15-18 Months

SOCIAL/EMOTIONAL

COGNITIVE

PLAY

LANGUAGE COMPREHENSION

LANGUAGE PRODUCTION

SELF-AWARENESS

  • Displays independent behavior
  • Demonstrates active curiosity
  • Continues to show a sense of humor
  • Becomes aware of self
  • Seeks to be the center of attention
  • Develops appreciation of body
  • Identifies two body parts

SELF CONTROL

  • Refuses by bodily protest
  • Demonstrates assertiveness
  • Begins to resist with tantrums
  • Becomes more demanding
  • Has shifting moods
  • Begins negative behavior (e.g. says "No")
  • Insists on doing things independently
  • Expresses anger by striking out at familiar people

INTERPERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS

  • Teases others
  • Learns familiar people's names
  • Depends on adult's reassuring presence
  • Shows or offers toy to adult
  • Is easily diverted and entertained
  • Enjoys picture book with other person
  • Hands toy to adult if unable to operate
  • Enjoys imitating adult behavior (e. g. imitates housework)
  • Indicates wants by pointing or vocalizing
  • Spontaneously waves bye-bye
  • May demonstrate reappearance of stranger anxiety
  • Interested in watching children's shows on television
  • Spontaneously hugs parent

SOCIAL PLAY

  • Takes turns with a partner, with no role switching
  • Engages in parallel play
  • Generates new versions of games
  • Offers toys to others

ADAPTIVE BEHAVIOR

  • Holds cup with some spilling
  • Spoon feeds with some spilling
  • Refuses foods
  • Cooperates in dressing by extending arms and legs
  • Removes shoes and socks
  • Indicates wet or soiled diaper

PROBLEM SOLVING

  • Uses non-systematic trial-and-error problem solving strategies
  • Uses a tool to obtain a desired object, after a demonstration (e.g. obtains toy with a rake)
  • Smiles upon attaining mastery of a self generated goal
  • Begins to recognize adult standards

CAUSALITY

  • Uses adults as means (e.g. brings wind-up toy to adult)
  • Knows causes for actions exist outside himself (e.g. lets ball roll down an incline)

CLASSIFICATION

  • Begins to spontaneously cluster objects sharing physical (color, shape, size) or functional similarities
  • Produces markings in drawings which reflect play with rhythm, number, groupings, and separations
  • Matches objects with common relational parts (e.g. round lid on tea pot)
  • Relates visual configurations (e.g. puts circle and square in formboard)

OBJECT PERMANANCE

  • Secures object hidden through a series of visible displacements
  • Begins to name absent objects/persons

MEMORY

  • Performs daily routines
  • Anticipates routine for future events

IMITATION

  • Repeats movements in proper sequence immediately following a model
  • Imitates drawing a stroke

ROLES

  • Mimics household activities
  • Uses pretend play props with self (e.g. sits on doll chair)
  • Directs functional acts to replicas
  • Points out familiar facial features on a doll
  • Uses self representationally (e.g. pretends to sleep when not bedtime)

ACTIONS

  • Acts without planning
  • Links schemes in simple combinations (e.g. stirs in cup and feeds doll)

OBJECTS

  • Uses most common objects and toys appropriately
  • Pretends with props that resemble realistic objects
  • Responds differentially to pictures

SPATIAL

  • Orients personal accessories grossly (e.g. places and wears sunglasses on neck)
  • Stacks in a vertical plane
  • Experiments with nesting
  • Combines objects with common relational parts (e.g. places lid on jar)
  • Experiments with dropping objects purposefully from different heights

SENSORY

  • Scoops and pours
  • Explores a variety of sensory substances without mouthing

AUDITORY PROCESSING

  • Responds approptiately to emotional tone of parent
  • Listens to adult naming pictures in a book

VOCABULARY/CONCEPTS

  • Identifies familiar people and objects on command
  • Begins to identify pieces of clothing
  • Identifies at least three body parts
  • Displays understanding of at least 5O words

COMMANDS

  • Retrieves a requested object from another room all of the time
  • Chooses an object from a group of three to four objects.
  • Follows simple one part commands without gestures
  • Begins to follow two commands with one object (e.g. pick up the baby and put it on the chair)

QUESTIONS

  • Answers 'where' questions
  • Answers simple 'what' questions
  • Answers simple 'yes/no' questions

VOCALIZATION/PHONOLOGY

  • Increases repertoire of consonant-vowel combinations
  • Imitates words and sounds more precisely

INTENTION/DISCOURSE

  • Expresses following pragmatic functions using words or words and gestures:
    -acknowledges other's speech
    -answers
    -comments on objects/actions
    -conveys humor
    -exclaims
    -greets
    -protests
    -requests objects/actions
    -responds
    -seeks attention
    -teases
    -warns

IMITATION

  • Exhibits deferred imitation of adults
  • Uses echolalia some of the time

SEMANTICS

  • Produces ten to fifteen words
  • Over generalizes the meaning of specific words (e.g. mom for all females)

SYNTAX

  • Has Mean Length of Utterance (M.L.U.) of 1.0 by eighteen months

15-18 Months

ORAL-MOTOR/FEEDING

GROSS MOTOR

FINE MOTOR

VISION/HEARING

HEALTH/PHYSICAL GROWTH

ORAL-MOTOR/FEEDING

  • Uses well coordinated pattern (three suck-swallow sequences) when drinking
  • Uses tongue tip elevation more during swallowing with cup drinking
  • Lateralizes food pieces more often in chewing
  • Uses tongue tip elevation for swallowing with chewing
  • Provides adequate seal for cup drinking with upper lip
  • Uses active lip movement in cup drinking with control at lip corners
  • Bites down on edge of cup for stabilization in drinking
  • Uses up-down, forward-backward jaw excursions if stabilization is not present
  • Uses a sustained bite
  • Uses smooth diagonal rotary movements in chewing

GROSS MOTOR

  • Walks sideways and backwards
  • Begins to squat in play
  • Walks at a fast rate
  • Carries object while walking
  • Seats self in small chair
  • Gets down stairs alone
  • Pulls toy behind while walking
  • Begins to throw a ball overhand while standing
  • Stands on one foot with help
  • Begins to display balance reactions in standing

FINE MOTOR

  • Exhibits mature prehension patterns at times
  • Demonstrates well controlled grasp and release of small objects
  • Begins to display a hand preference
  • Scribbles spontaneously
  • Places small objects in small container
  • Stacks three to four cubes
  • Uses both hands at midline, with one hand to stabilize while the other manipulates
  • Places pegs in pegboard
  • Removes and replaces round shape in formboard

VISUAL DISCRIMINATION

  • Recognizes several people in addition to immediate family
  • Points to distant objects outdoors
  • Picks up like objects

VISUAL MOTOR INTEGRATION

  • Scribbles freely

EYE/HAND COORDINATION

  • Demonstrates immediate distance fixation while mobile
  • Stacks three to four cubes

HEARING

  • Identifies sounds by direct localization
  • Identifies sounds coming from another room or outside
  • Responds to speech by following simple commands

HEALTH/PHYSICAL GROWTH

Nutrition:
  • Shows consistent growth but has decreased appetite due to decreased growth needs
  • Needs foods rich in iron (e.g., iron fortified cereals, red meat, pork or lamb, poultry, fish: foods containing vitamin C enhance iron absorbtion
  • Average 1000-1300 calories per day which includes:
    -three to servings of grains
    -two to three servings of vegetables
    -two to three servings of fruit,
    -one serving of meat, poultry, fish or legumes
    -three to four ounces of healthy snacks
    -three cups of whole milk or dairy equivalent or continued breast feeding
    (e.g., 1 serving of fruit, vegetable and grains range from 1/4 to 1/2 cup; serving size for meat and legumes is 2 ounces)
Health:
  • Sleeps 13-1/2 hours per 24 hour period
  • Continues immunizations per recommended guidelines

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Family Enrichment Program
ECHO Joint Agreement
Park Forest, IL