CHECKLIST

0 – 3 months YES NO

COMMUNICATION SPEECH
✓
● Makes eye contact

● Cries for different needs

✓

● Listen to your voice

✓

PHYSICAL
✓
● While lying on tummy, pushes up on arms

● Turns towards sound

✓

● Follows object with eyes

✓

SOCIAL and EMOTIONAL

✓
● Starts to smile between 2-3 months
COGNITIVE
✓
● Shows interest in human faces and object
INFANT (3 – 12 months)
COMMUNICATION SPEECH
FROM 3 MONTHS
✓
● Listens when spoken to and might respond
with babbling – learning about conversations
✓
● Reacts to noises (especially sudden ones)
FROM 7 – 9 MONTHS ✓

● Recognizes sound of own name

✓
● Follows some commands when used with
gestures
✓
● Looks at objects or people when you name
them
FROM 9 -12 MONTHS ✓

● Knows what ‘no’ means

✓
● May communicate with gestures and point
Might use protowords (made-up words with a consistent
meaning, e.g. ‘yumyum’ for food). At this point, they are
close to saying their first word.
PHYSICAL ✓

From 3 months:
● Able to sit upright
✓
● Can turn over or roll over
✓
● Explores the world, e.g., banging objects
and putting things in mouth
From 7-9 months: ✓

● Can grasp objects with one hand

✓
● Starts to crawl
✓
● Some children may stand
From 9-12 months: ✓

● Improved hand-eye coordination

✓
● May be able to walk when holding onto furniture
✓
● May be able to stand briefly without support
SOCIAL and EMOTIONAL

From 3 months:
• Laughs when happy and cries when annoyed or
frustrated

✓
● Starts to recognize familiar faces
✓
● Forms attachment to favorite toy
• Might begin to be shy in front of strangers ✓

From 9-12 months: ✓

• Shows distress when someone else is upset
• May become clingier and more anxious in the company of
others
✓
● Enjoys being with other babies but does not yet play with
them
COGNITIVE ✓

FROM 3 months

● Notices music
FROM 7 months ✓

● Enjoys dropping things and watching them fall (cause

and effect)
From 9-12 months: ✓

● Arranges objects into patterns and shapes

✓
● Tries new things
✓
● Looks for hidden objects in the right place

TODDLER (1-3 yrs.)

COMMUNICATION SPEECH ✓

From 1 year:
• Says first word
• May build up to using 5-10 different words by 18 ✓
months
• Responds to questions ✓

From 18 months ✓
• Uses at least 50 words
• Names objects and pictures ✓

• Begins to use two-word phrases (e.g., ‘me book’) ✓

• Speech is telegraphic (says main words but misses out ✓

connecting words)
• Uses simple pronouns (‘me’, ‘you’, ‘my’) ✓

• Can follow two-step directions (e.g., ‘pick up your coat and ✓

bring it to me’)
✓
● Enjoys listening to stories
• Talks to self during play ✓

From 2-3 years: ✓

• Startsto say first correct full sentences – grammar starts to
appear with three-word combinations
• Talks about what they’re doing as they do it ✓

✓
● Conversation skills improve – they respond to you more
often
PHYSICAL

From 1 year:
• May be able to stand and walk a few steps alone
• Sits up easily ✓
• Crawls fast

From 1-2 years: ✓

• More confident moving around
• Walking improves ✓

• Canuse a spoon to feed self ✓

• May drink from a cup ✓

From 2-3 years: ✓

• Can mostly dress/undress self, given enough time
 • Can use toilet alone ✓

• Can throw and kick a ball ✓

• Improved running ✓

• Jumps and hops ✓

✓
● Keen to climb
SOCIAL and EMOTIONAL ✓

From 1 year:
• Able to recognize self in mirror
• Starts to develop object permanence (the understanding that ✓
an object still exists, even if it can’t be seen or heard)
From 2-3 years: ✓
• Emotions are easily visible
• Wants to do things when they want to ✓

• May have tantrums ✓

• Plays alongside other children, but not together yet ✓

• More confident with strangers ✓

✓
● Some understanding that others have feelings
COGNITIVE ✓

From 1 year:
• Can point to named body parts
• Can identify familiar things in picture books ✓

From 2-3 years: ✓

• Can name colors
• Recognizes some letters ✓

• Can say numbers or count aloud (not necessarily in the ✓

right order)
• Increased logic: has some understanding of reality and make- ✓
believe; knows about cause and effect (e.g. touching a hot
oven will burn them)
✓
● Copies others increasingly

PRESCHOOL AGE (3-4 yrs.)

COMMUNICATION SPEECH

From 3 years:
• Masters difficult sounds, like the following: judge,
watch, and thing
• Speaks more clearly – strangers can understand them ✓

• Asks lots of questions (e.g., ‘what?’, ‘why?’, ‘how?’ ✓

PHYSICAL ✓

From 3 years:
• Can use a tricycle and other wheeled toys
• Can use a toothbrush and scissors ✓
 • Walks up and down stairs unsupported ✓

• Can catch a ball from a short distance away ✓

• Can draw a circle and a square ✓

• Can use a fork and a spoon ✓

SOCIAL and EMOTIONAL ✓

From 3 years:
• More at ease with others
• Begins to participate in games in small groups ✓

• Talks about feelings ✓

• Cooperates with other children ✓

• Role-plays (e.g., as mummy and daddy) ✓

✓
● Knows when they have done something wrong
COGNITIVE ✓

From 3 years:
• Memory is much better – knows if you sing a song or tell a
story incorrectly
• Can concentrate for up to 3 minutes ✓

● Looks through a book alone

• Knows numbers 1-10, but not necessarily in order ✓

✓
● Knows full name and gender

SCHOOL AGE (4-5 yrs.)

COGNITIVE ✓

From 4 years:
• Knows what is right and wrong
• Knows what it is to tell a lie ✓

• Basic grasp of numbers, colors, size and time ✓

• Understands routines ✓

• Understands comparisons like ‘bigger’, ‘faster’ ✓

• Can say name and address ✓

✓
● Understands words like ‘in front of’, ‘behind’, ‘next to’
COMMUNICATION SPEECH ✓

From 4 years:
• Uses more complex sentences (e.g., two clauses with
‘and’ in the middle – ‘you will be the prince and I will be
the princess’ – or subordinate clauses – ‘they go to sleep
when it’s bedtime’)
From 5 years:
• Can answer simple questions about stories
✓
● Recites nursery rhymes and sings songs
PHYSICAL ✓

From 4 years:
 • Can dress, eat and wash mostly independently
• Holds pencil properly ✓
• Can brush hair
✓
● Can walk along a straight line on the ground
SOCIAL and EMOTIONAL ✓

From 4 years:
• Likes to initiate conversations with others

• Makes friends ✓

• Has fewer arguments with other children ✓

• Talks about likes and dislikes ✓

• Uses lots of props in imaginative play ✓

• Shows anger through words and actions ✓

• Comprehends danger ✓

• May be bossy or show jealousy ✓

• Is proud of their achievements ✓

• Enjoys independence but still needs comfort and ✓

reassurance

• Is concerned about being disliked ✓