As parents and caregivers of small children, we don’t always know what is appropriate for our child’s developmental stage. Many parents and caregivers are counting on themselves and/or preschool teachers to help monitor and develop their child and get him/her ready for kindergarten in the future.

However, this is not always true.

In kindergarten, a child is expected to remember and learn the letters, words, writing and reading, and even to succeed in reading comprehension. In order to succeed in kindergarten, a child needs to be able to sit and learn in class and to have developed cognitive skills and pre-academic abilities. Specifically, these skills are:

Listening comprehension skills of sentences and instructions.
Attention skills to be able to be focused and ignoring distractors.
Ability to shift from one task to another.
Memory skills of sounds, visual letters and pictures and space.
Motor skills of the hand that allow drawing and writing.
Language skills such as rhyming and recognizing sounds within words.

These skills develop naturally around the age 3-4 years old. However, many children arrive at kindergarten unprepared and as a result may acquire negative experiences from the teacher, from other children or even from themselves. In addition, approximately 10-20% of the kids entering kindergarten will encounter a significant difficulty in one or more of the required skills and may develop a reading difficulty. Children that encounter difficulty in kindergarten often become frustrated and stressed, and as a result their gap between their performances and the classroom expectations increases.

The good news is that these children frequently show some difficulties as early as the age of 3 years old and that work on those areas of difficulty can improve the child’s abilities! Research shows that specific fun social games that work on specific abilities at young ages can promote readiness to school in the future – both mentally and emotionally.

PreSetGo focuses on early screenings to detect those specific areas of need and to guide the parents and guardians to the appropriate action in order to building those skills.

Start Screening now!

Typical Developmental Milestones According to Age

Many parents and guardians are asking themselves (and us) what are the appropriate developmental expectations according to their children’s age. Our experts and specialists have gone through hundreds of language, cognition, math and education articles and books in order to bring you the scientific answer of the typical developmental milestones.

Remember that children reach developmental milestones at different ages and that they all grow and develop at their own pace. Please don’t worry if your child will reach the goal only a year later. Just write it down, so you can follow his/her development and know what he/she should work on. You should notice a gradual progression in development as your child gets older. If you don't, please talk to your child's doctor.

3 Years Old (Until 4 Years Old)

Cognition

Understand the idea of the same and different.
Follow two-step commands (like “cover your eyes and stick out your tongue”).
Can tell parts of a story.
Know to say if now is morning, afternoon or night.
Sort objects by shape and color.

Spoken Language

Speak 250 to 500 words.
Name basic colors (red, blue, yellow) correctly.
Start using spatial prepositions vocabulary (e.g. above, below, under, next to, over, beside, behind, and in front of). He/she may not understand the word or not use it correctly at all times. Correct them if necessary.
Start using relational vocabulary (e.g. first, second, next, and last). He/she may not understand the word or not use it correctly at all times. Correct them if necessary.
Speak in simple sentences of five words (like “the dog is jumping”).
Say their name and age.
Match rhyming picture-words (picture of “dog” and picture of “log”).
Combine a sequence of isolated syllables to a word (e.g. the sounds “he”+“lo” produces the word “hello”).
Identify syllables in words (e.g. the word “hello” is a combination of the sounds “he”+“lo”).
Answer simple questions like “would you like to eat spaghetti or soup?”.
Share his/her experiences and tell stories.
Pronunciation does not have to be fully comprehensible at this age.

Mathematical Skills

Understand the concept that every item can be counted only once.
Comparing sizes and knowing which is bigger/longer/more distal and where there are more items. Not necessarily correctly.
Count 5 objects in the correct order (1-2-3-4-5), but usually don’t know to say how many objects are there eventually.

Writing/Reading Skills

Start recognizing that specific shapes are letters.
Holds a book correctly and turns pages front to back.
Understands the idea of what a word is in print (ask “can you find a word here?”).
Understands that words and sentences are read from left to right.

Motor Skills

Gross Motor Skills

Walk forward and backward with some difficulty.
Walk up and down stairs using one foot per step and alternating feet.
Run.
Kick, throw, and catch a ball.
Ride a tricycle (feet on the ground).
Hop and stand on one leg, for up to 5 seconds.
Get dressed and undressed with little help.

Fine Motor Skills

Build a four-blocks tower.
Turn a page in a book.
Use scissors.
Can string beads.
Copy lines, circles and squares.
Draw a person with two to four body parts.
Screw and unscrew lids.
Turn rotating handles.

Start Screening Now!

4 Years Old (Until 5 Years Old)

Cognition

Follow three-step commands (like “hop to the table and Pick up the blue and red crayons”).
Understand spatial prepositions vocabulary (e.g. above, below, under, next to, over, beside, behind, and in front of) correctly.
Understand relational vocabulary (e.g. first, second, next, and last) correctly.
Understand the daily activities (e.g. breakfast in the morning, lunch in the afternoon, and dinner at night).
Expect longer time for playing one game (10 minutes) and higher listening abilities.
Memorizing their address and a parent’s phone number (if taught).
Follow two- and three-step commands (like “go to your room and bring me the stuffy that lays on the shelf”).
Use reasoning skills to explain events and make conclusions.

Spoken Language

Speak 1,500 words.
Name colors (red, blue, black, white, green, yellow, orange) correctly.
Name basic shapes (circle, square, triangle) correctly.
Use complex sentences (like “the dog is jumping and I am afraid”).
Produce rhyming words (e.g. “hat”-”mat”).
Recognize and produce words with the same beginning sound (e.g. “cat”-”cup”).
Combine 2 sounds to a word (e.g. the sounds “s”-”un” produces the word “sun”).

Mathematical Skills

Succeed more in comparing the amount of items, distances and sizes.
Count 10 objects in the correct order.
Start to accurately tell how many items were counted (as many as 5 items).

Writing/Reading Skills

Identify some upper- and lowercase letters of the alphabet.
May write his/her first name.
Written letters can be mirrored and it is OK.
Understand that letters stand for specific sounds (phonemic awareness).

Motor Skills

Gross Motor Skills

Walk up and down stairs easily.
Walk forward and backwards easily.
Pedal a tricycle.
Stack 10 or more blocks.
Hop.
Stand on one leg for more than 9 seconds.
Do a somersault (if taught) and bounce a ball.
Get dressed and undressed independently.
Brush teeth (with the guidance of an adult).
Toilet hygiene independently.

Fine Motor Skills

Copy all basic shapes (i.e. circle, square, triangle and more).
Draw a person with a body and lines for hands and legs.
Use a fork and spoon.
Grip a pencil or marker correctly (with the thumb and forefinger supporting the tip).
Button and unbutton.
Work a zipper.

Start Screening Now!

5 Years Old (Until 6 Years Old)

Cognition

Follow three-step commands (like “hop to the table and Pick up the blue crayon and bring it to me”).
Understand spatial prepositions vocabulary (e.g. above, below, under, next to, over, beside, behind, and in front of) correctly.
Understand relational vocabulary (e.g. first, second, next, and last) correctly.
Ask and learn cause-and-effect relationships and predict what will happen.
Plan construction, build and make-believe play with other children (for example, building a Lego house model).

Spoken Language

Name all basic colors (blue, light blue, purple etc.) correctly.
Understand and use descriptive words (like soft, hard, smooth, etc.).
Use time words correctly (like yesterday, tomorrow, next week).
Hear and understand nearly everything that is said at home.
Understand simple stories that have no pictures.
Produce and understand long and complex sentences (like “We went to the movies, but we came home early because jack got hurt”).
Speak of imaginary situations (like saying “I hope that....”)
Take turns in a conversation for a long time.
Identify isolated sounds in words (e.g. the word “cat” is a combination of the sounds “c”-”a”-”t”).
Recognize words that rhyme and determine the odd word out (e.g. “cat”-”bat”-”mop”).
Identify the first sound in a word (e.g. know what to answer when asked “What is the sound at the start of the word ‘cat’?”).
Identify the last sound in a word (e.g. know what to answer when asked “What is the sound at the end of the word ‘cat’?”).
Combine a sequence of 3-4 isolated sounds to a word (e.g. the sounds “c”-”a”-”t” produces the word “cat”).
Identify all the sounds in a word with 3-4 sounds (e.g. “fast” = “f”-”a”-”s”-”t”).

Mathematical Skills

Accurate in comparing the amount of items, distances and sizes.
Count until 40 in the correct order (older 5 year old can count till 100).
Accurately tell how many items were counted (as many as 10 items).
Recognize and write numbers up to ten.
Know how many items to place if shown the number 6.
Know which number is bigger up to 10 (older 5 year old will know up to 20).

Writing/Reading Skills

Understand that a sentence is composed of several words.
Understand the correct relationship between most or all letters and their specific sounds (phonemic awareness), which is taught at kindergarten.
Isolate first letter in a word and find other words that start with the same letter.
Spell words exactly as they sound (phonetic spelling), using letters with the correct sound, but not necessarily the correct ones (for example, spell the word “love” as “luv”). Written words can often be composed of consonants with only few or no vowels. Pay attention to consonants-sounds that are nor represented by the appropriate letters. If you don’t see an improvement after a few weeks, please approach the teacher.
Reverse letters when writing (b-d, p-q). There is no cause for concern. Correct and practice and they will soon get the hang of it.

Motor Skills

Gross Motor Skills

Stand on tiptoes without moving feet for 8 seconds.
Mimic movements accurately.
Skip 10 feet.
Jump sideways.
Kick a stationary ball straight for 10 feet.

Fine Motor Skills

Copy shapes onto paper.
Tie shoelaces.