Global Developmental Delay
‘Developmental delay’ is a term used when a child takes longer than expected to reach certain developmental milestones compared to other children of the same age. This might include learning to walk, talk, move, learn new things and interact with others socially and emotionally.
Children with other conditions such as ‘Down syndrome’ or ‘Cerebral palsy‘ may have ‘Global Developmental Delay.’
In some cases, the delay in development can be short lived and overcome through therapies such as occupational therapy and speech therapy whilst in others the delay can persist indicating that they have a learning disability.
Developmental Delay
As a child grows and develops, they learn different skills such as taking a first step, smiling for the first time or speaking their first word. These skills are known as ‘developmental milestones’ and ‘developmental delay’ refers to children who are not achieving their milestones within the age range expected. It is not possible to say exactly whether the child will ‘catch up’, whether this is ‘normal for their development’ or if this it is a marker of a long term issue with their development and learning.
There are five main groups of skills that make up developmental milestones and a child with a developmental delay many have in one or more of these areas.
Gross motor: using larger muscles to sit, stand, walk, run, keep balance and change position
Fine motor: using hands and fingers to be able to eat, draw, dress, write, use keyboards
Language: speaking, using body language and gestures, communicating and understanding what others say
Cognitive: thinking skills including learning, understanding, problem solving, reasoning and remembering
Social: interacting with others, having relationships with family, friends, teachers, cooperating and responding to the feelings of others
Usually there is an age range of several months over which the child is expected to learn these new skills so if for instance the normal age range for walking is 9 to 15 months and a child isn’t walking by 20 months this would be considered to be a developmental delay. A delay in one area of development can be accompanied by a delay in another area of development so a difficulty with speech and language may impact on social skills.
It is important to identify developmental delays early so that treatment can be initiated to minimise the effects of the problem. Early interventions may include:
- Speech and Language Therapy
- Occupational Therapy
- Physical Therapy
- Behaviour Therapy
- Medical and Surgical interventions
It is also important that such children have their vision and hearing evaluated so that any untreated visual or hearing impairments can be remediated and help the effectiveness of other therapies.
We offer a range of therapies in practice including those of INPP (Institute of Neuro-Physiological Psychology), the Masgutova Institute, Sensory integration, Bilateral integration, Auditory Processing and Vision Training. A programme is put together catering for the individual needs of the child.
In order to recommend the most appropriate intervention it is necessary to attend an assessment (two hours) at the practice as well as a medical consultation a few days or weeks prior to this which takes about an hour with the parent or carer without the child so that we can have a full discussion and get a detailed and comprehensive view of the child before their assessment.
We are happy to see children with GDD at any age though obviously the assessment will be geared around what they are able to do physically and verbally.
We also work with children who have been diagnosed with or suspected to have:
Autism and Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD): can be exhibited by an inability to communicate normally and develop social relationships and can often be accompanied by complex behavioural challenges such as prolonged fixation on an object or particular topic or a complete inability to talk
ADHD (Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder): can be exhibited by an inability to concentrate and focus to extreme hyperactivity and a lack of impulse control that leads to disruption in the family, friendships and classroom.