Developmental delays

A baby's rate of development is determined largely before birth, primarily as a result of genetic make-up. A child who walks early most likely has a parent who walked early. Few babies develop at a uniform rate; most develop quickly in some areas and slower in others. Some babies reach most or all developmental milestones slightly later than "average." As long as a child's development falls within the broad range that is considered normal, reaching one or more milestones late is generally not a cause for concern. When a child consistently reaches developmental milestones much later than other children, a professional consultation is usually warranted.

Several developmental areas are of interest: gross motor skills (e.g., crawling, walking), fine motor skills (e.g., grasping and manipulating objects), receptive (understanding) and expressive (speaking) language, self-help (e.g., feeding, dressing), and social and play skills. While it is important to consider each of these areas, some are more important predictors of developmental difficulties than others.

Gross motor skills tend to be of particular importance to parents. They are readily observable and easy to compare from one child to the next. The timing of concrete achievements such as first steps is usually easier to pinpoint than that of more ambiguous accomplishments in other areas of development (e.g., baby recognizing his own name). While steady progress in the development of motor skills is important, a particular achievement such as early walking bears little relationship to later intelligence and is most likely an inherited trait, much like early or late teething.

Communication and social skills are generally more import in understanding a child's developmental progress. During the first half of the first year, baby's communication skills are largely nonverbal. Smiling, making eye contact and turning in the direction of a familiar voice, are all signs that baby is connecting with and relating to his social environment. Later in the first year, babbling begins and words may start to appear. In most cases, baby's vocabulary will continue to grow by leaps and bounds as he moves through the second year. Again, however, it is the ability to use language to communicate and relate to the social world that is most important. A child who has a limited speaking vocabulary late into the second year, but is able to communicate needs through gestures, point to named objects in books, and follow simple directions, is most likely not exhibiting significant developmental delay.

The nature of a child's play also pro-vides important information about intellectual development. Very young children tend to play alongside, rather than with, other children. Early play consists largely of using body and senses to interact with the environment. During the toddler years there is a move toward pretend play and increasingly interactive play with other children. Flexibility and creativity become more evident as a child begins to engage in symbolic play (e.g., using a block to represent a car) and role-playing (e.g., "I'll be the mommy and you be the baby"). Steady progression toward more social and complex play suggests that development in this area is on track.