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About this Post
- Age range: 3 to 6 months
- Developmental pillar:
- Physical and Brain Development
- Social and Emotional Development
- Learning and Cognitive Development
- Communication and Language Development
- Physical and Brain Development: How children develop
- Social and Emotional Development: How children feel and connect
- Learning and Cognitive Development: How children think and learn
- Communication and Language Development: How children communicate
In their early months infants may reach for things, but these early attempts (called pre-reaches) are generally uncoordinated swipes at objects in a baby's visual field. By 2 months, these hit-or-miss pre-reaching attempts may even decline as infants move closer to voluntary reaching. When they are around 3 months old, most babies become more accurate in their voluntary reaching attempts. Because babies do not yet understand that some objects shouldn't be in their mouths, adults need to keep the home environment free of potentially harmful items while still allowing their infants to explore.
References
- Hofsten, C. von (1984). Developmental changes in the organization of prereaching movements. Developmental Psychology, 20, 378
- Thelen, E., Corbetta, D., Kamm, K., Spencer, J. P., Schneider, K., & Zernicke, R. F. (1993). The transition to reaching: Mapping intention and intrinsic dynamics. Child Development, 64, 1058