## North Carolina Early Learning and Development Progressions: Birth to Five

#### Domain: NC Foundations for Early Learning: Cognitive Development (CD)

#### Subdomain: Mathematical Thinking and Expression

#### Goal: Children compare, sort, group, organize and measure objects and create patterns in their everyday environment.

#### Skill Progression: Patterning

#### Age: 1-2 Months

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### Sensitive to strong contrast

Situations for Observation of Skill

Observe the infant lying on her back, while looking at a mobile or objects held about 10 inches above the face.

Elicitation Strategy

Hold a picture in one hand and a black and white pattern in the other hand above the child.

Behavior Observed

Observe as the infant shifts gaze from one to another. She will gaze longer at the one with strong contrast.

Routines-based Intervention (Embedded Instruction)

Explain to new parents that the sharp contrast of the simple design is easier for the child to see. The infant sees lines and colors and does not yet assign meaning to the whole. The parents can select early toys and materials with this in mind, as these objects increase the infant’s attention and focus.

North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, 2015

©2015 by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/.