How to recognize developmental delay in a child: early signs

Developmental delay means that a child is behind his or her peers in one or more areas of emotional, mental, or physical growth. When this happens, early diagnosis and therapy is the best way to help your child make progress and compensate for missing skills.

What are the different types of developmental delays?

Infants and preschoolers can have different types of developmental delays:

  • Speech;
  • Social and emotional;
  • Cognitive – related to thinking;
  • Motor problems, i.e., body movements;
  • Visual or hearing impairments.

Causes of developmental delays and risk factors

Young children learn to crawl, talk, and use the potty at different rates. But sometimes a child may master these milestones much later than other children. These delays have many causes, including:

  • Premature birth – premature babies have their own timetable for developing and mastering skills;
  • Genetic conditions, such as Down syndrome or Duchenne muscular dystrophy;
  • Poor vision or hearing, including due to hereditary causes;
  • Malnutrition;
  • Alcohol or drug use during pregnancy;
  • Physical abuse or social isolation of the child;
  • Hypoxia (lack of oxygen) during fetal development or delivery, pregnancy abnormalities, etc.

Signs of developmental delay in a child

What should you pay attention to in order to notice a delay in the development of the baby in time?

1. Delays in speech and language development

These are not uncommon in toddlers. Language and speech delays are the most common types. Speech reflects verbal skills, while language reflects a broader system of information acquisition and transfer, which also includes the ability to understand and use gestures.

Communication skills of the child

Possible causes of delayed speech development include:

  • Bilingualism – when more than one language is used in the family or immediate environment. As a rule, this delay is insignificant and goes away on its own by the age of four.
  • Learning disabilities – neurological problems related to information processing in parts of the brain.
  • Hearing impairment – due to severe ear infections, trauma, genetic abnormalities, congenital hearing defects, and taking certain medications.
  • Autism spectrum disorder (ASD, autism) – a group of neurological developmental disorders that also includes (although not always) impairments in the ability to communicate and interact with people.
  • Dysarthria is a disorder of the muscles of the articulatory apparatus;
  • Social isolation, neglect of the child, lack of communication at an early age.

But in many cases, the cause can not be found. If there are signs of speech delay in a child, the child should be examined by several specialists and corrected depending on the cause and the age of the child.

What is important to pay attention to?

  • At 3-4 months, the child does not react to a loud sound, at 4 months – no babbling, no attempts to imitate speech.
  • At 9-10 months there are no syllabic words and/or gestures that relate to the object or subject, no gestures of agreement and denial.
  • By one year your baby does not use at least a few words – mama, baba, dai, no, no, bye.
  • At two years of age, vocabulary has not reached 20 words, no short phrases (“give juice”), only imitation of speech, no communication, only phrases or words to meet needs (give, drink, pump, don’t want).

 

2. Developmental delays due to visual impairment

Until six months of age, a baby is naturally nearsighted and vision is not particularly clear. It is believed that this is an evolutionary mechanism that helps the infant to better recognize faces, as it is still unable to move independently. In addition, the coordination of vision with both eyes is still underdeveloped. But then it should be formed.

How to identify visual impairment in a child?

Observe the timing of mastering skills, and also pay attention if some skills suddenly disappear.

  • Eyes should move freely in any direction, if one eye of the child can look away, and the second eye is frozen in place – this is a sign of a problem;
  • At two months, children begin to notice their hands, consider them;
  • At three months – to follow with their eyes the movement of objects, people at a close distance;
  • By three months should also pass or remain very insignificant and not constant strabismus;
  • By four months, you should pay attention to excessive lacrimation or constant inflammatory processes in the eyes. As a rule, this is detected at the routine examination at the ophthalmologist at 2 months and for drainage of the tear ducts prescribed drugs and massage. If the blockage does not go away, mild intervention in hospital is indicated;
  • At six months of age, the child should follow the movement of small objects and objects that are at a distance of two meters, with both eyes.

 

3. Delayed motor skills in children

Delayed motor skills development can relate to large motor skills such as crawling, walking, or fine motor skills such as using fingers to pick up a rattle, for example. There may also be a combined delay in motor development, for example, premature babies do not develop muscles at the same rate as babies born at term.

A small child is playing and looking at the book

For therapy, it is recommended first of all to stimulate physical activity at home – exercises, massage, games on a fitball, motivation of the child to move – for example, not to give an object in the hands, but to put it at a distance. Physical therapy, play therapy, medications and surgical interventions may also be prescribed.

When do I need to see a doctor?

  • At three to four months of age, the child should be able to hold his head well, reach out, pick up and hold light rattles and pull them to his mouth. If you take his armpits and put him on a hard surface, he will push off with his legs.
  • By five months, the baby should turn over in both directions.
  • By half a year – to sit without support and begin to crawl not only in a crawl.
  • By one and a half years it is time to walk confidently, while putting his feet not only on the toe, but on the full foot, to push rolling toys.

 

4. Delayed social and emotional development

Difficulties in social interaction and communication with others – big and small – are social and/or emotional developmental delays. They can usually be noticed as early as 1-2 years of age, and sometimes even earlier.

The causes often remain unknown. Among the most studied are mental developmental disorders, lack of communication with the child at an early age, ineffective parenting methods and autistic disorders.

There is no cure for this disorder, but there are therapies that can improve and correct the condition.

What to pay special attention to?

  • At three months, the child should smile and express a complex of animation at the sight of a familiar face, pay attention to new faces and be alert.
  • By five months, the child should laugh, express emotions by squealing, and quickly fall asleep at night with little soothing.
  • At seven months, express emotion and love for loved ones, happy to hug, ask for hands, interested in other children.
  • By one year of age, be able to wave “bye-bye”, pointing with a finger what you want, reaching out for the desired object.
A child feels a sense of attachment to his brother

5. Cognitive developmental delay

Cognitive developmental delay (maturation of thinking processes) causes a wide range of learning disabilities and can be triggered by one or more causes.

By one year of age, a child should:

  • Play hide-and-seek and look for hidden objects that you have removed in front of his eyes;
  • Use gestures;
  • Show objects and people around and in pictures when asked.

By the age of two, you should have mastered:

  • Being able to follow simple instructions – fetch a ball, open a drawer and give a spoon;
  • Know why simple objects are needed – what a spoon, comb, telephone, etc. are used for;
  • Repeat actions and words (at least syllabic) after adults in a playful way.

It is important to remember that the range of norms is wide, and mostly developmental delays in toddlers are not serious, which, with attention and the beginning of work in time, are quickly corrected. Even in serious cases, significant improvements can be made – so it is important to notice signs of problems as early as possible and seek professional help.

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