11/13/24, 7\:00 PM Guide | Developmental milestones

Developmental milestones

Table of contents

Introduction

Children acquire functional skills throughout their childhood and we use the term ‘development’ to describe those skills
acquired between birth and approximately 5 years of age. It’s important we’re able to recognise these skills as they are useful
to track a child’s progress as they grow and to allow identi
key in the management of developmental delay – making the knowledge of these key age-related moments or
‘developmental milestones’ all the more important.

Areas of development

Developmental milestones may be separated into four functional areas\:
Gross motor
Vision and
Hearing, speech and language
Social, emotional and behavioural
Developmental milestones must be considered in regards to their ‘median age of acquisition’ (when half of a standard
population of children achieve that level) and the ‘limit age’ by which they should have been achieved. Limit ages are generally
considered to be two standard deviations from the mean age of acquisition. If the skill is not achieved by this age, more
detailed assessment, investigation or intervention may be required. For instance, when considering the milestone of walking –
the median age is 12 months, with a limit age of 18 months.
Developmental milestones are acquired in a serial manner – one after the other – and their achievement follows a similar
pattern between children. Below is a list of milestones by median age of acquisition, sorted by functional areas.

Gross motor development

Age Milestone
Limbs
Newborn
6 - 8 weeks Marked head lag on pulling up
Raises head to 45 degrees in prone (tummy-time)
Sits without support (initially with a round back, then eventually with a straight back by 8 months)
6 - 8 months
L i m i t a g e \: 9 m o n t h s
8 - 9 months Crawling
Stands independently
10 months
Cruises around furniture
Walks unsteadily – a broad gait, with hands apart
12 months
L i m i t a g e \: 1 8 m o n t h s
15 months Walks steadily
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2.5 years Runs and jumps

Vision and

Age Milestone
6 weeks
4 months
4 - 6 months 7 months
10 months
16 – 18 months 14 months – 4 years
Brick building
2 – 5 years Follows moving object or face by turning the head (
L i m i t a g e \: 3 m o n t h s
Reaches out for toys
L i m i t a g e \: 6 m o n t h s
Palmar grasp
Transfers toys from one hand to another
L i m i t a g e \: 9 m o n t h s
Mature pincer grip
L i m i t a g e \: 1 2 m o n t h s
Makes marks with crayons
Tower of three – 18 months
Tower of six – 2 years
Tower of eight or a train with four bricks – 2.5 years
Bridge (from a model) – 3 years
Steps (after demonstration) – 4 years
Line – 2 years
Pencil skills (see below)\:
Circle – 3 years
D r a w i n g w i t h o u t s e e i n g h o w i t i s d o n e .
Cross – 3.5 years
C a n c o p y 6 m o n t h s e a r l i e r .
Square – 4 years
Triangle – 5 years

Hearing, speech and language development

Age Milestone
Newborn Startles to loud noises
3 – 4 months Vocalises alone or when spoken to, coos and laughs " a a , a a"
Turns to soft sounds out of sight
7 months
Polysyllabic babble ( “ b a b a b a b a , l a l a l a l a l a” )
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7 – 10 months
Sounds used indiscriminately at 7 months
Sounds used discriminately to parents at 10 months " D a d a , M a m a"
Two to three words other than ‘Dada’ or ‘Mama’
12 months
Understands name " D r i n k"
6-10 words
18 months
Is able to show two parts of the body
" W h e r e i s y o u r n o s e ?"
- B a b y w i l l p o i n t
20 - 24 months Joins two or more words to make simple phrases " G i v e m e t e d d y
"
Talks constantly in 3 – 4-word sentences
2.5 – 3 years
Understands 2 joined commands " P u s h m e f a s t D a d d y
"

Age Milestone
6 weeks
6 – 8 months 10 – 12 months 12 months 18 months 18 – 24 months
2 years
2.5 – 3 years
Smiles responsively
L i m i t a g e \: 8 w e e k s
Puts food in their mouth
Waves bye-bye, plays peek-a-boo
Drinks from a cup with two hands
Holds spoon and gets food safely to mouth
Symbolic play
L i m i t a g e \: 2 – 2 .5 y e a r s
Toilet training\: dry by day
Pulls o
Parallel play
Interactive play evolving
Takes turns

Tips for assessing development

Consider the child’s age and then using the above examples, focus your questions on the likely areas of current
developmental progress.
O
Observe how the child uses toys and interacts with people.

Red

Simpli
developmental delay (here is an example).
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References

Text references

Lissauer, T., Clayden, G., & Craft, A. (2012). I l l u s t r a t e d t e x t b o o k o f p a e d i a t r i c s . Edinburgh\: Mosby.
Tasker, R. C., McClure, R. J., & Acerini, C. L. (2013). O x f o r d h a n d b o o k o f p a e d i a t r i c s . Oxford\: Oxford University Press.
Child Development Program (2016). Red Flags Early Identind
Ed. Queensland Government. [LINK]

Images references

1. Gross motor\: "Stumbling Baby
" by Christopher is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
2. Vision and
"Shaelyn" by Mike Schmid, Flickr is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0
"Bubble Boy
" by Mark Evans, Flickr is licensed under CC BY 2.0
"Baby Learns How To Grab 2" by Thomas, Flickr is licensed under CC BY 2.0
"This work" by Flickr is licensed under CC BY 2.0
3. Social, emotional and behavioural development\:
"First smile" by Upsilon Andromedae, Flickr is licensed under CC BY 2.0
"plum and stu by Sami Keinänen, Flickr is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0
"IMG_6591" by Abigail Batchelder, Flickr is licensed under CC BY 2.0
"Drinking Water" by Henry Burrows, Flickr is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0
"Open wide" by Alexis Millican, Air Force Medical Service Photos is licensed under CC BY 2.0
Source\: geekymedics.com
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