Developmental Milestones

What is child development?

Child development refers to how a child becomes able to do more complex things as
they get older. Development is different than growth. Growth only refers to the child
getting bigger in size. If you are concerned about your child’s development, please
see Developmental Delay on YourChild.
When we talk about normal development, we are talking about developing skills like:

• Gross motor: using large groups of muscles to sit, stand, walk, run, etc.,
keeping balance, and changing positions.
• Fine motor: using hands to be able to eat, draw, dress, play, write, and do
many other things.
• Language: speaking, using body language and gestures, communicating, and
understanding what others say.
• Cognitive: Thinking skills: including learning, understanding, problem-
solving, reasoning, and remembering.
• Social: Interacting with others, having relationships with family, friends, and
teachers, cooperating, and responding to the feelings of others.

What are developmental milestones?

Developmental milestones are a set of functional skills or age-specific tasks that most
children can do at a certain age range. Your pediatrician uses milestones to help
check how your child is developing. Although each milestone has an age level, the
actual age when a normally developing child reaches that milestone can very quite a
bit. Every child is unique!

Where can I find some good links with developmental milestones for my child’s
age group?

Overall development—gross and fine motor, language, cognitive, and social skills

• The first two years:

o 1 month
o 3 months
o 7 months
o Milestones for the first year (broken down
into 3, 6 and 12 months)
o 12 months
o Second year (broken down into 18 and 24
months)
o 2 years
o Hitos del Desarrollo y Crecimiento
(Developmental milestones for babies
from birth to age two--in Spanish)
o Lista de indicadores del desarrollo
(Printable checklists for 3, 7, 12 and 24 months--in Spanish)
o Listen: YourChild podcast interview with UMHS pediatrician Dr.
Layla Mohammed (July 2007) about early child development from
 birth to age two. Includes discussion about how to get help for your
child if they have developmental delay.
• The preschool years:
o Third year
o 3-4 years
o Fourth year
o 4-5 years
o Lista de indicadores del desarrollo (Printable checklists for 3, 4 and 5
years--in Spanish)
• School-age child development--ages 6 to 12:
o Development in children ages 6 through 12, includes advice for how to
help children reach their potentials.
• Adolescent Development: Physical, cognitive and psycho-social and what
parents can do to help.

Social and Emotional Development

Zero to Three offers these milestones for how children develop and the role that
parents play at different stages. The emphasis here is more on social and emotional
development:

• Birth to 8 months
• 8-18 months
• 18 months to 3 years

Speech and Language Development

• YourChild: Speech and Language Delays and Disorders includes a chart of

language milestones.
• Speech and language milestones with links to interactive checklists and a good
explanation of what it all means. Also in Spanish: Habla y idioma: Hitos del
desarrollo.
• How does your child hear and talk? Lists hearing, understanding and talking
milestones for birth to five years of age, and includes information on where to
get help. Also in Spanish: ¿Qué tal habla y oye su niño?

How does my child’s doctor

check my child’s development?
Assessing your child’s
development is a team effort.
Your family plays an important
role. At your child’s well-child
visit, your pediatrician will spend
time watching your child and
talking with you to find out about
what your child is doing since
your last visit. Tell your child’s
doctor about any worries or
concerns you may have. Your
pediatrician may also use developmental screening in the office. Screening involves a
series of questions and observations that gets at your child’s ability to perform certain
age-appropriate tasks. Using developmental milestones as a guide can help
pediatricians identify children who may be at risk for developmental delay.

What if my child is not reaching their developmental milestones?

If your child’s doctor finds anything that may be of concern, they can refer you to a
specialist and/or work with your family to identify services that may help your child.
If your child is delayed, you should start intervention as early as possible so your
child can make the best possible progress. Please see Developmental Delay on
YourChild for more on the importance of early intervention and how to get your child
into the early intervention system.

Where can I get more information and resources on child development?

• Zero to Three is a leading resource on the first three years of life. They offer
great tips and information to parents on the development of babies and
toddlers.
• Developmental milestones for children born prematurely, from birth to 18
months, with information on exceptions and concerns. This site also helps you
figure out the corrected age of your premature baby.
• Head Start is a national, community-based child development program for
three- to five-year-olds that promotes school readiness. The program provides
educational, health, nutrition, social and other services to enrolled kids and
their families. Find out how to get your child into Head Start.
• Early Head Start (EHS) is for low-income babies, toddlers and pregnant
women and their families. EHS programs enhance children's physical, social,
emotional, and intellectual development; assist pregnant women to access
comprehensive prenatal and postpartum care; support parents' efforts to fulfill
their parental roles; and help parents move toward self-sufficiency. Find out
how to enroll in EHS.
• Head Start online community for parents
• Find a Head Start Program near you
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) National Center on Birth
Defects and Developmental Disabilities Child Development homepage and
Learn the Signs. Act Early.

Also see these related topics on YourChild:

• Developmental Delay
• Speech and Language Delays and Disorders
• Learning Disabilities for information on learning delays
• Autism and Pervasive Developmental Disorders (PDD)

Written and compiled by Kyla Boyse, R.N. Reviewed by faculty and staff at the
University of Michigan

Updated January 2010

U-M Health System Related Sites:

U-M Pediatrics
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• Denver Developmental Screening Test Index

Definition of Denver Developmental Screening Test

Parent's Guide to Crying and Colic Slideshow

Parenting and Healthy Eating Slideshow

Parenting - Fitness and Exercise Slideshow

Denver Developmental Screening Test:The Denver Developmental Screening Test (DDST) is a widely used assessment
for examining children 0-6 years of age as to their developmental progress. The name "Denver" reflects the fact that this
screening test was created at the University of Colorado Medical Center in Denver.

There are a number of other behavioral assessments for infants and young children. These include:

• The Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale (NBAS) devised by the Harvard pediatrician T. Berry Brazleton and better known as "the
Brazleton;"
• The ELM (Early Language Milestone) scale for children 0-3 years of age;
• The CAT (Clinical Adaptive Test) and CLAMS (Clinical Linguistic and Auditory Milestone Scale) for children 0-3 years of age;
• The Infant Monitoring System for children aged 4-36 months;
• The Early Screening Inventory for children 3-6 years of age; and
• The Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test ("the Peabody") for testing children 2 1/2 to 4 years of age.

The purposes of developmental assessment depend on the age of the child. For a newborn, testing can detect neurologic
problems, such as cerebral palsy. For an infant, testing often serves to reassure parents or to identify the nature of problems
early enough hopefully to treat them. Later in childhood, testing can help delineate academic and social problems, again,
hopefully in time to remedy them.

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