Childhood Development
Age
3 months
6 months
12 months
18 months
Motor
sensorimotor play/ exploration,
reach and touch objects, visual
tracking, recognizes faces,
reflexes (rooting, sucking,
stepping)
Exploratory and sensorimotor
play, mature manipulation of
objects, crawls or walks to
explore environment, chewing
more proficient, oral-motor
movements refined as speech
develops
Gross motor play,
walking, running,
climbing, more complex
fine motor play, likes to
throw,
Cognitive
Repeat behaviors that produce
a result, interested in
environment, recognizes family
members faces, coos and
babbles
Reach, touch, grasp objects
with both hands, simple cause
and effect, supine – reaches
over head for toys, plays on
floor, communicate through
facial expressions, interactive
play with caregiver and begins
to notice others, sitting posture
and head/ trunk control
improve, self-feed
Coordinate schemes applied to
external objects to accomplish
goal, simple motor movements
and sounds, recognizes name,
begins to use tools
Begins to understand that
objects exist even if they
cannot be seen, search for
hidden objects, problem
solving with trial and error,
likes peek-a-boo,
representation images and
objects
Basic preschool skills,
identifying name, body
parts, age, colors, shapes,
discovers mechanisms,
such as winding up a toy,
carrying out a pretend tea
party, speaks in small
sentences
Eye contact with others, may
begin to show distress when
caregiver leaves, vocalizing
needs and emotions
Waves bye-bye, interact with
others, recognizing
themselves, mimicking
behaviors, separation anxiety
Shows affection, asserts
intention with language
or tantrum, clingy
behavior,
Smiling, mimicking, kicking and
playing with caregiver,
communicates with cry
Socioemotional
Citations:
Shelley Mulligan, “Occupational Therapy Evaluation for Children  Pp. 101, 112-113, 136, 138, 142