Developmental milestones by age 16
Developmental milestones or developmental indicators are a set of behavioural or functional skills thresholds that map the course of your child’s development. These behaviours are categorised into five domains – communication and language, physical and motor, social and emotional, adaptive and cognitive. Parents must keep in mind that India has great linguistic diversity, and children may have to be taught the same words in different languages. By age 16, a child normally attains the following skills in each domain.
Developmental milestones by age 16 – Physical milestones
o The difference in growth between boys and girls is very noticeable at this age.
o Many high-schoolers have a big appetite
o Need more sleep and maybe sleepy in school if it starts early
o Have the required visual-spatial coordination to help judge distance and speed and react quickly when learning to drive
o Are more agile and coordinated, making it easier to do things like type on a keyboard or build complex projects.
Developmental milestones by age 16 – Social Skills Milestones
| 14 – years old | 15 – years old | 16-18 – years old |
| Can recognise personal strengths and challenges | Don’t want to talk as much; are argumentative | Start relating to family better; begin to see parents as real people |
| Are embarrassed by family and parents and may seem self-centred, impulsive and moody | May appreciate siblings more than parents | Develop a better sense of who they are and what positive things they can contribute to friendships and other relationships |
| Strive to be independent | Narrow down to a few close friends and may start dating | Spend a lot of time with friends |
| Are eager to be accepted by peers and to have friends | Analyse their feelings and try to find the cause of them | Can voice emotions (both negative and positive) and try to find solutions to conflicts chooses own friends |
Developmental milestones by age 16 – Cognitive Skills Milestones
Memorise information more easily
Use flexible thinking, like checking work and changing approaches as needed
Begin developing a worldview and a basic set of values
Want to contribute to the household
Show an increasing ability to reason, make educated guesses, and sort fact from fiction
Start thinking more abstractly, comparing what is to what could be
Think about and come up with ways to deal with hypothetical situations
Begin to set their own goals for the future; take other opinions into account but make their own decisions
Understand the consequences of actions, not just today, but also in far-reaching ways (For example, understanding that failing English isn’t just a bummer—it can mean repeating the year)
Develop a strong sense of right and wrong and make decisions based on following their conscience
Write with complexity about a variety of content areas (science, social studies, literature)
Use strategies to search for, use, and compare information from multiple sources
Use numbers in real-life situations (like calculating tax or a tip)