Social Development Child – Signs of Developmental Problems

Social development can differ per child. Not every child will develop equally smoothly socially. What is the age limit at which a child should be able to control certain social situations or social behavior? This article describes the characteristics and skills of children aged 1 month to 2 years to check whether there is an abnormal development course, social obstacles, a possible developmental delay or social development disorder.

Social Development Progress Checklist – Signs of Social Development Problems

Social characteristics and skills are listed below, followed by (a guideline for) the maximum age at which this can occur in a child; whether or not it corresponds to the developmental stage or is adequate in terms of age level. This overview is intended to identify any problems, developmental abnormalities or a motor development disorder at an early stage and to call for help.

Social Development Delay – Social Development Disorder

Developmental delay – Developmental disability

Although every child develops at their own pace, there comes a certain time or age when a child should be able to master a certain task or skill. This is related to the normal, average development course of average (early) childhood social development.

Developmental delay

We speak of a disadvantage if a child deviates only slightly from the average.

Developmental disorder

A disorder is when a child deviates significantly from the average, is very behind or is different from his or her peers.

Identifying social problems

It should be expressly noted that this is not a diagnostic criteria or a causal model, but only a checklist for global screening and identifying characteristics in order to (early) identify any developmental problems.

Social Development Overview – Social Development Course

The overviews below regarding social development are suitable for use by parents, caregivers, group leaders, general practitioners, child health clinics, teachers, school doctors, etc. to identify any problems and sound the alarm in order to call for help and guidance. There is a division into 5 signals, overviews with the associated behaviors (characteristics/skills), indicating when/at what age the behavior should no longer occur. Or in other words: if certain behavior still occurs, it can be considered deviant.

Social Not Age Adequate – Impeded Social Development

Impeded Development

In terms of social development, the following signals are a sign that the child’s development is not progressing smoothly or at age-level:

No interaction – Indifference to persons
Discovers no rules – no imitation
No distinction between me and you
No reciprocity
Isolation – isolated behavior

The above five signals are discussed in more detail in the overviews below, with maximum age limits.

Phases of Social Development – What should a child be able to do? Maximum Age Limits

No Interaction – Indifference to Persons	Ultimate Age
Child does not make eye contact	1 month
Child does not smile at parents	2 months
Laughs at rotating objects or light, but not at people	4 months
Cannot be comforted by the mother’s presence	6 months
Child does not put out hands to be picked up	8 months
Child does not respond to himself (mirror image) in the mirror	9 months
Child is not interested in peek-a-boo play	10 months
Child does not respond when something is taken from him/her	12 months
Child avoids proximity to other people	2 years

No Interaction – Discovers no Rules	Ultimate Age
Child does not respond by making sounds when spoken to	6 months
Child does not respond to contact games	6 months
Does not smile back when smiled at	8 months
Child can’t wave hello	12 months
Can’t show affection (give a kiss)	15 months
Does not respond to approval and disapproval	18 months
Can’t make a game of taking turns taking a bite of food at dinner	2 years
If the child cries, it is not clear why he is upset	2 years
Child cannot imitate other children	4 years
Does not recognize the rules of the group game, breaks group rules	7 years

No distinction between me and you	Ultimate Age
Does not favor one person over another	3 years
Takes someone’s hand at random to get something done	3 years
Child does not call himself ‘I’	3 years
Child shows no separation anxiety in a strange situation	3 years
Child is equally (un)nice to everyone	4 years
If the child bumps into something, he blames the object he bumps into	5 years
Expect help, even when no one is there	5 years
Clingy in contact, clinging too strongly to others	6 years
Is hypersensitive to tension in his/her environment and goes along with it	7 years

No Reciprocity in Contact Behavior	Ultimate Age
What he or she wants must happen immediately	4 years
Becomes very angry when something is demanded of him/her	4 years
Child cannot listen, has no patience	4 years
Cannot comfort or help, does not respond to crying from other children or adults	5 years
Child is not sensitive to approval and disapproval	5 years
Only responds to a request when it suits him/her	5 years
Other people only serve to fulfill his/her wishes	6 years
Cannot take others into account, walks over others	6 years
Child cannot give something away to someone else	6 years

Isolation – Isolated Behavior	Ultimate Age
Child has no preference for certain people	3 years
Cannot tolerate changes in routines	4 years
Child does not participate in a group game or group event	5 years
Does not adhere to the group rules or does not adhere to them well	5 years
Does not recognize the system of rules in the group	6 years
Has an exaggerated preference for one person	6 years
Never plays with children of the same sex	6 years
He or she has no friends	7 years
The child prefers to retreat to his/her room	7 years

Motor Development – Signs of developmental problems
Personality Development Children – Signals Problems
Speech-language development – Signs of Developmental Problems
Child Game Development – Signs of Developmental Problems
Development of Self-reliance – Signs of a Development Problem