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

#### Domain: NC Foundations for Early Learning: Emotional and Social Development (ESD)

#### Subdomain: Learning About Feelings

#### Goal: Children identify, manage, and express their feelings.

#### Skill Progression: Self-control

#### Age: 24-27 Months

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

### Acts out to gain independence from adult’s rules and control, aggression and anger increase

Situations for Observation of Skill

Observe the child during natural routines of the day.

Elicitation Strategy

As the child is able to move and perform actions independently, he begins to resists adult control. Observe responses to the adult trying to assist, tell the child what to do, or manage behavior.

Behavior Observed

The child may pull away from the adult, hit the adult, or knock items away that are offered. He wants to do things himself even though he is not quite capable. Adult assistance is rejected.

Routines-based Intervention (Embedded Instruction)

This stage is frustrating for early childhood educators and parents. Help the adults understand that these outbursts are part of normal, positive development. Assertion of independence is an important step for the child to gain autonomy and self-confidence. Encourage adults to let the child make decisions as much as possible and tolerate efforts that are not complete or just right.

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/.