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

#### Domain: NC Foundations for Early Learning: Health and Physical Development (HPD)

#### Subdomain: Motor Development

#### Goal: Children develop small muscle control and hand-eye coordination to manipulate objects and work with tools.

#### Skill Progression: Reach/Grasp/Release

#### Age: 4-6 Months

Click here to go to all skills for ages 4-6 Months.

### Release: Two-stage transfer - one hand holds object, second hand joins hold, first hand releases

Situations for Observation of Skill

Observe the infant playing with a small object such as a block or toy animal.

Elicitation Strategy

No elicitation needed.

Behavior Observed

In the early stage of this range, the infant demonstrates a palmer grasp. As the child matures, the object moves from the palm toward the thumb-side of the palm and the thumb is actively involved in the grasp.

Routines-based Intervention (Embedded Instruction)

Explain to early childhood educators and parents the development of grasp, from the little finger side of the palm to the thumb-side and from the palm to the fingers to the thumb and forefinger. It is fun for early childhood educators and parents to watch this trajectory evolve over time.

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/.