SmartBaby Checklist for Your Child
Check out these developmental milestones recommended by the U.S. Department of Education:
From birth to age 3, most babies and toddlers become able to:
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Make sounds that imitate the tones and rhythms that adults use when talking.
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Respond to gestures and facial expressions.
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Begin to associate words they hear frequently with what the words mean.
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Make cooing, babbling sounds in the crib, which gives way to enjoying rhyming and nonsense word games with a parent or caregiver.
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Play along in games such as "peek-a-boo" and "pat-a-cake."
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Handle objects such as board books and alphabet blocks in their play.
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Recognize certain books by their covers.
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Pretend to read books.
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Understand how books should be handled.
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Share books with an adult as a routine part of life.
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Name some objects in a book.
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Talk about characters in books.
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Look at pictures in books and realize they are symbols of real things.
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Listen to stories.
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Ask or demand that adults read or write with them.
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Begin to pay attention to specific print such as the first letters of their names.
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Scribble with a purpose (trying to write or draw something).
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Produce some letter-like forms and scribbles that resemble, in some way, writing.
Birth to Age 3
Ages 3-4
From ages 3-4, most preschoolers become able to:
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Enjoy listening to and talking about storybooks.
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Understand that print carries a message.
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Make attempts to read and write.
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Identify familiar signs and labels.
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Participate in rhyming games.
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Identify some letters and make some letter-sound matches.
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Use known letters (or their best attempt to write the letters) to represent written language especially for meaningful words like their names or phrases such as "I love you."