Intellectual milestones

Watching your child’s intellect develop is incredible. Be on the lookout for these milestones.

6 TO 8 MONTHS

As your baby’s memory and attention span develop, you’ll see more and more signs that he’s not only absorbing information, but also applying this newfound knowledge. His greater mobility allows him to experience more things. He starts actively manipulating objects around him. He realises that he can transfer an object from one hand to another and is starting to form a sense of events and displacement (items being moved). He is starting to understand patterns of behaviour and he can add up individual occurrences into a coherent series of events, over which he even has some measure of control! By endlessly experimenting with this exciting new concept, he starts to develop a sense of self that is separate from you, and that the external world is not simply an extension of himself.

Your clever baby is starting to grasp the important concept of cause and effect. He will probably discover it accidentally one day, perhaps by bumping a toy, and then hearing it make a sound. As soon as he begins to glimpse that he was responsible for causing the sound, he will start testing the fascinating theory that his actions have consequences. He’ll test your reactions by for instance dropping a toy and waiting for you to pick it up. By responding (picking the toy up and giving it to him), you are encouraging him to test his theories.

Your tot is curious and is interested in new toys, sounds, places, people and discoveries. He recognises familiar sounds and places and is starting to understand routines, by anticipating what comes next. He develops the beginnings of a sense of sequence – “before” and “after” are beginning to be understood.

Your baby will also experiment with altering his movements to test how the results differ. In this way he learns new ways of doing things. He discovers that he can pull an object closer by a string, or that he can turn an object in order to fit it through the bars in his cot, for instance.

8 TO 12 MONTHS

Your baby’s greater mobility affords him ample opportunity for new discoveries. Through a process of trial and error he slowly begins to form behaviour patterns. He is starting to imitate behaviours intentionally and you can see him acting deliberately, with a goal in mind. He is beginning to demonstrate independence by wanting to feed himself.

At around 8 months, he develops object permanence – the knowledge that an object continues to exist even if he can’t see it. A younger baby will

lose interest if a toy is covered or hidden, but your 8-month-old will start looking for it.

At around 8 months, too, your baby starts understanding words, and he knows the meaning of “no”. By 9 months he recognises familiar songs and rhymes and turns his head if you call him by name. He is becoming familiar with routine behaviours, such as waving bye-bye. He searches for hidden objects. By 11 months your little one can point at objects in a book, but his attention span is still very short.

12 TO 18 MONTHS At about a year old, toddlers show a cognitive leap forward as their thinking becomes more complex. They use objects as tools, such as for example “raking” a toy closer with a stick. Your child starts to experiment with objects to see what they can do.

He is intensely interested in books and enjoys being shown things in them. He can repeat his name and shake his head “no”. He starts understanding simple questions and loves jokes and silliness.

By 15 months he knows some body parts and can correctly identify some objects in a book. He can make animal sounds and can complete simple instructions. He understands the concept of “dog”, whether in a book or in real life. By 18 months he can complete a task that requires thinking and memory, such as “go fetch your cup”.

18 TO 24 MONTHS Your toddler is starting to use even unfamiliar items without having any previous experience of them. He can recognise qualities such as colour, size and form. He begins to see himself as an entity more and more. He is however still very egocentric because at this age toddlers are only able to focus on their own point of view and they ignore others’ perspectives. From 21 months he will ask for things he needs or wants.

2 TO 3 YEARS

Your child still learns primarily through his senses, but the process of learning becomes more cognitive and involves thinking, too. His verbal understanding is good and he starts to have mental images in his brain of items, actions and concepts. He is able to solve problems in his head without always having to test the theory in practice. His memory is developing well and he is starting to understand the concept of time. He will understand if you tell him, “When you’ve finished eating, we are going to play”.

He is beginning to understand relationships between things. He can figure out which shape goes where in the shape sorter or puzzle frame without having to test it first. Your two-year-old is also starting to understand the point of counting, and the number two now has particular significance for him. Negotiation and argumentation is difficult if not impossible with a twoyear-old. He sees everything in simple, concrete terms and can easily confuse fantasy and reality. Choose your words carefully. You might tease him with, “If you eat any more, you’ll explode!”, only to find your poor child has taken you quite seriously.

A two-year-old’s thirst for knowledge is insatiable and he can identify and describe familiar objects. He loves paging through books and discussing the pictures. He can follow more complicated instructions and will be able to go and look for – and find – a toy he was playing with earlier. He knows one or two nursery rhymes and will sing along with you to a song.

3 TO 4 YEARS

Welcome to the world of “Why?” A three-year-old wants to know, and will listen attentively to your answer as long as it’s short and simple. But his abstract questions are often difficult and you’ll sometimes be stumped for an answer! Your little one might struggle to understand why there can’t be a simple answer for everything and become frustrated – don’t shy away from admitting that you don’t know something, but do take his enquiries seriously, as this will broaden his mind and field of enquiry, his knowledge and his curiosity, and help him think more clearly.

Your child still argues one-sidedly. He cannot see another perspective easily and cannot solve problems that require bearing two factors in mind.

His understanding of time improves. He knows his daily routine and will begin to understand yours, too. He understands that some important events, such as birthdays or Christmas, only happen once a year, but he can’t understand how long a year is.

His short-term memory has developed to the extent that he can remember information for a short time and accurately repeat it. But he may confuse cause and effect and coincidence and therefore connect two unrelated events. Your three-year-old understands numeric values and is able to count the first few numbers in order, but may soon miscount.

He is starting to understand gender roles and he likes fantasy play.