What should a 5-year old be able to do? Check if your child is hitting her developmental milestones here.
What you can read from this article:
- What should a 5-year old be able to do
- Development of a 5-year old child in different aspects
- Warning signs for Autism
Your child has now officially entered school-age. Here in the Philippines, the minimum age for the child to enroll in public school is 5 years old. So if she hasn't yet, she will be starting kindergarten at around this age.
By this time, your child should have already done the things that make her a full-fledged kid; playing pretend, interacting with friends, and even throwing a few reasonable fits here and there.
How your child plays, learns, speaks, acts, and interacts offers important clues about your child’s development. At a certain age, your child should be able to do certain skills and possess certain behaviors for you to say that his body and brain are developing properly. These are known as developmental milestones.
If your child is unable to hit these milestones, it may be an early indication that his development is delayed, and he needs additional support in certain areas of development.
Milestones usually are categorized into five major areas: physical growth, cognitive development, emotional and social development, language development, and sensory and motor development.
What should a 5-year-old be able to do?
Before we go into the extensive list of what a 5-year old should be able to do, you need to remember that children develop at their own pace. Some children may be advanced in one area, yet exhibit a bit of delay in another. Usually, it is normal, but if you want to be very sure about it, you can always ask your child's pediatrician.
1. Physical growth and development
Your child grows at his or her own pace, and healthy growth is different for every child. Your child's natural growth rate may be slower or faster than the examples below.
Most children by age 5:
- Have gained about 2 kg (4.4 lb) and grown 4 cm (1.5 in.) to 5 cm (2 in.) since their fourth birthday.
- Stands on one foot for 10 seconds or longer
- Swings and climbs
- Are more coordinated
- Uses one hand more than another (also known as hand dominance)
- Has their first adult teeth start breaking through the gums (although it's most likely their first adult tooth will erupt at age 6)
2. Thinking and reasoning (cognitive development)
Your child's thinking skills are becoming more sophisticated as they encounter new people, places, and ideas. He begins to see things from other people's perspectives and understand his their behavior affects others.
By this time, he has learned self-regulation and executive function skills which is why his memory, attention span and impulse control have increased.
Most children by age 5:
- Know their name and address.
- Recognize most letters of the alphabet.
- Can count 10 or more objects.
- Knows the basic colors and shapes
- Understand the basic concepts of time.
- Know what household objects are used for, such as money, food, or appliances.
- Can draw a person with at least 6 body parts
- Knows that a story has a beginning, middle, and end
- Stick with an activity for 15 minutes or more
- Makes plans (for example, on what to draw or build)
3. Emotional and social development
When your child enters preschool or kindergarten, his social and emotional skills will be tested and sharpened as he learns to interact with other kids.
Your child's pretends play is more complex now, filled with lots of fantasy and drama. You might also notice that your child can play with others to achieve a common goal. For example, working together to build one big sandcastle. Your child might also be able to work things out if another child doesn’t want to play a particular game.
The little one is becoming more social and prefers to play with friends rather than on their own. Your child can share although they might find it hard to share favorite toys and other things.
Games with rules sometimes challenge your 5-year-old and your child might even accuse others of cheating sometimes.
Most children by age 5:
- Want to please and be liked by their friends, though they may sometimes be mean to others.
- Agree to rules most of the time and show less aggressive behavior.
- Show independence.
- Are more able to distinguish fantasy from reality but enjoy playing make-believe and dress-up.
- Have distinct ways of playing according to gender. Most 5-year-old boys play in rough or physically active ways. Girls of the same age are more likely to engage in social play.
- Likes to sing, dance, and act
- Is aware of their gender and that of other people
- Can tell what’s real and what’s make-believe
- Shows more independence (for example, may visit a next-door neighbor by himself (adult supervision is still needed)
- Is sometimes demanding and sometimes very cooperative
4. Language development
Exciting times ahead! During this age, your child will start making more sense of words and sounds. As he prepares himself for learning how to read (if he doesn't yet), he will learn longer words and become more skilled at putting words together to complete a thought.
Most children by age 5:
- Carry on a meaningful conversation with another person.
- Understand relationships between objects, such as "the boy who is jumping rope."
- Use the future tense, such as "Let's go to the zoo tomorrow!"
- Often call people (or objects) by their relationship to others, such as "Bobby's mom" instead of "Mrs. Smith."
- Talk about or tell stories. They have little or no trouble being understood by others.
- Speaks very clearly
- Tells a simple story using full sentences
- Talk about opposites and compare things
- Follow multi-step directions
5. Sensory and motor development
5year-olds are more coordinated and love to show off new physical skills. You’ll often hear them shout, "Look at me!"
Your child can learn how to ride a bike, jump rope, balance on one foot for a short period of time, walk downstairs without needing to hold your hand, skip and catch a large ball.
Does it seem like your five-year-old can’t ever keep still? Wriggling while watching TV, at the dinner table, or even while sleeping is pretty normal.
Your child’s fine motor skills are improving, which leads to more independence with things like tying shoelaces, using zips and buttons, and brushing hair. Your child might still find it hard to cut up food with a knife but enjoys the chance to practice.
Most children by age 5:
- Somersault and possibly skip.
- Swing and climb.
- Hop on one foot.
- Catch a ball the size of a softball.
- Use the toilet by themselves. They may still wet the bed, though.
By age 5, most children can use their hands and fingers (fine motor skills) to:
- Hold a pencil using the tripod grip
- Copy triangles and other geometric shapes.
- Draw a person with a head, a body, arms, and legs.
- Dress and undress on their own, although they may still need help tying shoelaces.
- Write some small and capital letters from the alphabet.
- Use scissors to cut out basic shapes and lines.
- Eat with a fork, spoon, and possibly a flatware knife.
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Recognizing signs of autism
As mentioned earlier, children develop at their own pace. However, there are cases where a delay in these developmental milestones can be an early sign or identifier that something is wrong with your child's development.
One disorder that has to do with a person's delay in cognitive skills and social interaction is autism spectrum disorder or ASD. It is usually diagnosed in childhood with many of the common signs presenting around 2-3 years old.
However, some children with ASD develop normally until toddlerhood when they stop acquiring or lose previously gained skills. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one in 59 children is estimated to have autism.
As a parent, one thing you need to remember about autism is that it presents itself differently in a person. One child with ASD will not have exactly the same symptoms as another child with ASD. The number and severity of symptoms can vary a lot!
Here are some examples of social, communication, and behavioral differences in children with autism.
Social differences in children with autism
- May not keep eye contact or makes little or no eye contact
- Shows no or less response to a parent's smile or other facial expressions
- May not look at objects or events a parent is looking at or pointing to
- May not point to objects or events to get a parent to look at them
- Less likely to bring objects of personal interest to show to a parent
- Many not have appropriate facial expressions
- Has difficulty perceiving what others might be thinking or feeling by looking at their facial expressions
- Less likely to show concern (empathy) for others
- Has difficulty making and keeping friends
Communication differences in children with autism
- Less likely to point at things to indicate needs or share things with others
- Says no single words by 15 months or 2-word phrases by 24 months
- Repeats exactly what others say without understanding the meaning (often called parroting or echoing)
- May not respond to name being called but does respond to other sounds (like a car horn or a cat's meow)
- Refers to self as "you" and others as "I" and may mix up pronouns
- Shows no or less interest in communicating
- Less likely to start or continue a conversation
- Less likely to use toys or other objects to represent people or real life in pretend play
- May have a good rote memory, especially for numbers, letters, songs, TV jingles, or a specific topic
- May lose language or other social milestones, usually between the ages of 15 and 24 months (often called regression)
Behavioral differences (repetitive & obsessive behaviors) in children with autism
- Rocks, spins, sways, twirls fingers, walks on toes for a long time, or flaps hands (called "stereotypic behavior" or stereotypies)
- Likes routines, order, and rituals; has difficulty with change or transition from one activity to another
- May be obsessed with a few or unusual activities, doing them repeatedly during the day
- Plays with parts of toys instead of the whole toy (e.g., spinning the wheels of a toy truck)
- Doesn't mind if in pain or doesn't seem to have any fear
- May be very sensitive or not sensitive at all to smells, sounds, lights, textures, and touch
- Have unusual use of vision or gaze—looks at objects from unusual angles
The Philippine Pediatrics recommends that children be screened for general development using standardized, validated tools at 9, 18, and 30 months and for autism at 18 and 24 months or whenever a parent or provider has a concern. Ask your child’s doctor about your child’s developmental screening.
When to worry
While it is better to have your child screened for ASD if you notice the symptoms above, it's important to point out that not all developmental delays are related to autism. However, when it comes to these functioning skills, it's better to be proactive. Specialists agree that early intervention is key to helping your child live a normal life.
Act early by talking to your child’s doctor if you notice that your child:
- Doesn’t show a wide range of emotions
- Shows extreme behavior (unusually fearful, aggressive, shy or sad)
- Unusually withdrawn and not active
- Is easily distracted, has trouble focusing on one activity for more than 5 minutes
- Doesn’t respond to people, or responds only superficially
- Can’t tell what’s real and what’s make-believe
- Doesn’t play a variety of games and activities
- Can’t give first and last name
- Doesn’t use plurals or past tense properly
- He/she doesn't talk about daily activities or experiences
- Hate drawing pictures
- Can’t brush teeth, wash and dry hands, or get undressed without help
- Loses skills he once had
Consult your child's pediatrician if you notice any of these signs of possible developmental delay for this age and ask for a developmental screening. Talk with someone in your community who is familiar with services for young children in your area.
What should a 5-year old be able to do? This list just aims to serve as a guide, but if your 5-year old child is not able to do one or more things in this list, that doesn't automatically mean that they're delayed.
As parents, you have to trust your instincts. If you have concerns about how your child plays, learns, speaks, acts, or moves, talk with your pediatrician.
You know your child best and your concerns are important. Together, you and your pediatrician will find the best way to help your child. If you're uneasy about the doctor's advice, seek a second opinion.
Source:
Healthblink, Healthline, Mayoclinic, Understood.org