs.