All children grow and develop in different ways and at various rates. However, there are some baselines and milestones that provide a generalised idea of whether your child may be having difficulty with certain aspects. These can be useful to indicate when seeking professional guidance or treatment may help your child reach their developmental goals.
Developmental delays may become evident at any time throughout childhood. Your child may demonstrate issues with a development milestone that fits into categories including cognition, movement and mobility, communication and speech, and social skills. Depending on the concern or condition, physiotherapy may be an advantageous form of therapy to support your child.
At Chatterbox, our passionate physiotherapists are experienced in assisting children and their families with developmental delays. Learn more about common developmental delays in children and how our physiotherapy services may help.
What Is a Developmental Delay?
If your child is having trouble reaching a certain developmental milestone that is generally expected for their age group, they may have a developmental delay. These may be related to physical, cognitive, or emotional growth. If there are two or more significant delays in these areas, your child may have a global developmental delay (GDD). A developmental delay can have short or long-term effects on a person’s life. Depending on the type of delay and its impact, some children may not require assistance to improve their ability, but more often, intervention has the potential to be significantly helpful for children with developmental delays.
Being aware of your child’s progress and taking steps if you are concerned can be useful. However, it is important to remember that your child may be slower to develop in certain areas than their peers but not actually have a developmental delay: we all grow and learn differently. That is why it is important to remain calm and to seek professional assistance.
Causes of Developmental Delays
The World Health Organisation (WHO) state that up to 15% of children under the age of five years have a developmental delay. There is still a lot to understand and establish about the causes of developmental delays.
What causes one child’s developmental delay may be different in another child with a similar delay. There is a broad and diverse variety of reasons for developmental issues, disorders, or conditions. Some of these include:
- Environmental factors, such as access to learning and exposure to toxins.
- Genetics or hereditary conditions.
- Pregnancy complications.
- Certain serious infections.
- Metabolic disorders.
- Brain injury.
- Psychosocial trauma.
Signs of Developmental Delays
Developmental delays can present in a variety of ways. Some children may have one minor issue, another may have several significant delays that affect different parts of their life. Signs and symptoms related to a developmental delay may present at different ages, infancy to adulthood.
Some indicators that a child may have a developmental delay, depending on their age, include:
- Inability to sit without assistance.
- Difficulty rolling, crawling, walking, or jumping.
- Having trouble with precise movements, such as holding a pen or doing up buttons.
- Reduced ability to chew or swallow.
- Finding it difficult to say certain sounds.
- Inability to express themselves.
- Difficulty linking their actions to consequences.
Physiotherapy For Developmental Delays
There is a wide and diverse array of treatment options for children with developmental delays. As there are so many different types of delays, it can be useful to talk to your child’s doctor or teacher to get an idea of who may be appropriate to see. For example, if your child is finding it difficult to socialise, they may benefit from seeing a speech pathologist or occupational therapist. Physiotherapy has the potential to support and treat a broad array of developmental delays. This often pertains to physical delays that involve aspects such as the gross and fine motor skills needed to walk and write but may also be relevant to areas such as speech, cognition, and emotion regulation.
Our physios are qualified and experienced in undertaking comprehensive assessments and interventions to assist children with an array of developmental delays. This may include employing physiotherapy techniques such as:
- Age-appropriate strength exercises and stretches.
- Hand-eye coordination tasks.
- Play-based activities to improve cognition.
- Utilising assistive technology and devices.
- Deep tissue massage.
- Joint manipulation and realignment.
Physiotherapy For Developmental Delays
If you are concerned that your child is having difficulties reaching developmental milestones, physiotherapy may be an advantageous form of support and treatment. Please contact our friendly team to organise an initial consultation with one of our experienced physiotherapists.