Wednesday, August 30, 2017

Understanding developmental delay

When a child fails to meet certain developmental milestones, such as rolling over, walking, and talking, within the normal age range, there is a possibility that they are suffering from a developmental delay. 

Image source: babycenter.com

Parents and teachers should take note, however, that children develop skills at a varying timetable. For example, some kids learn how to walk as early as nine months, while some can start doing so months after their first birthday. Both ages are within the normal range of development. 

But if a child consistently lags behind in at least two out of these five main areas of development, he probably has developmental delay, and early intervention should be undertaken. 

Cognitive skills: This refers to a human’s ability to think, learn, reason out, and solve problems. Without this, children would find it difficult to explore his surroundings and learn basic skills. 

Social and emotional skills: This enables children to have a meaningful relationship, interact, and express themselves to other people. These skills also allow them to control their emotions.

Speech and language skills: This is the ability of children to communicate with other people – to understand other people’s verbal and non-verbal cues and to make themselves understood. 

Motor skills: Motor skills include fine motor, or the use of small muscles, and gross motor, or large muscles. These include grasping items, playing with toys, sitting, standing, walking, and more.

Everyday tasks: These are for toddlers who should be able to tasks on their own, such as eating, dressing, and taking a bath. 

Image source: understood.org

Dr. Curtis Cripe has created various proprietary programs that seek to help patients with brain-based dysfunctions, examples of which are learning disabilities, developmental delays, inappropriate behaviors, and many more. Learn more about him by checking out this website.

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