0–9 months – See this age across all domains Infants

What educators might observe

• Looks at a caregiver as they are speaking
• Uses sounds and wholebody gestures to engage in interactions with educator
• Repeats and imitates cooing sounds
• Uses facial gestures to engage with adult (e.g., blinking eyes, sticking out tongue, clapping, covering face with hands)
• Makes sounds when educator is singing
• Waves bye-bye

Ways educators might support the child's development

• Talk with the baby’s family about how the baby expresses different needs, interests and feelings
• Practice recognizing the intention of the baby’s vocalization or gestures
• Respond to the baby when they communicate through facial expression and wholebody movements
• Talk to the infant, then pause and wait for a gesture or sound before saying something else

8–16 months – See this age across all domains Infants

What educators might observe

• Participates in a conversation by making sounds or using words in response to adult (e.g., educator says, “Mmm” when feeding the baby, and the baby says, “Mmm” back)
• Begins to demonstrate turn-taking in conversation by babbling and then pausing and looking to educator to respond
• Makes eye contact when vocalizing or being spoken to, as appropriate to cultural context
• Initiates conversations by bringing objects to show caregivers
• Differentiates between tones of voice (angry, friendly) and smiles back at caregiver as appropriate

Ways educators might support the child's development

• Emphasize names of family members and others when they come in close proximity to the baby
• Model social cues and skills; say “Hello;” “Goodbye,” and “How are you?”
• Play social games of peeka-boo, hide-and-seek, blow and pop bubbles, patty cake, or musical games where objects are passed and returned

15–24 months – See this age across all domains Toddlers

What educators might observe

• Starts to shake head “Yes” or “No” in answer to simple questions
• Makes requests by pointing and vocalizing
• Repeats themselves if the educator does not respond or understand them
• Talks into pretend phone and then pauses, as if to listen to the other person
• Makes related comments (e.g., when adult says, “Here is your water,” child says, “cup,” “ agua ,” or “water cup.”

Ways educators might support the child's development

• Learn greetings and social phrases in the child’s home language
• Play games that encourage back and forth interactions
  • Catch and release
  • Hide-and-seek
  • Peek-a-boo
  • Open and shut them
  • Run away and jump into my arms
• Ask questions when the child points to something, and wait for the response of the child before proceeding

24–36 months – See this age across all domains Toddlers

What educators might observe

• Sustains conversation about a single topic for one or two turns
• Makes a request or response (e.g., “I can,” “Yo quiero”, or “I want.”)
• Repeats part of what the educator said to continue the conversation
• Uses translanguaging, such as “That’s my abuelita.”
• Uses single and paired words to command, indicate possession, express problems, and gain attention
• Answers questions such as “What’s that?” and “Where is it?”
• Begins using language to engage others in pretend play

Ways educators might support the child's development

• Use phrases like “my turn,” “your turn,” and “When you’re finished, can I have a turn?”
• Encourage awareness of the larger social world by participating in activities where familiar faces are seen and community is encouraged
  • Take a walk around the local park
  • Visit the library
  • Go to the farmer’s market

3-year-olds – See this age across all domains Preschool

What educators might observe

• Asks questions about the current activity (“Can I have a brown crayon?”)
• Begins to take turns during conversations
• Makes formal requests or responses, such as “May I please...” and “Thank you.”
• Recognizes what rising and falling speech sounds mean and attempts to answer questions
• Acknowledges a partner’s message using fillers, such as “yeah” and “ok.”
• Begins code-switching and uses simpler language when talking to very young children

Ways educators might support the child's development

• Model polite language in social situations, such as saying “Please” and “Thank You”
• When asking questions, pause and wait for answers; the child may need time to think about the answer
• If child interrupts another child, say something like, “Frank was talking. Why don’t we wait and see what he has to say and then respond? I know you have something else to say but let’s let Frank continue.”

4-year-olds – See this age across all domains Preschool

What educators might observe

• Adds to a conversation by retelling a similar experience (“I love ice cream too, and I had some vanilla yesterday.”)
• Initiates an exchange to provide information or to clarify (“My teacher said today is Monday. On Mondays I go to karate!”)
• Takes turns on topic in an extended exchange, and shows knowledge of the speaker/listener role
• Switches language or mode of communication as appropriate with family member or person with whom they are speaking
• Tells stories with chains of events and actions
• Uses terms that have meanings that are dependent on context, such as “this,” “that,” “here,” and “there”
• Experiments with the effects some words (such as “Poo-poo head”) can have on others

Ways educators might support the child's development

• Encourage children to speak to classmates who share their home language
• Provide visual supports for turn-taking during group conversations
  • Write a list of who will be speaking next, and check it off
  • Use a “talking-stick” that the speaker holds and passes when they are done talking
• Provide scripts for children to initiate social interactions (“I see you watching your classmate play in the sandbox. if you want to play with them, let’s think about what you could say.”)

5-year-olds – See this age across all domains Preschool

What educators might observe

• Pays attention to speaker in a conversation
• Takes turns during group conversations, raising hand to speak, with reminders
• Emergent multilingual children gauge and then speak in the dominant language of communication used by the person with whom they are speaking
• Provides additional information to clarify when listener does not understand the child’s meaning
• Uses language to persuade or to state an opinion
• Uses body language, facial expressions, and tone to predict behavior
• Tells stories with characters and a more complex sense of structure to events and actions

Ways educators might support the child's development

• Establish norms for structured group conversations, ensuring that all children have the opportunity to be heard (e.g., an expectation that there will be only one voice at a time)
• Provide children with time to interact socially throughout the day
• Discuss social dynamics with children (“Some kids have been asking to sit together at lunch every day. How does it seem if they sit together every day?”)

6-year-olds – See this age across all domains Early elementary

What educators might observe

• Understands the body language or facial expression of a peer and uses it to check in with or to modify language and/or behavior with that child
• Converses with a partner taking a number of turns and building on and extending the topic
• Shares knock-knock and other jokes with peers

Ways educators might support the child's development

• Talk to families about children’s use of social language outside of school; Find out if a child who is quiet at school is talkative at home or in their community
• Observe emergent multilingual children’s use of social language when they are speaking in their home language
• During read-aloud time, invite predictions about characters’ relationships and interactions (“What might this character say to this one if she has that feeling?”)

7-year-olds – See this age across all domains Early elementary

What educators might observe

• Makes up secret languages
• Uses language to include or exclude children from peer groups
• Navigates different ways of using language and flexibly uses different forms and variations to improve communication or affiliation

Ways educators might support the child's development

• Observe and reflect on children’s use of social language in non-academic environments such as the playground
• Provide time for children to discuss social interactions and how those interactions made them feel
• Be aware of whose voices are not being heard in group conversations and provide supports for all children to participate
• Teach children language that they can use to resolve social conflicts

8-year-olds – See this age across all domains Early elementary

What educators might observe

• Takes the perspective of another person in a group into account and modifies their language use or actions as needed
• Converses on a topic, maintaining attention to what the other person understands and sharing their own understanding
• Uses language to persuade and argue opinions and to understand and respond to another’s point of view

Ways educators might support the child's development

• Establish norms for social communication in the learning environment
• Teach children to identify micro-aggressions: brief hostile, negative prejudicial slights and insults toward any group
• Ask children to write from the perspective of someone from a different time or place
• Invite children to develop and share a point of view on a topic of interest