While all children develop at different rates, developmental milestones are a great way to track a child’s progress as they grow. Developmental milestones measure typical achievements at various ages of a child’s life, which can help parents determine if a child is on track in development.

Our friends at Help Me Grow focus on developmental milestones through the age of five. When a child is younger, developmental milestones are focused more on motor skills and movement – for example, at 6 months, is the child rolling over in both directions or beginning to sit with little help?

At 9 months, parents should look for improvement in motor skills including simple speech and responding to his or her name. At each age, you should see progression in both speech and motor skills. Some common milestones include:

• 12 months – Pulling to stand up, showing preference for certain people or toys, using simple gestures such as waving goodbye
• 18 months – Walking alone, saying three or more single words, scribbling with a crayon or pencil, showing interest in other children
• 2 years – Kicking a ball forward, pointing to things when named, using two or three words together
• 3 years – Building with blocks, creating a tower up to 6 blocks, showing concern and affection for others, playing make believe
• 4 years – Copying simple shapes, understanding the concept of same and different, playing cooperatively with other children
• 5 years – Speaking clearly in sentences of five or more words, counting 10 or more objects, wanting to please friends and wanting to be like friends

For more information about developmental milestones, visit helpmegrowmn.org.

Portions of this content, developed by Help Me Grow Minnesota, may have previously appeared elsewhere.