## 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 identify and use common shapes and concepts about position during play and other activities.

#### Skill Progression: Spatial understanding

#### Age: 12-15 Months

You may choose a different domain, go back, or click on a skill below for more information.

### Makes a detour to get to an object

Situations for Observation of Skill

During playtime provide a favorite object. Then set it behind a chair, cushion or other barrier.

Elicitation Strategy

Ask the child where a favorite object or toy is (one with a label the child understands, such as “Blanky,” “Nemo,” etc.)

Behavior Observed

The child at this level will understand that she can move around barriers to get what she wants. This demonstrates awareness of space.

Routines-based Intervention (Embedded Instruction)

Explain how finding things on their own (rather than having the adult get them) helps children learn to map their environment. Parents are well aware of their child’s movement patterns (motor skills). Tell them what this means about the child’s spatial understanding.

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/.