Five by Five—a Parent's 5 Minute Guide to 5 Areas of Development

You can expect to see a child's skills developing each month skills doctors refer to as "developmental milestones." Most parents get excited about major milestones such as when their child walks or says their first word. These milestones are important because they are good indicators of possible language, motor skill, social/emotional, or cognitive delays, autism or other learning disabilities.

Make the First Five Count for your child. Recognizing a problem in these five areas of development is your very first step to ensure your child gets the services he or she needs early at the time they can benefit the most. If a child misses a milestone, or if something doesn't feel quite right, notify your doctor it might indicate a problem. The most important thing for parents is to follow their instincts and share their concerns with their pediatrician.

Area 1 Cognitive: Thinking skills: including learning, understanding, problem-solving, reasoning, and remembering.

Your child should...

• Respond to his name when called by age 1
• Identify hair, eyes, ears, nose and mouth by pointing to them by age 2
• Understand simple stories told or read by age 3
• Give reasonable answers to simple questions such as, “What do you do
  when you are sleepy?” or “What do you do when you are hungry?” by age 4
• Understand the meaning of the words “today,” “tomorrow” and “yesterday” by
  age 5

Area 2 Sensory: Interaction with the environment; reaction to and recognition of sights, sounds, textures and smells.

Your child should...

• Respond to music with body motion by age 1
• Explore surroundings by age 2
• Recognize sounds in the environment by age 3
• Recognize red, yellow and blue by age 4
• Know spatial relations (like "on top" and "far") by age 5

Area 3 Language: Speaking; using body language and gestures, communicating, and understanding what others say.

Your child should...

• Say "mama" and "dada" by age 1
• Say 8-10 words you can understand, including names by age 2
• Talk in short sentences by age 3
• Know last name, name of street, several nursery rhymes by age 4
• Have a vocabulary of about 1500 words by age 5

Area 4 Social/Emotional: Interacting with others; having relationships with family, friends, and teachers, cooperating, and responding to the feelings of others.

Your child should...

• Play games such as peek-a-boo, patty cake and wave good-bye by age 1
• Imitate behavior of others, especially adults and older children by age 2
• Views self as a whole person involving body, mind, and feelings by age 3
• Play group games such as hide-and seek or tag with other children by age 4
• Share and take turns by age 5

Area 5 Movement: Using large groups of muscles to sit, stand, walk, run, etc., keeping balance, and changing positions (gross motor skills); or, using hands to be able to eat, draw, dress, play, write, and do many other things (fine motor skills).

• Crawl on hands and knees by age 1
• Turn pages in a book by age 2
• Walk down steps by age 3
• Balance on one foot for a short time by age 4
• Throw and catch a large ball bounced to him by age 5

If you suspect your child may have a problem, don't delay. Contact your family doctor, public health nurse, or Easter Seals in your area immediately.

Download Five by Five—a Parent's Guide 5 Areas of Development (PDF)