Child Development 12 Months:
Stages Of Development Of Your 12 Month Old Child

Child development 12 months...

... Every parent wants to know how their 12 month old child is doing. Is he developing at a normal rate? Is his development behind compared with other children?

The following is a list of some of the development you can expect your 12 month old child to achieve. This list is by no means complete but can help you to understand what your child is going through.

• His Physical Development
• His Gross Motor Skills
• His Fine Motor Skills
• His Sensory Development
• His Cognitive (intellectual) Development
• His Language Development
• His Emotional and Social Development

His Physical Development

By 12 months of age, most babies have grown a total of about 10 inches in length since birth. Head circumference usually increases about 0.25 inches to 0.5 inches per month.

His Gross Motor Skills

Your 12 month old child...

• Can stand alone for few minutes
• Can rise to a sitting position from lying down
• Can crawl on his hands and knees, bottom-shuffle or use his hands and feet to move quickly about the floor
• Is able to rise to a standing position without help from furniture or you
• Is able to cruise along using furniture as support
• Is likely to walk alone, with his feet wide apart and arms raised to maintain balance.

His Fine Motor Skills

• Is able to pick up small objects with a fine pincer grip between his thumb and the tip of his index finger
• Can point with his index finger at objects of interest
• Is able to release a small object into your hand
• Can hold a crayon in a palmer grasp, and turn several pages of a book at once
• Shows preference for one hand over the other
• Drops and throws toys deliberately…and look to see where its fallen
• Build with few bricks and arrange toys on the floor.

His Sensory Development

Your 12 month old child develops intelligently through his senses. Once he can move around he begins to explore his environment.

• He's able to see almost as well as you can…visual memory is very good
• Understands and responds quickly to his name…recognises familiar sounds and voices
• Stroke, pat and turn objects in his hands
• Shows good taste and judgement of different foods by taste, and show a preference for sweet, salty and fatty flavours
• Frequently enjoy watching television.

His Cognitive (intellectual) Development

Cognitive development is the process by which the brain develops the abilities to learn and remember.

Your 12-month child...

• Uses trial-and-error methods to learn about objects
• Hands objects to you when asked, and begin to treat objects in an appropriate way
• Responses become coordinated into more complex sequences
• Actions take on an "intentional" character such as reaching behind a screen to obtain a hidden object.

His Language Development

Your childs' brains are very open to learning, and he quickly absorbs the language around him. By the first year he can say a few words, like "mama" or "dada" and can understand many more.

• Understands simple instructions associated with a gestuure, such as 'come to Mummy'
• Can speak about 2-7 or more recognisable words
• Shows that he can understand more words
• Babbling develops into more speech-like form, with increased intonation.

His Emotional And Social Development

In a loving environment, your child will easily bond with you. A close bond provides a foundation for future relationships... he learns from you how to love and how to trust.

• Enjoys socialising at mealtimes, joining in conversation while showing the difficulty of self-feeding
• Understands simple instructions associated with a gesture
• Can speak about 2-7 or more recognisable words and show that he can understand more words
• Is emotionally liable... likely to have frequent changing moods
• Is closely dependent upon your reasurring presence
• Usually want a comfort object, such as a teddy or a piece of cloth
• Is still shy with strangers
• Is lovely towards familiar people
• Repeatedly throw objects to the floor in a playful or rejectful manner.

See Also...

• Child Development 6 Months
• Child Development 18 Months
• Child Development 2 Years
• Child Development 3 Years
• Child Development 5 Years
• Child Development 6 Years
• Developmental Milestones

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