Does My Child Need Early Intervention? The Importance of Developmental Screening
Did you know that childhood development is more than just a physical process? There are many events in a newborn, baby, and toddler’s life that can be interpreted as developmental milestones. Examples of such events include the first time a baby smiles at her parents or the first time she stands up on her own.
Experts use these milestones and developmental theory to track a child’s developmental progress. This is called developmental monitoring and developmental screening.
Find out more about developmental screening and the importance of early childhood intervention by reading this handy guide.
Monitoring or Screening: the Difference
Developmental monitoring is simply following the child’s development and seeing if it fits the typical stages of childhood growth. In short, do they hit the milestones in the normal timeframe?
It’s important for parents and teachers to monitor a child’s growth in this way so they can pick up delays. All caregivers should be familiar with childhood developmental theory for this reason. If they pick up a delay, they can contact a paediatrician for screening.
When a paediatrician looks for specific indicators for serious developmental delays, it’s called screening. Screening helps the expert find out if interventions are needed. They will then recommend the type of intervention based on the screening’s results.
Who Conducts a Developmental Screening
Paediatricians and child psychologists conduct the most developmental screenings. However, there are schools that offer schooling and screening in one place. There’s a preschool in Gillette, WY, that offers screening and free preschool in one location.
Finding someone to conduct screening is also quite simple. An easy web search of “developmental screening near me” should give you a map with a list of places that do screenings.
Types of Developmental Screening
Paediatricians and child psychologists have several different options they can choose from to assess a child’s development. These can come in the form of methods or products that test children in particular ways.
The questionnaires check if a child needs intervention based on the parents’ answers. The Ages and Stages (ASQ3) questionnaire is the most comprehensive test. This test measures a child’s progress across five different categories.
There are also products like the Bayley Infant Neurodevelopmental Screen. This can test a 3 to 6-month-old baby’s development by measuring its responses to the test.
Why Screening is Important
If a child has an unnoticed delay, they’ll struggle in that area until the problem is big enough to be visible to adults. These late manifestations can often be embarrassing to distressing. They may be partially or totally avoidable if the child gets help early on.
Occupational therapy is usually the go-to intervention. Therapists will take a broad-based approach to help with all present delays. More specific interventions include physical or speech-language therapy.
The goal of these therapists is to understand the customer experience, then deliver it with empathy. They are also responsible for making sure that every interaction with the company has a positive outcome.
Take Charge of Your Child’s Future Now
If you suspect your child may need extra help, maybe it’s time to contact a specialist. Paediatricians, psychologists, and other experts can handle developmental screening. This will help your child move past their struggles.
When children get the help they need, they can perform normally again. This goes a long way in improving their quality of life.
Do you want to improve your quality of life? Check out our family blog posts to find handy guides to help the whole family!
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