Page 9 - LESSION 8.pmd

Stages of Child Development : –Prenatal; and –Birth to Three Years

to pick up the components of speech and the way words form sentences.
They even start recognising their names.

Notes
7 Months to 10 Months
Increased capacities in almost all domains of development allow infants to do
more with their bodies. They start to interact better with the objects and with
people around them.

• Motor skills: By this age, most infants can roll over in both directions even
in their sleep. Some infants can sit on their own, while others need a little
support. One might notice that infants begin to rock back and forth, or even
crawl across the room. Some infants start making efforts to pull themselves
to a standing position.
• Eye- hand coordination: Infants start showing more refined fine motor

skills. Most infants at this age transfer objects from one hand to another
or directly to their mouths. Pulling objects closer with hands gives way
to more- refined movements, such as picking up objects with just the thumb
and forefinger. This improving dexterity helps the infant to handle a spoon
and soft finger foods.

• Communication: Infants now communicate through sounds, gestures and
facial expressions. One can hear plenty of laughing and squealing from
them. Infants might even respond to their own name. They can distinguish
emotions by tone of voice. They also try to repeat the sounds they hear.

10 Months to 12 Months

As children reach their first birthday, their actions become goal oriented and
they display relative precision in executing their plans.
• Motor skills: Most infants at this age can sit without help and pull
themselves to a standing position. Infants might use various forward
movements to explore new territory. Creeping, crawling and cruising along
the furniture will eventually lead to walking. By 12 months, the infants
might take their first steps without support.

• Eye-hand coordination: Most infants at this age can feed themselves
finger foods by grasping items between the thumb and forefinger. They
bang blocks or other objects together to enjoy the sound that results and
stack objects or nest them inside one another.
• Cognitive skills: You have read in the lesson 'Domains of Development'

that infants understanding of object permanence improves, they are able
to easily find hidden objects. Although they might cry if the mother is

EARLY CHILDHOOD CARE AND EDUCATION 111