Physical Social & Emotional Cognitive

✓ Rapid height & weight gain ✓ Concerned with satisfaction of needs ✓ From birth, infant begins to “learn” with
✓ Reflexes: sucking, grasping ✓ Smiles in response to caregiver’s eyes, ears, hands, etc.
✓ Lifts head voice ✓ Vocalizes sounds
✓ Responds to sounds by blinking, ✓ Prefers primary caregiver to stranger (coos)
startling, crying ✓ Smiles when faces evoke memories of
✓ Shows growing ability to follow pleasure
objects and to focus
Child Development Stages Matrix
0-3 Months
3-6 Months
Physical Social & Emotional Cognitive
✓ Rolls over ✓ Smiles and laughs socially ✓ Has recognition memory for people,
✓ Holds head up when held in sitting ✓ Responds to tickling places, and objects
position ✓ Begins to distinguish own image in ✓ Uses both hands to grasp objects
✓ Lifts knees, makes crawling motions mirror from others’ images ✓ Exhibits visual interests
✓ Reaches for objects ✓ Joins with caregiver in paying attention to
labeling objects and events (4-6 months)
6-12 Months
Physical Social & Emotional Cognitive
✓ Sits alone ✓ Indicates preference for primary ✓ Finds objects hidden repeatedly in one
✓ Feeds self-finger foods; holds own caregivers place, but not when moved
bottle (6-9 months) ✓ May cry when strangers approach ✓ Plays peek-a-boo
✓ Crawls, pulls up, and walks with (stranger anxiety) ✓ Has recall memory for people, places, and
support (9-12 months) ✓ Shows signs of separation anxiety objects (9-12 months)
✓ Baby teeth begin to emerge ✓ Repeats performances for attention (9- ✓ Imitates speech sounds
12 months) ✓ Says da-da and mama and knows who
✓ Drops objects on purpose for others to these people are (10-
pick up (10-12 months) 12 months)
✓ Uses preverbal gestures to communicate
(by 12 months)
12-18 Months
Physical Social & Emotional Cognitive
✓ Walks alone ✓ Extends attachment for primary ✓ Begins to show intentional behavior,
✓ Manipulates small objects with caregivers to the world; seems in love initiates actions (drops, throws, shakes,
improved coordination with the world and wants to explore bangs)
✓ Drinks from a cup with a lid and everything ✓ Is curious about everything around him or
uses a spoon ✓ Recognizes image of self in mirrors her
✓ Builds tower of 2 blocks ✓ Solitary or parallel play ✓ Sorts toys and other objects into groups
✓ Removes hat, socks, and shoes ✓ Fears heights, separation, strangers, ✓ Understands object permanence –
and surprises realizes objects exist when out of sight
and will look
for them
✓ Says first words (mama, dada, doggie,
bye-bye)
18-24 Months
Physical Socio-Emotional Cognitive
✓ Runs and walks up steps ✓ Likes to hand things to others as play ✓ Begins to make two word combinations
✓ Can help get undressed ✓ May have temper tantrums that mean something
✓ Drinks from a cup ✓ Shows affection to familiar people ✓ Imitates words readily and understands a
✓ Eats with a spoon ✓ Plays simple pretend, such as feeding lot more that he or she can say
✓ Scribbles spontaneously a doll ✓ Shows memory improvements,
✓ Loves to practice new skills ✓ Explores alone but with caregiver understand cause and effect; experiments
✓ Makes tower of 4 blocks close by to see what will happen
✓ Begins to sort shapes and colors
 2-3 Years
Physical Social & Emotional Cognitive
✓ Has developed sufficient muscle ✓ Has great difficulty sharing ✓ Is capable of thinking before acting
control for toilet training ✓ Has strong urges and desires, but is ✓ Explores language ability – becomes very
✓ Is highly mobile – skills are refined developing ability to verbal
✓ Uses spoon to feed self exert self-control ✓ Enjoys talking to self and others
✓ Throws and kicks a ball ✓ Wants to please parents but ✓ Loves to pretend and to imitate people
✓ Disassembles simple objects and sometimes has around him or her
puts them back together difficulty containing impulses ✓ Enjoys creative
✓ Has refined eye hand coordination ✓ Displays affection – especially for activities – i.e., block play, art
can do simple puzzles, string caregiver ✓ Thinks through and solves problems in
beads, stack blocks ✓ Initiates own play activity and occupies head before acting (has moved beyond
self action-bound stage)
✓ Is able to
communicate and converse
✓ Begins to show interest in peers
3-4 Years
Physical Social & Emotional Cognitive
✓ Continues to run, jump, throw, and ✓ Emotional self regulation improves ✓ Asks “why” questions – believes there is a
catch with better ✓ Understands taking turns and sharing reason for everything and he or she wants
coordination ✓ Self-conscious emotions become more to know it
✓ Walks up and down stairs, one foot common ✓ Engages actively in symbolic play – has
on ✓ Forms first friendships strong fantasy life, loves to imitate and
each step ✓ Shows concerns for a crying friend role-play
✓ Rides tricycle ✓ May get upset with major changes in ✓ Speech can be understood by others
✓ Uses scissors routine ✓ Should be able to say about 500 to 900
✓ Can button and lace words
✓ Eats and dresses by self with ✓ Understands some number concepts
supervision ✓ Converses and reasons
✓ Uses toilet or pottychair; bladder ✓ Is interested in letters
and bowel control are usually ✓ Scribbles in a more controlled way – is
established able to draw circles, recognizable objects

4-6 Years
Physical Social & Emotional Cognitive
✓ Has refined muscle development ✓ Plays cooperatively with peers ✓ Is developing longer attention span
and is better coordinated, so that he ✓ Enhanced capacity to share and take ✓ Understands cause
or she turns and effect relationships
can learn new skills ✓ Recognizes ethnic and sexual ✓ Engages in more dramatic play and is
✓ Has improved identification closer to reality, pays attention to details
finger dexterity – ties shoes; draws ✓ Displays independence ✓ Is developing increasingly more complex
more complex picture; writes ✓ Protects self and stands up for rights and versatile
name ✓ Identifies with parents and likes to language skills
✓ Climbs, hops, skips, and likes to do imitate them ✓ Expresses ideas, asks questions, engages
stunts. Gross motor skills increase ✓ Often has “best friends” in discussions
in speed and endurance ✓ Likes to show adults what he or she ✓ Speaks clearly
can do ✓ Is able to draw representative pictures
✓ Continually forming new images of ✓ Knows and can name members of family
selfbased on how others view him or and
her friends
✓ Increased understanding of time
 6-9 Years
Physical Social & Emotional Cognitive
✓ Gradual replacement of primary ✓ May have a special friend ✓ Thought becomes
teeth by permanent teeth ✓ Likes action on television more logical, helping the child categorize
throughout middle childhood ✓ Enjoys books and stories objects and ideas
✓ Fine motor skills: writing becomes ✓ May argue with other children but ✓ Can focus on more than one characteristic
smaller and more legible; drawings shows cooperation in play with a of concrete objects
become more organized and particular friend ✓ Attention becomes more selective and
detailed and start to include some ✓ Self-concept includes identifying own adaptable
depth personality traits and comparing self ✓ Can us rehearsal and organization as
✓ Gross motor skills: with others memory strategies
can dress and undress alone; ✓ Becomes more responsible and ✓ Emotional intelligence is developing:
Organized games with rough- independent selfawareness and understanding of own
andtumble play become more ✓ Still obeys adults to avoid trouble feelings; empathy for the feelings of
common ✓ Can adapt ideas others; regulation of emotion; delaying
about fairness to fit varied situations gratification
✓ Vocabulary increases rapidly
✓ Makes the transition from “learning to
read” to “reading to learn”
✓ Carries on long conversation
9-11 Years
Physical Social & Emotional Cognitive

✓ Girls’ adolescent grown spurt ✓ Self-esteem rises ✓ Planning improves

begins ✓ Distinguishes between effort and luck ✓ Can apply several memory strategies at once
✓ Gross motor skills are better as causes of successes and failures; ✓ Long-term knowledge base grows in size and
coordinated (running, jumping, can become critical of others quickly organization
throwing and catching, kicking, ✓ Has adaptive set of strategies for ✓ Improves in cognitive self-regulation (monitoring
batting, and regulating emotion and directing progress toward a goal)
dribbling) ✓ Peer groups emerge ✓ Grasps double meanings of words as
✓ Reaction time improves, which ✓ Friendships are based on the reflected in comprehension of metaphors and
contributes to motor skill pleasure of sharing through activities humor
development or time spent together ✓ Improved understanding of complex
✓ Fine motor skills improve; depth ✓ Sibling rivalry tends to increase grammatical
cues evident in drawings through constructions
diagonal placement, overlapping ✓ Conversational strategies become more refined
objects, and converging lines
 11-15 Years
Physical Social & Emotional Cognitive
✓ Period of rapid ✓ Critical of adults; ✓ Thrives on arguments and discussions; challenges adults
skeletal and annoyed by ✓ Increasingly able to memorize, think logically; engage in introspection
sexual younger siblings; ✓ Can plan realistically for the future; may have interest in earning money
maturation obnoxious to live ✓ Is critical of own artistic products
✓ Preoccupation with ✓ Interested in world and community; may read
with body image ✓ Wants a great deal
✓ Acne may unreasonable ✓ Needs to feel important and believe in something
appear independence ✓ Social cognition:
✓ Boys ahead of ✓ Dramatizes and o Belief in an imaginary audience, that others are as preoccupied with one as
girls in exaggerates own oneself is (e.g., “everyone is looking at me”)
endurance and positions; has o Personal fable – belief in personal uniqueness (e.g.,
muscular many fears, “no one understands me”) and belief that self is invulnerable (“I won’t get hurt”)
strength worries, and tears ✓ Able to understand other points of view, but tends to be egocentric
✓ Rapid growth ✓ Resists any show
may mean large of affection
appetite but less ✓ Often moody;
energy anger is common;
✓ There is a wide resents being told
variation in what to do; rebels
beginning and at routines
completion of ✓ Intense interest in
puberty (body teams and
hair, organized,
increased competitive
perspiration and games; considers
oil production in membership in
hair and skin. clubs important;
Girls: breast has whole gang of
and hip friends
development, ✓ Girls show more
onset of interest in
menstruation. opposite sex than
Boys: growth in boys do
testicles and ✓ Recognizes that
penis, wet differences exist
dreams, between and
deepening of within groups
voice) ✓ May experience
✓ Increased prejudice,
possibility of discrimination, or
acting on sexual bias due to
desires ethnicity or
poverty
 15-21 Years

Physical Social & Emotional Cognitive

✓ By end of period, physically immature, ✓ Relationships with parents range from ✓ May lack information or self-
small, not showing signs of puberty/ friendly to hostile assurance about personal skills and
secondary sex characteristics (wide ✓ Usually has many friends and few abilities
range; girls mature earlier) confidants ✓ Continuing formal operational thought
✓ Poor motor skills, coordination ✓ Worries about failure with abstract,
✓ Lack of peer group rel. ✓ May appear moody, angry, lonely, idealistic, logical,
and identification with peers impulsive, selfcentered, confused, and hypotheticaldeductive reasoning,
✓ Can’t think hypothetically; doesn’t stubborn complex problem
consider consequences of actions ✓ Has conflicting feelings about solving, and critical thinking
dependence and independence ✓ May enjoy debating and arguing
✓ Can’t put him/herself in place of another;
✓ Girls may form identity and prepare for ✓ Has a strong sense of awareness
doesn’t consider how behavior
adulthood through establishing ✓ May be judgmental of adults or
affects others
relationships and emotional bonds peers if they do not do what
✓ Difficulty problem solving; doesn’t work
through systematically and weigh ✓ Interest in forming romantic is “fair”
solutions relationships part of separation task; ✓ Seriously concerned about the future
✓ Poor school performance implies separation from family ✓ Beginning to integrate knowledge
✓ Doesn’t reject or question parental ✓ Cultural differences may cause conflict leading to decisions about future
standards and express self through
clothes, hair, and other lifestyle
choices
✓ Poor self-esteem
✓ Emotional and behavioral problems
(anxiety, depression, withdrawal,
aggression, lack of impulse control, anti-
social behavior)
✓ Withdrawal from friends and from
activities once
enjoyed
✓ Changes in eating Abuse of alcohol or
drugs