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Baby Developmental Stages
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Add to FavoritesA developmental delay also means that the child can have a learning disability too, even though some of the delays can be reversed e.g. hearing loss caused by chronic ear infections. If not, the child continuously can have problems, in both development and his studies. However, remember, both are different in its causes and categorization, and some of the causes of developmental delays are not considered under a learning disability.
What is a developmental delay? You can tell there is a delay in development when a child does not reach their developmental milestones at expected times, which are functional skills or age specific tasks a child is expected to accomplish in expected age range. It is an ongoing or major delay in the process of development and differs from a temporary un-achievement of certain skills. Delay can occur in one or many areas, like motor, language, social or thinking (cognitive) skills.
Developmental delays can be due to many causes like genetic( e.g. Down Syndrome) or related to complications in pregnancy and child birth such as prematurity or infections .However, specific cause is unknown.
On the other hand, the learning disability is a disorder, which is thought to be caused by irregularities in the functioning of certain parts of the brain, which causes a problem in one or more areas of learning where the child has a normal intelligence. In some cases, it is associated with ADHD or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. The exact cause of it is unknown but there are risk factors like:
Heredity
Low birth weight, prematurity , birth trauma or distress
Stress before or after birth
Treatment for cancer or leukemia
Central nervous system infections
Severe head injuries
Chronic medical illnesses like diabetes or asthma
Poor nutrition
A learning disability (LD) is a neurobiological disorder; people with LD have brains that learn differently because of differences in brain structure and/or function.
Remember that if a person learns differently due to visual, hearing or physical handicaps, mental retardation, emotional disturbance, or environmental, cultural or economic disadvantage, it is not called as learning disability.
The child has a severe discrepancy between achievement and intellectual ability in one or more of the following areas: Oral expression; listening comprehension; written expression; basic reading skill; reading comprehension; mathematics calculation; mathematics reasoning.
Definitely , the child who has a developmental delay needs assistance or special education program to develop learning skills.
But always we have to have this picture in our mind- there is no point in looking back and blaming ourselves for this problem, but instead, we should find methods to keep our child as much as productive to the society .
Learn more about this author, Bindu Thomas Thycad.
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WHY DO WE WORRY SO MUCH?
The "handicapped" bus pulled up at my neighbors. It was 7:15 a.m. Time for the heartbreaking drama of every weekday.
The mom lurched through the front door, almost losing her balance as she clutched her tiny, screaming, kicking two year old. She struggled up the bus steps. The bus driver stared straight ahead,offering no smile, no greeting, no words of support. As mom backed down the steps I could see agony etched on her face. Watching helplessly, she wrung her hands as the bus sped off- carrying her screaming baby.
I believe in minding your own business, but I also believe there is a time to speak. After seeing this wrenching scene every morning for several months, I knew that time had come. The mother was turning to go into her house. "Molly", I shouted. "Hold on a minute! Come over for a cup of coffee." I was crossing the street as I called out- I didn't want her to decline- I wanted desperately to talk to her. "Come on over, Molly. Let's relax and get to know each other."
Her eyes were pain filed, but she nodded and we crossed to my house. Over steaming mugs of coffee, I chatted about girl stuff- cleaning, hobbies, spare time- and finally brought up the subject of kids. She sensed my concern over the scenes with her little Joy every day, and slowly the story came out.
Joy was a full term baby- a natural birth with no problems. She had been planned for and eagrly awaited. Her parents called her Joy, for that was what she brought them.
Joy crawled at 7 months and began toddling around at 13 months. She slept all night and at the age of one was saying normal baby words- "Mama, Da-Da, and no!" She was a delightful little girl and definitely the joy of her parents life.
When Joy was 18 months old, her mother took her to the Health Department for a series of shots. She was also ask a series of invasive questions. Was Joy speaking in complete sentences yet? Was Joy completely potty trained? Was Joy a docile child? Did she smile and laugh or cry more?
When Molly got Joy out of there, she was befuddled. What a mess just to get a few shots.
Molly thought no more about it until she received a letter saying Joy "needed to be tested. She showed symptons of being developmentally delayed." And so the nightmare began. Joy was "tested,(at 18 months), labeled "developmentally delayed" and promptly put on the list for "special services." The bus that picked up a screaming Joy every morning took her to a special school for, among other things, speech therapy.
And Molly had watched helplessly as Joy changed from a bubbling little girl to a sullen, sad little girl, who would say hardly a word and was prone to crying jags. Molly was at her wit's end. And by totally believing the words of strangers who didn't even know Joy, she was turning her child and herself into victims.
Of course there are truly developmentaly delayed children. There always have been and there always will be. But, it appears that "developmentally delayed" is a new and twisted part of our vocabulary- much like "politically correct". In political correctness, many of our constitutional rights have been subtly twisted and reworded until we are in danger of losing those rights. The law of precedence took over the constitutional morality of right and wrong.
Dangerously, the same thing is happening to parents and many are unaware of what is happening. For every child that can be drawn into the system in this way, needing "special services", someone is getting big bucks. Big taxpayer bucks.And so sinuously, so subtly we are losing our children- for MONEY.
First, we had 1/2 day kindergarten. Then we had full day kindergarten. Then the government decided we needed pre- kindergarten. Of course, Head start was there too- taking little ones out of the home as soon as they were potty trained. Now we have a pre-k, pre-k kindergarten. How ridiculous can we get? We must see what is happening.
Under communism in the former Soviet Union, the government took over the parent's job of parenting when the child was under kindergarten age. In this country, parents are giving up their rights to the government under the guise of "special needs". In reality, the largest percentage of these children are perfectly normal- they aresimply not being allowed to DEVELOP normally. We all know that different skills are learned at different ages and different stages. We all know boys are different and develop differently than girls.
My son could lift his head upright at two weeks. He rolled over at 4 weeks. He didn't cry until he was 9 months old. Why? He was happy, cared for,safe, and loved. He crawled about 8 months and began walking around 15 months. Then he ran! He only said a few garbled words until he was three years old. Overnight, he had a vocabulary that rivaled mine. But he said "wain" instead of rain and "soos" instead of shoes until he was almost five. By that time, he was also "weading" books too. The last time he soiled his pull-ups was on his fourth birthday. I was so tired of it and evidently so was he. I realized then he had a fiercely independent spirit, which would serve him well as he was trained and guided. He never so much as wet the bed after that.
Now he is 16, a 3.5 grade average, no emotional or mental problems, good self esteem and making wise decisions involving his own life. I'm still his guide and parent, but I see the bird testing his wings. And soon he will fly.
How might the outcome have been different if I had allowed him to be labeled "developmentally delayed" as a baby? I am sure he WOULD be a developmentally delayed, emotionally stunted young man- confused about his identity and with no idea how he fits into this world.
Mom's and Dad's- please wake up. Open your eyes and ears and see what may really be happening with your children. For those of you God has blessed with those truly "special" little ones, know that He seems to loan these little gifts to very special parents. Let your instincts guide you.
But parents, if you sense intrusion in your life, if someone is telling you a baby has a speech problem before they can even put words together, if someone tells you boys and girls must be potty trained before the age of two, if someone tells you boys and girls should know all their colors, numbers and letters by the age of three- please beware.
Yes, there are services needed for those special ones. But if we use our parenting instincts and the good old COMMON SENSE that God gave us- if we love our kids and give them a chance to be be whatever age they happen to be, instead of trying to force them into a mold of miniature adult, if we will gently discipline, teach right from wrong, love and hug them- they will develop just fine. They will develop in their own time at their own pace.
And they will be free- free from any delay or disability we may have inadvertently led them into by listening to the "experts"- experts who may not even have children of their own and certainly don't know ours!
Learn more about this author, Jodie Scott.
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