Developmental needs of children
Age group	Tasks	Characteristics of this stage	Signs of stress
0 - 6 months	Establish basic trust that basic needs will be met.	Child is totally dependent upon parents and has no concept of self being different from others. Child cries only to get needs satisfied. Cannot purposefully disobey or willfully misbehave. Mostly happy or mostly upset most of the time.	Excessive crying, eating, and/or sleeping problems.
6 - 18 months	Establish an attachment bond with parents.	At around 6-9 months, child normally shows separation anxiety (which are healthy signs of attachment). Child may show distress in leaving primary caregiver to go with any other person.	Crying, clinging, fear of being away from parent.
18 months - 3 years	Develop a sense of independence, autonomy, and a sense of self as separate from parents.	Child “tests the limits” constantly in true “terrible twos” fashion. It is normal to be non-compliant, uncooperative and self-centered. Tests out personal power and separateness.	Irritability and anxiety. Excessive fears and worries. Regression to earlier behaviors. Fear of separation, clinginess, and asking for absent parent.
3 - 6 years	Learn to take initiative, control impulses, interact and play cooperatively with peers, and begin socialization.	The focus is on social roles and on mimicking adult behaviors. The stage of nightmares, invented monsters, vivid fantasies, and magical thinking (“If I think it, it will happen!”), which creates much anxiety. Acute sensitivity to parental conflicts and parents’ moods and feelings. Time perspective is very limited (to about 2-3 days, minimum).	Excessive fears and anxieties, including fear of separation and abandonment. Blames self for adult actions. Shows regressive behaviors (e.g., thumb-sucking, bed wetting, tantrums, clinginess). Shows transition distress and resistance to going with strangers.
6 -10 years	Learn skills to be competent, industrious and productive. Focused toward school, ouside activities, and peer relationships.	Child can for the first time begin to think logically, take the role and perspective of another person, and show true empathy. No longer purely egocentric (or self-centered). Time perspective strongly developed.	Problems with school performance and peer relationships. Child acts angry, blaming, morally and righteously indignant. Child can appear sad and morose.
11 - 12 years	Gain a sense of control over and comfort with peer relationships.	Child achieves the development of true abstract thinking. For the first time, child is able to think about hypothetical ideas in a truly adult-like fashion.	Acting prematurely adolescent, which retards true maturation. Depression and anxiety. School problems.
12 -18 years	Develop separate identity from parents.	Child normally gradually pulls away from the family, physically, socially and emotionally. Child develops interests apart and resists “family activities.” Child challenges adults’ ideas and asserts independence.	Breaking rules and acting out. Withdrawal, isolation and depression. Abuse of alcohol or drugs. Suicide threats or attempts. Poor school performance.
Source: State of Florida Guardian ad Litem Program Entry-Level Training Manual