## 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: Arm movements

#### Age: 4-6 Months

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### Prone: Initially, hands slide forward, corralling object; later, reaches with one arm while weight is on other forearm

Situations for Observation of Skill

Observe the infant on her stomach.

Elicitation Strategy

Prone: The adult puts a small object slightly in front of the infant.

Behavior Observed

The infant in the early phase of the age range rises up on forearms and slides both arms forward to get the object. Later, the infant shifts her weight to one forearm and shoulder and reaches with one hand.

Routines-based Intervention (Embedded Instruction)

Encourage early childhood educators and parents to play with infants in many positions, so the infant discovers how different patterns affect vision and reaching. Early childhood educators and parents can place infants in side-lying, sitting, on the back, and on the stomach for different experiences. Use familiar objects, so the child comes to anticipate the size and weight of each object. After a time, introduce a new object to explore.

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/.