Developmental Delay
Developmental Delay
Developmental delay is diagnosed when a child struggles to perform everyday skills including motor (movement), cognitive, social and emotional, speech and language, and other daily living skills. Although any child can experience developmental delays, children with other medical conditions like cerebral palsy, down syndrome, and autism are especially susceptible.
What To Expect With Developmental Delay Treatment
Physical Therapy
Physical therapy can help your child build strength and balance to achieve motor milestones. Our physical therapist will look at your child’s developmental skill level and perform a thorough assessment of your child’s muscle strength, muscle length, balance, posture, alignment, and coordination to determine a treatment plan. The “treatment” involves making playtime therapeutic. Your pediatric physical therapist will find ways to disguise exercises into games and fun.
Occupational Therapy
Occupational Therapists use play as a means of intervention with children who may not be meeting their expected developmental milestones (whether they have a diagnosis or not). The focus on OT intervention for children is to help them develop skills including:
Self-care skills (dressing, eating, bathing, grooming),
Fine-motor skills (picking up small objects, pinching, pushing buttons, etc),
Tool use (scissors, coloring implements,
Visual-motor skills (puzzles, shape sorters),
Attention to task, and
Following directions.
OTs may also look at how your child processes the sensory input from their environment and offer suggestions that may help with behavior or attentional difficulties. Most children love coming to OT and seem to think of it as an hour of playful fun.
Speech Therapy
Speech Therapists use play as a means of intervention with children who may not be meeting their expected developmental milestones (whether they have a diagnosis or not). The focus on ST intervention for children is to help them develop skills including:
Motor imitation skills through sign language
Spoken imitation skills and spoken vocabulary
Putting words together to achieve wants, needs and to express ideas
Social-emotional development and turn-taking
Attention to task, and
Following directions.
When spoken language development is difficult for a child, speech therapists provide education and training regarding alternative forms of communication such as teaching sign language, using picture supports or obtaining a speech generating device through insurance. Family members, including siblings are encouraged to join in on speech therapy sessions.
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