DEVELOPMENTAL STAGE 1: INFANCY
Approximate Age: Birth–12 Months
SOCIAL-EMOTIONAL MILESTONES
During infancy, children begin developing relationships and learning how to communicate emotions.
Examples of social-emotional milestones include:
Smiling during social interaction.
• Responding to familiar caregivers.
• Showing different facial expressions.
• Responding to voices and sounds.
• Showing preferences for familiar people.
• Using sounds, gestures, and facial expressions to communicate needs.
• Beginning to respond to the emotions and tone of caregivers.
The CDC provides age-specific developmental milestones for infants, including social and emotional behaviors.
CLASSROOM STRATEGY 1: EMOTION-FILLED INTERACTION
Teachers can use facial expressions, gestures, tone of voice, and simple emotion words during everyday interactions.
For example:
“You are smiling! You look happy.”
“That surprised you!”
“You are crying. Let’s see what you need.”
This helps infants begin connecting emotions with facial expressions, sounds, and experiences.
SELF-REGULATION
Infants are not expected to regulate their emotions independently. Adults provide co-regulation by helping infants become calm and comfortable.
Teachers can:
• Use a calm voice.
• Comfort children when they are upset.
• Maintain predictable routines.
• Reduce overwhelming stimulation.
• Respond consistently to children’s cues.
FAMILY STRATEGIES
Families can support infants by:
• Talking and singing to them.
• Reading together.
• Responding consistently to communication attempts.
• Comforting them when upset.
• Playing together.
• Establishing predictable routines.
"Integrating simple self-regulation routines into our daily morning meetings completely transformed our classroom dynamic. The students now communicate their feelings with confidence and support each other through conflicts."
Early childhood educator
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