Developmental Concerns
Concerned about your child's development?
Here is a checklist for children's development courtesy of Pathways Awareness Foundation.
| Age |
Typical Development |
Signs to Watch For |
| By 3 Months |
- Should push up on arms
- Should suck and swallow well when fed
- Can coo or vocalize other than cry
- Can visual track (with eyes) a toy from side to side
|
- Difficulty lifting head
- Stiff legs with little or no movement
|
| By 6 Months |
- Can roll from tummy to back
- Should use hands to support sitting
- Can wiggle and kick legs
|
- Has rounded back
- Unable to lift head up
- Arches back and stiffens
- Has stiff legs
- Holds arms back
|
| By 9 Months |
- Is exploring toys with hands and mouth and also reaches for toys with hands
- Should squeal and babble different sounds
- Should be crawling on hands and knees
- Eats mashed and junior table food
|
- Uses one hand predominately
- Rounded back
- Poor use of arms in sitting
- Difficulty crawling
- Uses only one side of body to move
- Inability to straighten back
- Cannot support weight on legs
|
| By 12 Months |
- Pulls self up to stand and cruises along furniture
- Stands alone and takes several independent steps
- Uses "Mama" and "Dada" in a meaningful way and produces long strings of gibberish
- Finger feeds self and uses thumb
- Uses pointer finger to pick up objects
- Cries when mother or father leaves the room
|
- Difficulty getting to a standing position because of stiff legs and pointed toes
- Only uses arms to pull up to standing
- Sits with weight to one side
- Strongly flexed or stiffly extended arm
- Needs to use hand to maintain sitting
|
| Up to 2 Years |
- Says several words (by 15-18 months)
- Walks without help
- Uses pointing and words to tell what they want
- Feeds themselves with their fingers
- Likes to pretend-play
- Likes to throw a ball, can kick a ball
- Begins to sort by color and shape
- Says "no" a lot
- Increased separation anxiety
|
- Cannot walk by 18 months
- Does not speak at least 15 words
- Does not use 2 word sentences by age 2
- Does not follow simple instructions by age 2
- Does not know the function of simple objects (phone, brush, fork, bell) by 15 months
- Does not imitate actions or words by 2 years
- Any dramatic loss of skills he/she once had
|
| 2-3 Years |
By 2 Years:
- Uses and understands at least 50 words
- Uses a spoon
- Separates easily from parents
- Pedals tricycle
- Turns book pages one at a time
- Comforts another child who is crying
- Shows affection to family members and pets
By 3 Years:
- Can climb stairs with alternating feet
- Uses 3 to 5 words in sentences
- Carries on a conversation
- Speech is 80% intelligible, vocabulary of 400 words
- Can talk about feelings
- Uses a spoon and fork
- Share toys
|
By 2 Years:
- Cannot build a tower of more than four blocks
- Poor eye contact
- Persistent drooling
- Very unclear speech
- Extreme difficulty separating from caregiver
By 3 Years:
- Frequent falling and difficulty climbing stairs
- Shows little interest in other children
- Does not engage in pretend-play
- Poor eye contact
- Limited interest in toys
- Experiences any dramatic loss of skills he/she once had
|
For more information on child development, questions about whether your child is on track developmentally or if you think your child may need special assistance and/or equipment, please contact: 1-888-634-7900 to learn whether your child is eligible for a developmental assessment.
For additional information, visit the following websites:
Early Steps (ages 0-2)
Child Find (ages 3+)
United Way (for special assistance needs)
