Ace the Arizona Educator Proficiency Test 2025 – Teach, Inspire, Succeed!

The substage of sensorimotor development that is characterized by infants demonstrating intentional behavior is Coordination of Reactions. During this stage, typically occurring between 8 to 12 months of age, infants begin to show a clear understanding of their actions and the consequences those actions have on their environment.

At this point, babies combine multiple actions in a coordinated way to achieve specific goals. For example, they may reach for a toy that is out of reach, using novel strategies such as crawling to retrieve it or moving obstacles out of the way. This demonstrates a level of planning and intentionality that wasn't evident in earlier substages, where behaviors were more reflexive or purely exploratory.

This substage marks a significant development in cognitive ability as infants start to engage in problem-solving and show an understanding of the relationship between their actions and the results, paving the way for more complex forms of learning and interaction. The other options refer to earlier or different aspects of sensorimotor development that do not emphasize intentional action to the same extent.