Cognitive Development Milestones

Milestones Of Cognitive Development Cognitive Development Language and Literacy Development
Infants - Explores the world with senses by looking, mouthing, and grasping
- Initial reflexive actions become purposeful by four months
- As a new born scans faces
- Shows preference for contrast in visual display during first six month.
- Begins to focus attention and make choices after many interactions with people and things - Cries, coos, and responds to human language from birth
- Discriminate various speech sounds from as young as one month
- Participates in a “dialogue” of sound and gesture
- Beginning about four or five months, babbles strings of consonants and vowels, which finally shorten to one or two repetitions

- Imitates the behavior of others,

“dat” for “what is that?)
- Recognizes that actions, objects, and ideas are represented by words and understands multiword utterances (e.g. “kiss mommy”)

Toddlers - Relies on sensory information but increasingly able to recall and anticipate events
- Play largely physical involving the manipulation and exploration of objects
Engages in “pretend play” First words approximate adult sound patterns and are understood and used in context with family and other familiar caregivers - Distinguishes a few objects from many
- Begins to understand aspects of space and time (the park is near; grandma is far; we will go to the park tomorrow)
- Overextends concepts such as calling all animals dogs - Uses words differently from adults sometimes “underextending” (using a word less broadly) or overextending (using more broadly e.g. calls all beverages milk)
- Recognizes and repeats simple nursery