| Please understand that each child developes at a different rate... ...these are simply guideline milestones |
| Emotional Development Skills |
| 0-3 months = Feels and expresses three basic emotions; interest, distress and disgust. Cries to signal a need. Quiets in response to being held, typically. feels and expresses enjoyment. Shares a social smile. Reads and distingguishes adults facial expressions. Begins to self-regulate emotional expressions. Laughs aloud. Quiets self by using techniques such as sucking thumb or pacifier. |
| 4-6 months = Expresses delight. Responds to the emotions of caregivers. Begins to distinguish familar from unfamiliar people. Shows a preference for being held by a familiar person. Begins to assist with holding a bottle. Expresses happiness selectively by laughing and smiling more with familiar people. |
| 7-9 months = Responds to social events by using the face, gaze, voice, and posture to form coherent emotional patterns. Expresses fear and anger more often. Begins to regulate emotions through moving into or out of experiences. Begins to detect the meaning of others' emotional expressions. Looks to others for cues on how to react. Shows fear of strangers. |
| 10-12 months = Continue to exhibit delight, happiness, discomfort, anger and sadness. Expresses anger when goals are blocked. Expresses anger at the source of frustration. Begins to show compliance to caregiver's requests. Often objects to having playtime stopped. Begins eating with a spoon. Assists in dressing and undressing. Acts in loving, caring ways towards dolls or stuffed animals, typically. Feeds self a complete meal when served finger foods. Claps when successfully completes a task. |
| 13-18 months = Exhibits autonomy by frequently saying "no". Labels several emotions. Connects feelings with social behaviors. Begins to understand complicated patterns of behavior. Demonstrates the ability to communicate needs. May say "no" to something they want. May lose emotional control and have temper tantrums. Shows self-conscious emotions such as guilt, shame and shyness. Becomes frustrated easily. |
| 25- 36 months = Experience increase in number of fears. Begins to understand the consequences of basic emotions. Learns skills for coping with strong emotions. Seeks to communicate more feelings with specific words. Shows signs of empathy and caring. Loses control of emotions and throws temper tantrums. Able to recover from temper tantrums. Enjoys helping with chores such as cleaning up toys or carrying grocery bags. Begins to show signs of being ready for toileting. Desires that routines be carried out exactly as had been done in the past. |
| 19-24 months = Expresses affection to others spontaneously. Acts to comfort others in distress. Shows the emotions of pride and embarassment. Uses emotion words spontaneously in conversations or play. Begins to show sympathy to another child or adult. Becomes easily hurt by criticism. Experiences a temper tantrum when goals are blocked on occasion. Associates facial expressions with simple emotional labels. |
| Cognitive Development |
| Emotional Development |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |