About Developmental Milestones

Understanding development is crucial to providing the right support and interventions when a child needs help. While many resources exist that provide guidelines for developmental skills, it is important to remember that all development falls on a continuum with ranges of appropriate times for skills to emerge. Each child may develop on a slightly different timetable with some skills ahead of expectations and others emerging later than expected. While we like to think of development as a smooth upward incline with new skills always emerging, it is rarely so in real life.

As educator Dorothy Corkille Briggs has noted: “Every child has an inner timetable for growth-a pattern unique to him. Growth is not steady, forward, upward progression. It is instead a switchback trail; three steps forward, two back, one around the bushes, and a few simply standing, before another forward leap.”

Knowing what to look for, what the developmental progression of skills typically is, will help with making the decision of whether to provide support, intervene with therapy or just keep a watchful eye on the child. Our therapists keep typical development in mind as we adjust our therapeutic interventions and establish goals for the child’s skills, behaviors, and success. For more information about development and milestones contact us today or visit these helpful websites:

CDC Act Early Program: Developmental Guidelines

US National Library of Medicine

Child Development Institute

Speech and Language Milestones; American Speech and Hearing Association

Development of Play Skills