Developmental Progression of Functional Skills

Included in each of the three early childhood outcomes are a myriad of functional skills that can be thought of in terms of developmental progressions of abilities. For example, within Outcome #1 (positive social relationships), the progression of development stems from a positive caring relationship between parent and child. As the child grows, he develops a sense of self, relationships with family members, other caregivers and adults, and peers. As relationships expand to include making friends the child learns to get along with others and follow social rules and expectations. Embedded in these stages are hosts of behaviors that are important for the child to develop in order to build and maintain positive social relationships in age-expected ways.

Another example of how we can consider the scaffolded development of specific skills is with a child’s development of pretend play behaviors (Outcome #2--acquiring and using knowledge and skills). Below is an example of the developmental progression of this in a typically-developing child:

1. Darla pretends to drink from the dolly’s bottle by putting it in her own mouth.
2. Darla uses the bottle to feed the dolly.
3. Darla picks up the dolly, feeds it the bottle, and then holds the dolly over her shoulder to burp it.
4. Darla says, “Baby hungry,” then puts the bottle in a pretend pan to warm it up, picks up the dolly, feeds it the bottle, holds the dolly over her shoulder to burp it, then proceeds to talk about the baby needing a diaper change, and direct someone to care for the baby while she goes to get the pretend diaper bag.

Children also progress in independence and ability to meet their own needs (Outcome #3), such as moving about their environments, eating, drinking, toileting, and following health and safety rules. In general, as each outcome is explored during the COS process, keep the complexity of child development in mind and ensure focus on functionality of skills and behaviors versus isolated skills and milestones. Thinking about skills in terms of developmental progression is important for understanding where a child is on a trajectory of functional development.

Age-Anchoring

Beyond considering developmental progressions, knowing when different skills and abilities evolve is an essential aspect of determining where a child is functioning relative to same-age peers, which is needed for measuring the three early childhood outcomes. As an early interventionist, you know a great deal about child development, but you may not be able to identify the typical age ranges when we should expect to see every possible developmental skill or ability. You do, however, have resources you can use, such as developmental guidelines and checklists, criterion-referenced instruments, and your colleagues.

Using Developmental Resources to Guide Age-Anchoring

When observing, recording, and examining a child’s functional skills, you gain useful information about a child’s abilities. However, not all developmental resources (e.g., checklists) include the precise functional skills you see when observing a child in his natural settings doing what he typically does. While this creates a challenge for age-anchoring those skills, it is an essential part of the process of measuring results. When anchoring behaviors using developmental resources, look for skills and behaviors that are similar to what you observed. Also remember that they will not always be exactly what you saw the child demonstrate. Sometimes you may need to use more than one resource, and sometimes you will need to gather more information about the child’s functional abilities from the parent(s). For example, if the observation note says that "Jessica plays with dolls" it is difficult to know what that looks like. How does she play? For example, does she just pretend to feed the doll or perhaps she pretends to feed the doll then wash it up, put new clothes on it, tuck it in, give it a kiss, and lay it down for a nap? Just pretending one action with a doll comes in earlier than stringing several pretend actions together. Knowing the detail about what and how a child does something is critical when attaching an age to it.

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Age-Expected, Immediate Foundational, and Foundational Skills and Behaviors

Important developmental concepts for understanding how to use the COS are the concepts of age-expected (AE), immediate foundational (IF), and foundational (F) skills. Some of the skills and behaviors that develop early serve as the foundation for later skills and behavior. In several instances later skills build upon earlier skills in predictable ways. For example, children typically roll over, sit, crawl, and stand independently before they walk. Early childhood development proceeds through several levels of foundational skills, with skills and behavior becoming more complex and more proficient as children get older. All skills that lead to higher levels of functioning are foundational; however, the set of skills and behavior that occur developmentally just prior to age-expected functioning can be described as the immediate foundational skills in that they are the most recent set of foundational skills that children master and move beyond. You can think of it like a staircase (see below) where foundational (F) skills lead to immediate foundational (IF) skills which then lead to age-expected (AE) functioning.

A child with functioning like that of a slightly younger child is probably showing immediate foundational skills, as her functioning does not meet age expectations, but she demonstrates skills and behaviors that occur during typical development just prior to age-expected functioning (and are the basis on which to build age-expected functioning). A child with functioning that might be described as like that of a much younger child does not meet age expectations, nor does she demonstrate skills and behaviors that immediately precede age-expected functioning. She has foundational skills, but is not yet at an immediate foundational level.

It is also important to note that some foundational skills get replaced by newer skills whereas others continue in children’s (and adults') repertoires throughout life. The nature of interacting with other children changes fundamentally as children get older. On the other hand, skills like making eye contact, turn-taking, and eating with a fork get incorporated into more sophisticated routines, but never really disappear. To identify whether functioning that continues throughout life constitutes a foundational or immediate foundational skill, ask yourself:

At what age would I first expect to see this functioning and how close is it to the child’s current age?