OKEECHOBEE — All children go through five developmental skills. Even though children develop at different rates, they should do these by a certain age.

Physical development is the control of their movements.

Gross motor skills are the large movements of their arms, legs, head and trunk of their body. When a baby is 1 month old, they should be able to raise their head a little while laying on their belly. Belly time is very important for an infant to learn to control these skills. At 4 months babies should be rolling over. At 12 months most babies can walk with help. By the age of 3-year children can run and ride a tricycle. At age 4 they should be jumping and balancing and by age 5 skipping and walking backwards.

Fine motor development is the control of their hands and small muscle’s. Newborns can wrap their fingers around things that are put in their hands. At 3 months they can track things and hold a toy. When they are 6 months everything goes into their mouth. They can reach for toys pick things up and change hands. By 12 months they pick things up with their thumb and index finger, hold crayons and make marks on paper. Most 18 months, they can turn pages of a book, stack two or more blocks, scribble, and take off shoes and socks. By time they are 2, they can string beads, unzip, and draw a straight line. A 3-year-old can wash and dry their hands, cut paper and 4-year-olds can unbutton big buttons, trace and copy letters, and draw a person. By age 5 they can fold paper and cut straight lines.

Language development skills develop rapidly. Babies speech is crying for the first few months for discomfort. At 3 months they will listen to different voices and coo. When they're 6 months, they babble and show pleasure by their tones. At 1, they can nod their heads for "yes" and some shake their heads for "no" and wave bye-bye. By time they're 2, most can put two or three words together and know around 50 words. At age 3 they can answer simple questions and speak clearly so to be understood. By time they are age 5, they can tell stories, use correct syntax when speaking.

Social development is very important. Infants makes eye contact almost as soon as they a born. They know to stop crying when their parents come in the room at 3 months. At 6 months they can play peek-a-boo. They also show fear of people they don’t know. A 1-year-old will play patty cake and copy adults. An 18-month-old can follow simple directions and knows when the attention is focused on them. When they turn 2, they start to socialize with other children and involve themselves in parallel play. At age 3 they start to learn to share and follow simple rules, and age 4 can show and name emotions. At 5 they have the concept of time and enjoy playing with others. Social deployment milestones may be reached at different times as all children to not develop exactly the same.

Cognitive development is the way the brain learns and remembers things. Newborns expect to be fed regularly and can watch things briefly. When 3 months old, they recognize the bottle or breast. Babies start to examine things at 6 months and can search for a hidden object at 1 year of age. Most 2-year-olds can solve simple problems and put things in simple sequences. By the time they are 3, they can pretend and remember rhymes. A 4-year-old can point to basic 6 colors, understand a few numbers and draw recognizable picture. At 5, they can count to ten know position words and some letters.

All children do not develop at the same rate, but if you are concerned you should bring up to your pediatrician.