When Should I Be Concerned My Child Is Not Hitting Their Milestones?

 The first thing a pediatrician will tell you is that all children develop at different rates.  This is true, to an extent.  Human development is marked by what is known as milestones or developmental stages.  There is a certain window of growth that takes place at various ages where children will begin doing, or attempting to do, new activities.  When a child has mastered  a specific task or activity, we say they have reached a specific milestone or developmental stage.  When a child has not begun doing activities by certain ages, we say that the child is not meeting their milestones or hitting their developmental stages.  

One misnomer is that a parent or a pediatrician will say that a child is a 'late bloomer'.  Actually, this only applies when the child reaches puberty. It is very crucial for a child, especially from birth to age 5 years old, to meet their milestones and developmental stages within a reasonable amount of time.  When a child is not attempting to crawl, sit up, feed themselves, babble, and/or recognize familiar objects or people by age 1, they are NOT a late bloomer.  When a child is not doing these things then they have missed their milestones and developmental stages and intervention is required.  When a child continues to miss their milestones and developmental stages and the missed milestones and developmental stages begin to compound one on the other, it is definitely time for intervention.  When multiple milestones and developmental stages are missed, a child will enter preschool with multiple needs.  The child will be assessed and an IEP (Individual Education Plan) will be developed to try to help the child reach the missed milestones and developmental stages in order to be successful in school.  However, getting intervention at this age, does not always work.  A child may gain minimal skills but will never truly be 'caught up', as many pediatricians like to try to tell parents will happen when their child is older.  This is why recognizing delays in development are so important to catch and intervention put into place as early as possible.  

Another reason why a child may miss a milestone or developmental stage may be due to a disability.  This is another reason why it is so important to bring up missed milestones and developmental stages to your child's pediatrician.  The earlier a child can be assessed and a diagnosis given, the sooner the child can get the intervention needed to help the child be as successful in the classroom and in life as possible!

At Moments of Joy, our staff perform the Creative Curriculum Assessment on all children.  When it is noticed the children in our care at not hitting their milestones and developmental stages, a conversation is had with the parent of the child.  This conversation is not meant to be one where the parent is told what they are doing wrong, but rather, one to introduce the need for intervention.  Again, the earlier intervention can be introduced, the better it is for the child and the family.