There’s more to tracking your baby’s development than logging height and weight….Spotting Developmental Delays

Physical development is divided into two areas , growth and development.

If your child is not meeting the milestones for his or her age, or if you think there could be a problem with the way your child plays, learns, speaks, acts, and moves talk to your child’s doctor and share your concerns.

• Gross motor skills, such as crawling and walking.
• Fine motor skills, such as stacking blocks or coloring.
• Language skills, including speech and comprehension.
• Thinking skills.
• Social interaction.

If you feel your child is slow to meet a milestone, or isn’t making the same progress as their peers, it’s natural to worry. However, it’s important to remember that for every video of a child’s first steps you see on Facebook, there are many other children who are still barely pulling themselves up.

Causes of Developmental Delay

• Genetic or hereditary conditions like Down syndrome.
• Metabolic disorders like phenylketonuria (PKU)
• Trauma to the brain, such as shaken baby syndrome.
• Severe psychosocial trauma, such as post-traumatic stress disorder.

Although children grow and develop at their own pace, these milestones are established to mark the average age moments most children learn the specific task. Reaching these milestones late is a sign that a child may have Cerebral Palsy or another development disability, especially if other signs are present.

On average, they said their first words at age 9 months. This study looked at whether early motor skills are associated with better cognitive abilities later on. It tracked 599 children and found that those who stood without assistance early scored higher on cognitive tests at age 4.