Your child’s failure to meet developmental milestones can have a variety of causes. Injuries sustained during labor and delivery can contribute to many of the conditions that cause children to skip important developmental milestones. The following are just a few of the conditions that can cause your child to skip developmental milestones:
- Brachial plexus injuries
- Cerebral palsy
- Low birth weight
- Disruption of blood and oxygen as the brain develops
- Maternal infection
Speak to a birth injury lawyer for a child skipping developmental milestones if your son or daughter is falling behind their peers and you want answers. Contact the Birth Injury Lawyers Group at 1-844-908-0346 to get connected to a birth injury lawyer near you today.
What Are the Key Milestones in Child Development?
There are several key milestones in child development that your child should reach, especially in the first year of life. Keeping track of key milestones a baby reaches can help your pediatrician determine if there is something wrong or not. It can also provide reassurance to parents that their baby is developing on track.
If your child misses key milestones in their development, it can be a cause for concern as something may have happened at birth that is causing this to happen. The sooner you are able to notice that something is wrong with your child’s development, the sooner you may be able to detect and identify the source of the problem.
LIST OF KEY MILESTONES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT
Your child should hit key milestones at certain age ranges from the time they are born up until around 5 years of age, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Key developmental milestones in children by age can include:
- 2 months old: smiles, coos, reacts to sounds, recognizes familiar faces, follows things with eyes, holds head-up, tries to push up while laying on tummy, soothes herself.
- 4 months old: More active in playing, babbles, mimics sounds and facial expressions, shows more emotions, start of hand-eye coordination, brings hands to mouth.
- 6 months old: Rolls, starts to sit, reacts to other emotions, responds to name, enjoys playing with others, tries to grab things out of reach, passes toys from one hand to the other.
- 9 months old: sits, becomes attached to Mom or Dad, says first word, finger points, plays “peek-a-boo”, able to grasp things and bring it to his or her mouth, crawls, pull self up to stand.
- 1 year old: Stands, shows fear, gets upset when parents leave, says a handful of words, walks while holding onto furniture, follows simple directions, connects object with its name
- 2 years old: mimics what you say or do, enjoys company of other children, walks, says short simple sentences, identifies shapes and colors, builds with blocks, throws a ball, kicks a ball, runs
- 3 years old: shows empathy, shows affection, tries to dress self, converses, vocabulary expands, climbs, climbs stairs, pedals, clicks or pushes buttons, pulls or pushes levers, screws and unscrews containers
- 4 years old: rides a bike, plays well with others, shows skills of memorization, knows first and last name, counts, knows colors, story-tells, likes exploring, plays pretend
- 5 years old: more obedient, articulate, potty-trained, hops, swings, understands what’s real and not real, more independent, knows alphabets, can use utensils
Do not worry if your baby is a certain age and has not met a milestone yet. Remember, key milestones are set based on the average baby, and just because your child reaches a certain age does not mean he or she should be reaching a milestone at that exact moment. Key milestones come with margins, and it may take your child more time to reach something than another child. Your child may even reach a milestone earlier than expected.
HOW YOU CAN HELP YOUR CHILD REACH KEY MILESTONES
As a parent with a child who is failing to meet key milestones in their development, there are some things you can do for your child to help them stay on track.
First, with practice comes perfection. You can help your child meet milestones through repetition. There is also the power of visualization. Show your child over and over again how to do or say something.
You can also hire help. Search local child development therapists in your area and interview them to determine if they are able to help you with your child’s problem.
Perhaps most important of all, talk to your child’s pediatrician. You may want to do this before you even hire professional help as your concerns about your child’s development may not be justified. Your doctor may also suggest other techniques you may not have considered.
WHAT TO DO FOR SKIPPED KEY MILESTONES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT
If your child is missing key developmental milestones, you may want to start a diary to write things down that your child is doing or not doing that you are worried about along with any questions you may have.
Your pediatrician can check your child and determine if there is an underlying problem. Your doctor may send you to a specialist or request testing on your child to see if an injury suffered at birth is causing the issue.
What Are the Warning Signs My Child Is Skipping Developmental Milestones?
Warning signs that your child is skipping developmental milestones can include delays in physical and mental areas of growth, which can affect emotional, behavioral, cognitive, and social development. Warning signs can appear as early as 2 months old to elementary-school years. In fact, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that one in seven U.S. children, ages 2 to 8, are diagnosed with a mental, behavioral, or developmental disorder.
The first signs of developmental delays can be very concerning for a parent because this can evolve into serious disabilities or disorders. On the other hand, these signs may not be a cause for concern. That’s why you should pay close attention to potential red flags and act on them early.
WARNING SIGNS THAT YOUR CHILD MAY BE MISSING KEY DEVELOPMENTAL MILESTONES
As soon as your child is born, it is important to ensure he or she is staying on track towards healthy development. If you believe your child is showing signs of missed developmental milestones, you may want to see your child’s pediatrician or reach out to a specialist, such as child’s neurologist or child’s psychologist, for help.
Red flags that your child is experiencing developmental delay can include:
- 2 months old: does not respond to loud noises, does not smile, cannot hold head up, does not follow objects with eyes
- 4 months old: does not make cooing sounds, does not use legs to push down while feet are on a hard surface, eyes do not move in a fluid motion
- 6 months old: lack of affection, does not reach for things right in front of him or her, cannot put hands to mouth, does not roll over, does not laugh
- 9 months old: does not try to communicate with you, shows a lack of expression, you have a hard time to get him or her to laugh or smile
- 1 year old: does not babble, does not use hand gestures to try to communicate, is not crawling, cannot stand with support, has not said the first word
- 2 years old: does not talk, unable to follow simple instructions, wobbly when walks, regresses
- 3 years old: has not mastered walking, unable to perform simple tasks, no interest in playing with peers, drools, fails to make eye contact, regresses
- 4 years old: Does not speak clearly, lacks social skills and desire to be social, has a hard time remembering things, regresses
- 5 years old: lacks emotion, lacks empathy, cannot distinguish between real and fake, likes to be alone, needs help doing basic tasks, regresses
As a parent, it is understandable to be extremely worried if your child is showing any of these warning signs of developmental delay; however, each child develops differently. Just because your child may not hit a milestone on time, does not mean they will not get to that point in the future. Some children can skip a milestone altogether.
WHAT TO DO IF YOUR CHILD IS DISPLAYING SIGNS OF MISSING DEVELOPMENTAL MILESTONES
The first step is detecting warning signs that indicate your child may be skipping developmental milestones. The second step is acting upon it by getting the professional help your child needs. Keep an eye on any developmental concerns you may have. Jot them down in a journal, practice basic skills with your child, record their progress or lack thereof, and see a doctor for help.
You should discuss your concerns with your child’s pediatrician, and you may want to try some techniques at home to help the problem if you are concerned about warning signs your child is showing of skipped developmental milestones.
Raising a child can be frustrating at times and it can make matters worse when your child is not physically or mentally developing at a normal pace. It is best to be as patient as you can during these times and know that your child can get the help and support they need.
What Are the Physical and Mental Effects of a Child Skipping Developmental Milestones?
The physical and mental effects of your child skipping developmental milestones means that there may be a delay or incapability of certain areas of brain development. This can include areas of social, emotional, cognitive, and communication development.
If there is a developmental problem that can affect any or all of these areas, your child may suffer significantly as a child and into adulthood. It can affect your child’s relationships and future success. However, just because your child may miss a developmental milestone does not mean this will affect them for the rest of their life. Some children are delayed in reaching a milestone, and some may actually skip a milestone altogether but end up reaching the end goal, such as not being able to crawl and going straight to standing and walking.
Therefore, you may want to make notes of your concerns and discuss it with your child’s pediatrician first. Detecting developmental issues early can help diagnose the problem and assign a plan to treat or manage the issue before it worsens.
PHYSICAL EFFECTS OF SKIPPING DEVELOPMENTAL MILESTONES
Missing important milestones in a child’s development can hinder physical abilities that may prevent them from performing basic tasks and activities. Early on, your child should hit milestones that encompass physical aspects such as sitting up, hand-eye coordination, visual concentration, or focus.
In turn, this can make your child physically impaired to walk normally, sit properly, participate in sports, play with their peers, play an instrument, and more. Additionally, skipping a vital developmental milestone that deals with their physicality may cause muscle and joint problems, which can cause difficulties with using his or her limbs and exacerbate physical disabilities and disorders.
It is very important to keep a keen eye on your child achieving these basic fundamentals of human development early on because if there is a problem, it is better to catch it sooner than later.
MENTAL EFFECTS OF SKIPPING DEVELOPMENTAL MILESTONES
Missing important milestones in a child’s development can have mental effects that can prohibit them from conquering basic thinking and learning processes. This can negatively impact their education, life skills, and future career goals.
It can also have an effect on their ability to develop and sustain healthy relationships such as making friends and working well with others. In turn, this can create other mental health issues, such as depression and eating disorders, and behavioral abnormalities, such as bipolar or split personality. Some other mental effects of skipping developmental milestones include autism, attention deficit disorder, oppositional defiant disorder, social phobia, anxiety, and dyspraxia.
Mental effects caused by skipping developmental milestones can become serious and forever change the future of your child’s life. If you or your doctor are able to identify a developmental issue early on, you may have a good chance of saving your child from extreme physical or mental disabilities or disorders.
Once the problem is identified, you can start fixing or managing the issue by getting outside professional help and using specialized techniques or tools to rehabilitate your child at home too. Doing so may give your child a better chance at succeeding in school, socially, and life in general, despite his or her developmental delays at a young age.
PREVENTING PHYSICAL AND MENTAL EFFECTS OF A CHILD SKIPPING DEVELOPMENTAL MILESTONES
You may not be able to completely prevent your child from experiencing physical and mental effects if they are developmentally delayed, but you can intervene and possibly prevent the issue from worsening and becoming a major problem down the road.
If you think that your child may be missing key developmental milestones, you should discuss it with your pediatrician. Your pediatrician can assess the situation to determine its cause and suggest testing to diagnose the problem and recommend you to a specialist, such as a developmental pediatrician, a child neurologist, or a child psychologist, so your child can get the appropriate treatment.
The longer you wait to seek help, the more opportunity mental and physical disabilities and disorders have in evolving and causing major problems that are harder to handle.
What Causes a Child to Skip a Developmental Milestone?
As a healthy birthing process is essential in helping a child develop normally, injuries and complications during birth can prevent a child from growing at a normal rate—both mentally and physically. The birth injuries that can hinder a child’s ability to hit all their developmental milestones can include, but may not be limited to:
- Complications from a lack of oxygen to the brain
- Palsy conditions, such as Erb’s palsy and cerebral palsy
- Traumatic brain injuries (TBI)
- Being born prematurely, potentially causing the child to be malnourished and underweight
- Infections that may lead to brain damage or autoimmune disorders
- Various types of nerve damage
- And more
As infants lack the ability to express certain conditions, these complications may not be noticeable for an extended period of time. The sooner many birth injuries are addressed in a medical setting, the better the child’s prognosis may be moving forward. As such, it is important that parents educate themselves on what causes a child to skip a developmental milestone so they may be able to better identify the warning signs and seek treatment before the condition progresses.
Unfortunately, medical staff acting negligently can cause many birth injury cases during the birth or through the course of the pregnancy. These cases of medical malpractice can result in lawsuits on behalf of the victims in an attempt to recover damages associated with their pain and suffering surrounding the child’s hardships.
DEVELOPMENTAL MILESTONE
Developmental milestones are common benchmarks used to show that your child is progressing to a normal physical or cognitive level for their age group. Examples of this would be taking their first steps within the first several years of their life or starting to speak within a certain age range. However, every child is different, and some children simply do not develop these skills as quickly as others.
The most glaring of these issues in the first few years of a child’s life will be physical setbacks, such as difficulty holding light objects or a lack of mobility in their limbs. Cognitive delays may take several years before they become readily apparent. If a caregiver believes a child is falling behind in certain areas of their development, a medical professional can perform tests on them to check their overall well-being and begin the rehabilitation process.
COMMON BIRTH INJURIES CAUSED BY NEGLIGENCE
Many negligent birth injuries happen because of medical staff being inexperienced, reckless, or ignorant. Hospital staff can be too rough with the child during the birth, or staff failing to use their professional training to address warning signs can cause many birth injuries.
For example, if the hospital staff knows the child is too large or heavy for a traditional birth, but they fail to call for a cesarean section (C-section), their negligence may be the main cause of any ensuing complications. According to a report presented by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 31.9 percent of all deliveries are by c-section. Since they have gone through extensive schooling and training to care for expecting mothers and their newborn children, they should know better. Ultimately, victims should have the right to a reasonable expectation of safety in hospital settings.
Common causes of negligent birth injuries can include, but may not be limited to:
- Using forceps or other dangerous medical instruments to pull the child out of the mother, sometimes causing serious nerve damage, which may result in palsy conditions or other forms of paralysis
- Failing to stop the umbilical cord from being wrapped around the child’s head during birth, which can cause oxygen deprivation and brain damage
- Administering dangerous medications to the mother while pregnant
- Breaking the child’s bones in their upper body when delivering them
- Swelling in the child’s head or scalp may manifest as a condition known as caput succedaneum. This condition can ultimately lead to serious complications like jaundice and kernicterus
- And more, all of which may explain what causes a child to skip a developmental milestone
What Is the Prognosis or Treatments For a Child Skipping Developmental Milestones?
The prognosis and treatments for a child who is skipping developmental milestones depend on the individual child and the types of milestones they are skipping. There are numerous factors that will play a part in the prognosis and treatments of your child’s developmental delays. In addition, you can have a more positive outcome if you are able to get treatment for your child in the first three years of life.
PROGNOSIS FOR A CHILD SKIPPING DEVELOPMENTAL MILESTONES
If your child skipped a developmental milestone, it does not mean they won’t live a satisfactory life. The prognosis of your child’s case is dependent on many factors, including the actions you take as a parent.
First, it depends on the developmental skill that your child missed. Some development milestones that are delayed are easier to rehabilitate than others. It can be based on the milestone that was missed, for example, walking versus talking, and the underlying cause of the problem, such as weak muscles versus a neurological injury.
You must also consider the severity of the developmental issue. In relation to figuring out the cause of the problem, there can be a level of severity associated with it. For example, a child diagnosed with a speech impairment may just have difficulties with forming words whereas another child with a speech impairment may not be able to speak at all.
It also depends on the type of treatment and management plan you set in place for your child. If your child is diagnosed with a developmental issue, you may need to make adjustments to your daily routine to ensure your child is getting the support and help he or she needs. This may mean taking time out of your day to help your child engage in activities that can help them in addition to working with a developmental specialist.
The sooner you are able to detect the issue and begin a treatment and management plan for your child, the better chance they may have to live a normal life. Early intervention is key to helping your child with developmental delays. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), early intervention can help to improve a child’s development.
TREATMENTS FOR A CHILD SKIPPING DEVELOPMENTAL MILESTONES
There are various treatments and management plans to help your child work through the developmental issues. Once you have received a medical diagnosis for your child’s developmental delay, you and your child’s doctor can discuss treatment and management plans.
Your child’s doctor may recommend a specialized professional to effectively implement a rehabilitation plan. This may include a hearing specialist, a physical therapist, a speech therapist, special education teacher, occupational therapist, neurologist, and behavioral specialist. It all depends on what area the developmental issue falls under.
Once you choose a specialist to help treat or manage your child’s developmental delay, you can begin rehabilitating your child with the recommended methods. It may include one-on-one interaction, speech counseling, special education lessons, music therapy, physical therapy and others. Your child may even have more than one treatment or management plan. Additionally, involve your family with methods they can use at home to help.
You should also understand that this is probably not a one-time treatment plan. Your child may need specialized help throughout their childhood and maybe even into adulthood. It all depends on what the disability is and how severe it is, especially if it is seriously affecting your child’s life and future success. Your child’s specialist can update you on the progress of your child’s development and inform you if additional action needs to be taken or not.
As a parent, it can be worrisome when you first detect something is wrong with your child’s development. It can then be heartbreaking when it is confirmed that your child has a developmental delay. You are not alone, and a childhood developmental problem does not mean your child will automatically suffer in life or is unable to live a fulfilling life. U.S. studies show that one in six children that are ages 3 to 17 are dealing with a developmental disability, according to the CDC. Discuss the prognosis or treatments for your child who is skipping developmental milestones with the doctors and specialists you are working with to fully understand your child’s case and outcomes.
Infant Occupational Therapy
When your child is diagnosed with a birth injury, occupational therapy may be prescribed to help improve their prognosis. The goals of occupational therapy can include helping your son or daughter bring their hands together, learn to enjoy bathing, follow movements with their eyes, and strengthen their limbs and body to foster easier movements.
In occupational therapy, your baby will develop skills that establish a foundation for meeting future developmental milestones. As their parent, you will be very involved in your child’s occupational therapy to help foster and support their abilities and comfort as they continue to grow and develop.
A Birth Injury Lawyer Can Help You File A Successful Lawsuit
If your child is skipping developmental milestones because of a birth injury, you may be able to file a birth injury or medical malpractice lawsuit. A successful lawsuit can help you provide for the specialized medical and therapeutic care your child needs now. It can also help you afford the ongoing medical care they will require in the future.
When you file a medical malpractice lawsuit, you must be able to provide proof that the treating physician breached the standard of care to which you and your baby were entitled. Your birth injury lawyer for a child skipping developmental milestones can help you compile the proof you need for your lawsuit and meet the timelines your state imposes.
Understanding the Statute of Limitations in Your State
When your attorney prepares your case, they understand the restrictions your state places on medical malpractice lawsuits. For example, the statute of limitations in your state determines the amount of time you have to file your lawsuit. Your state also has a statute of repose that determines how certain actions you take can impact your claim.
Finally, your state may also follow a legal principle called tolling for minors that makes certain exceptions to the timeline in cases involving minor children.
Your birth injury lawyer can help you understand how these timelines affect your case. Complete our short form to be connected with a birth injury lawyer who can help you successfully navigate these restrictions and file your case in a timely manner. You can also contact the Birth Injury Lawyers Group directly by calling 1-844-908-0346 today.
Find a Birth Injury Attorney Near Me
Complete our brief contact form or call us today to be connected to a lawyer in your area who can help you find financial relief. A birth injury lawyer for a child skipping developmental milestones can also help you assign liability, prepare a solid case, and hold the right people accountable for their actions.
Your child deserves the most promising future possible. Your attorney can help you obtain the compensation that lets you provide the medical care they need for a brighter future. Contact the Birth Injury Lawyers Group today at 1-844-908-0346 to get connected with a lawyer in your area.