Preschool Outcomes Defined

Three Preschool Outcomes are considered critical to children becoming active and successful participants across many settings. These three areas cut across developmental domains to represent the integrated nature of how children develop, learn, and thrive. Below is a list of skills that make up each of the three areas. It is not an inclusive list. There may be other skills that students possess or lack in each area. 


Positive social-emotional skills (including social relationships): Children who achieve this outcome at a level that is comparable to same-aged nondisabled children show a variety of behaviors related to having social relationships. For example, they:

  • Demonstrate regulation and attachment with significant caregivers in their lives.
    • Respond/initiate/sustain interactions and acknowledge comings and goings. 
  • Attend to other people in a variety of settings. 
    • Express awareness/ caution, respond to/offer greetings, and respond to own/others’ names.
  • Initiate and maintain social interactions.
    • Convey awareness, respond/initiate/sustain interactions, share/cope/resolve conflicts, play near and with peers.
  • Participate in social games and communicate with others.
    • Respond to/initiate/sustain games and back-and-forth communication, demonstrate joint attention, engage in mutual activity, and follow rules of games.
  • Follow social norms and adapt to changes in routines.
    • Transition between activities, respond to new/familiar settings/ interactions, behave in ways that allow participation, follow routines and rules.
  • Express one's own emotions and respond to the emotions of others.
    • Show pride/excitement/frustration, manage own emotions, display affection, and comfort others.


Acquisition and use the knowledge and skills (including early language/communication and early literacy): Children who achieve this outcome at a level that is comparable to same-aged nondisabled children show a variety of behaviors related to having knowledge and skills. For example, they:

  • Show interest in learning.
    • Persist, show eagerness and awareness, imitate/repeat actions, and explore their environment.
  • Use problem-solving skills. 
    • Figure things out, use trial and error, remember steps/actions, and execute them with intention, experiment with new/known actions.
  • Engage in purposeful play.
    • Show early awareness and exploration, use objects according to function, play by building, pretending, organizing, and expanding play scenarios and roles.
  • Understand pre-academics and literacy.
    • Notice differences or associations among things, demonstrate matching/sorting/labeling by size/color/ numbers/function, interact with books and pictures, practice early writing, reading and numeracy.
  • Acquire language to communicate.
    • Learn and use sounds, words, and sentences with increasing complexity including sign-language and augmentative and alternative communication (AAC)
  • Understand questions asked and directions given.
    • Respond to gestures/verbal requests, understand meaning of increasingly complex words/questions/directions, know and state details about self (e.g., name, age)


Use of appropriate behaviors to meet their needs: Children who achieve this outcome at a level that is comparable to same-aged nondisabled children show a variety of appropriate behaviors to meet their needs. For example, they:

  • Move around and manipulate things to meet their needs.
    • Move with increasing control and purpose (e.g., reach, crawl, walk, run, climb) to navigate the environment- with accommodations as needed, manipulate objects/tools (e.g., crayons, scissors, switches, fragile items) with increasing control.
  • Eat and drink with increasing independence.
    • Suck/swallow, chew, bite, finger feed, use utensils, hold bottle, drink from cup, show growing independence with amount/type of food eaten, access food and feed self.
  • Dress and undress with increasing independence.
    • Assist with dressing, take off/ puts on shoes and clothes, undo/do fasteners.
  • Diaper/toilet and washing with increasing independence.
    • Lift legs for diaper change, sit on potty, wash hands, brush teeth, and help with bathing.
  • Communicates needs.
    • Indicate hunger, need for sleep or diaper change, express discomfort/hurt, request, or reject food, and express choice/preferences.
  • Showing safety awareness
    • Avoid dangers (e.g., putting things in the mouth, touching hot stove), follow safety rules across settings and situations (Note: This awareness is less evident in very young children.)


Children who are substantially behind their peers have developmental delays. OSEP has established five progress categories to convey developmental trajectories indicative of developmental delay. 

(a) Children who did not improve functioning.

(b) Children who improved functioning but not sufficient to move nearer to functioning comparable to same-aged peers

(c)        Children who improved functioning to a level nearer to same-aged peers but did not reach age level expectations.

(d) Children who improved functioning to reach a level comparable to same-aged peers

(e) Children who maintained functioning at a level comparable to same-aged peers


Progress categories for 7A, 7B and 7C: 

  1. Percent of preschool children who did not improve functioning = [(# of preschool children who did not improve functioning) divided by (# of preschool children with IEPs assessed)] times 100. 
  2. Percent of preschool children who improved functioning but not sufficient to move nearer to functioning comparable to same-aged peers = [(# of preschool children who improved functioning but not sufficient to move nearer to functioning comparable to same-aged peers) divided by (# of preschool children with IEPs assessed)] times 100. 
  3. Percent of preschool children who improved functioning to a level nearer to same-aged peers but did not reach it = [(# of preschool children who improved functioning to a level nearer to same-aged peers but did not reach it) divided by (# of preschool children with IEPs assessed)] times 100. 
  4. Percent of preschool children who improved functioning to reach a level comparable to same-aged peers = [(# of preschool children who improved functioning to reach a level comparable to same-aged peers) divided by (# of preschool children with IEPs assessed)] times 100. 
  5. Percent of preschool children who maintained functioning at a level comparable to same-aged peers = [(# of preschool children who maintained functioning at a level comparable to same-aged peers) divided by (# of preschool children with IEPs assessed)] times 100.