Today’s Parent Tip of the Week is brought to
you by Cleveland Hearing & Speech Center
The following list provides a rough outline of when certain motor and cognitive development milestones occur in infants and young children. Also, find out what parents can do at each stage to stimulate learning and promote literacy.
6 – 12 Months
Motor:
- reaches for book
- book to mouth
- sits in lap, head steady
- turns pages with adult help
Cognitive:
- looks at pictures
- vocalizes, pats pictures
- prefers pictures of faces
What Parents Can Do:
- hold child comfortably; face-to face gaze
- follow baby’s cues for “more” and “stop”
- point and name pictures
12 – 18 Months
Motor:
- sits without support
- may carry book
- holds book with help
- turns board pages, several at a time
Cognitive:
- no longer mouths right away
- points at pictures with one finger
- may make same sound for particular picture (labels)
- points when asked, “where’s…?”
- turns book right side up
- gives book to adult to read
What Parents Can Do:
- respond to child’s prompting to read
- let the child control the book
- be comfortable with toddler’s short attention span
- ask “where’s the…?” and let child point
18 – 24 Months
Motor:
- turns board book pages easily, one at a time
- carries book around the house
- may use book as transitional object
Cognitive:
- names familiar pictures
- fills in words in familiar stories
- “reads” to dolls or stuffed animals
- recites parts of well-known stories
- attention span highly variable
What Parents Can Do:
- relate books to child’s experiences
- use books in routines, bedtimes
- ask “what’s that?” and give child time to answer
- pause and let child complete the sentence
24 -36 Months
Motor:
- learns to handle paper pages
- goes back and forth in books to find favorite pictures
Cognitive:
- recites whole phrases, sometimes whole stories
- coordinates text with picture
- protests when adult gets a word wrong in a familiar story
- reads familiar books to self
What Parents Can Do:
- keep using books in routines
- read at bedtime
- be willing to read the same story over and over
- ask “what’s that?”
- relate books to child’s experiences
- provide crayons and paper
3 years and up
Motor:
- competent book handling
- turns paper pages one at a time
Cognitive:
- listens to longer stories
- can retell familiar story
- understands what text is
- moves finger along text
- “writes” name
- moves toward letter recognition
What Parents Can Do:
- ask “what’s happening?”
- encourage writing and drawing
- let child tell the story
