Social & Emotional Development

(interacting with others, controlling emotion)

This area of development involves learning to interact with other people, and to understand and control your own emotions. Babies start to develop relationships with the people around them right from birth, but the process of learning to communicate, share, and interact with others takes many years to develop. Developing the ability to control your emotions and behavior is also a long process. Children continue to develop their social-emotional skills well into their teenage years, or even young adulthood.

Below are some of the typical developmental milestones for social-emotional skills in school aged children up to 7 years old. After the milestones, are some “red flags” that might indicate a concern.

Between the ages of 5-7 years, your child will:

Red Flags for Social-Emotional Development (school-aged)

If you have some of the following concerns, you may want to ask for help from your child’s teacher. Your teacher may recommend that you seek further help from your doctor or another health professional such as a psychologist, mental health clinician, speech-language pathologist, or an occupational therapist.

If you have concerns about your child at any age, please feel free to contact us to speak to a professional. You can also make a referral to our centre.