September-Age Appropriate Expectations
Age Appropriate Expectations Beginning at birth, children progress through their development changing and growing physically, socially, and cognitively. This process involves learning skills such as sitting, crawling, walking, talking, and learning concepts like colors and shapes. It also involves skills such as following directions, being able to attend to an activity, and taking turns. Many of these skills are referred to as developmental milestones and help us to predict when most children will attain them. It is important to remember that although children tend to follow a fairly predictable course of development, each child is unique and may gain some skills a little sooner and some skills a little later than peers of the same age. Some children exhibit developmental delays and it is important to adjust the guidelines and expectations based on their current functioning and not the actual age of the child. For example, children who have not attained typical two year old skil...