## 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: 10-12 Months

Click here to go to all skills for ages 10-12 Months.

### Adjusts grasp and reach to size and distance

Situations for Observation of Skill

Observe the child in floor play activities with poker chips, blocks, or other small items and several containers with loose lids. If desired, include a washcloth or tissue in which to wrap a small toy. Place the small items and containers around the child.

Elicitation Strategy

Observe the infant’s reach as he reaches for the larger containers and smaller toys.

Behavior Observed

The infant will use both hands to pick up the larger containers and one hand to reach for a smaller toy. This demonstrates his understanding of the different spatial amounts and need for modification of grasp.

Routines-based Intervention (Embedded Instruction)

Explain the importance of the child being able to experiment with containers to determine spatial relations. These do not have to be fancy toys. Parents can save gift boxes, food containers (cleaned), and small filling items such as large bottle caps or jar lids. Experimentation with sizes, spaces, and distances is important for young children.

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/.