Developmental Milestone for 6 and 7-Year-Old & Health Delay Signs

A major milestone for 6- to 7-year-olds is entering big boy/girl school.

Six-year-olds are active little beings, always moving and exploring their new physical skills. At this age, your child should be able to do more with their body than ever before, and should also be able to control and coordinate their movements better.

Movement, Hand and Finger Skills Milestones

• Enjoy many activities and stays busy
• Like to paint and draw
• Practice skills in order to become better
• Jump rope
• Ride two-wheeled bikes
• Can tie shoelaces
• Can do simple math like adding and subtracting
•  write up to five-word sentences and up to five-sentence paragraphs
• competent at physical skills that require coordination such as climbing and swimming

Language Milestones

• Understands the concept of “10” and can count out 10 items
• Can concentrate on a task for at least 15 minutes
• Can follow a series of at least three commands
• Is starting to be able to read sight words and write letters and words
• be speaking in full, complex sentences, and should be able to articulate their ideas clearly and thoughtfully
• grammar skills are mostly mastered by the age of seven
• regularly use complex sentences when communicating and will sound adult-like.

Cognitive Milestones

• starting to develop “higher-order” thinking
• can tell the difference between the past and the present
• have a more developed sense of time and can understand the concept of minutes, hours, days, and months
• understand the concept things that are similar can be grouped together,
• basic math concepts of ‘more’ or ‘less
• able to pronounce words more clearly;
• mastered the basic skills of reading and writing by age 7

Social and Emotional Milestones

• developing deeper and more meaningful friendships
• trying to figure out one’s place in the world
• learning about empathy & making a greater effort to understand the feelings of others
• developed self-regulation skills but managing emotions still take some support and guidance

Developmental Health Watch

If your child is struggling in any way, or if you are unsure how to handle your child’s challenges, you should not hesitate to consider a pediatric occupational therapy evaluation if they are unable to do the following:

• completely dress or feed themselves,
• complete complex fine motor tasks (lacing, writing, sewing, etc.),
• participate in age-appropriate sports or activities due to coordination or similar issues

• struggle as they adjust to school, and to their expanding social lives their self-confidence is being challenged

It’s important to keep in mind that each child has their own strengths and that as long as your child is meeting their milestones, and is generally balanced and happy, you are doing everything right.

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