Developmental delay is diagnosed if a child does not achieve certain skills (or ‘developmental milestones’) by a predicted age. Development delay generally affects a child's speech and language, fine and gross motor skills, and/or personal and social skills.
Children born with a genetic or chromosomal abnormality (eg. Down’s syndrome) can be genetically at risk of developmental delay. Children can also be at risk of developmental delay by being exposed to harmful agents before or after birth (eg. poor maternal nutrition, lead, drugs or infections passed from mother to baby during pregnancy).
It is important to remember that there is a normal age range for reaching each developmental milestone. For example, one child may be able to walk at 11 months while another child may walk at 16 months. Both of these ages are within the normal milestone limits.
Signs that your child may not be meeting physical milestones are:
- unable to bring his/her hands together at 4 months
- unable to roll over at 6 months
- unable to control his/her head when pulled to a sitting position at 6 months
- unable to sit independently (without support) at 8 months
- unable to crawl at 12 months
- unable to walk at 18 months
Health visitors are often the professionals that would first notice delays in your child’s development, during developmental checks. Ask your health visitor regarding developmental delay if you have concerns, or arrange a with one of our specialist neurological physiotherapists.
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