What does “Developmental Delay” mean?
Many parents understandably dread hearing the term “developmental delay” applied to their child’s pre-school progress.
Although typically avoided by most professionals working in childcare, Hilbert, Oldbury and elsewhere, it can be sometimes carelessly and misleadingly used by others.
What exactly does “developmental delay” mean?
The short and direct answer to this might be simple – it often means little or nothing of ongoing significance!
To understand why, it’s necessary to start by examining the five main developmental areas usually used to describe a pre-school child’s developmental progress:
- cognitive – the capability to think, adapt through learning and solve practical problems;social environment and psycho-emotional – covering being able to socialise with others, empathise and communicate and show feelings;
- verbal communication and language skills;
- manipulatory skills involving both gross and fine motor muscular use – meaning controlling and using their bodies to accomplish things;
- daily existence – covering everyday activities such as putting shoes on, going to the toilet and so on (aspects of this may be closely related to ‘4’ above).
As we are always keen to emphasise, children aren’t computers and don’t progress in these areas in line with any psychologist’s timetable! There is huge variation between children and some will develop faster in these individual domains than others.
However, following studies and extensive practical experience, it is possible to say that on average children reach a certain degree of mastery in various of the above areas by a certain age. Therefore, it’s also possible to say that a child might be ahead of those averages in one area but also perhaps behind those averages in another.
Such variations are perfectly normal and typically mean nothing. Unfortunately, sometimes the term “developmental delays” is misleadingly used to describe a child who is running a little behind those averages in one of the above areas. That is sometimes entirely wrong.
Time and scope
As an example, some children may be slower in developing language skills than others. They may be entirely in line with averages in other areas and perhaps by the time they have reached primary schooling age, their language delay may have spontaneously resolved itself. It means nothing in terms of their prognosis for future education and development, perhaps being attributable to routine causes such as shyness or English not being their family’s primary language in the home.
The term ‘developmental delays’ should only be correctly used in the following circumstances where:
- a child is running significantly behind anticipated averages in several or all of the above domains;
- the best remedial efforts of parents and the expert early learning centre educators seem to be having little effect in helping the child to progress more easily and visible slippage against averages seems to be increasing;
- there is no obvious explanatory factor, such as illness.
In such instances, it may be advisable to consult medical professionals for a more in-depth diagnosis. The relatively few children who are correctly diagnosed as having developmental delays can often be assisted by enhanced and specialised teaching methodologies.
It is imperative to note that:
- children diagnosed as suffering from genuine developmental delays can often, with special help, catch up and follow a perfectly normal schooling path in later life.
Developmental delays versus developmental disabilities
Sometimes even doctors may use the terms above interchangeably, when in fact, they are two very different things.
To clarify:
- developmental delays are typically non-permanent and might arise for entirely transitory reasons, such as temporary illness or family traumas. The causes may be curable outright through treatment or adjusted teaching approaches:
- developmental disability usually describes a position arising from a largely permanent condition that might be very significantly improved with treatment or special educational regimes but which cannot be entirely cured. Examples include ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder) or Down’s Syndrome etc.
Doctors may use the terms interchangeably, as some conditions might initially be difficult to fully diagnose and might be subsequently more specifically diagnosed as either a developmental delay or a developmental disability.
Summary
A child running behind others in any of the above developmental areas is not necessarily suffering from either developmental delays or a developmental disability. In fact, only a very tiny percentage of children initially seen as being behind are ever likely to be diagnosed as coming under one of those two headings.
Please also remember that only a doctor or medically qualified professional can make any of the above diagnoses.
If you’d like to know more on the above or any other childcare subjects, why not call us for an appointment to pop down for a chat? We’d love to meet you!
