Milestones: What are they and why are they important?
Milestones are the developmental guidelines for children/youth and their skills throughout their lives. The milestones look at physical, social, emotional, cognitive, and communication patterns of individuals and give a guideline of what the child “should” be doing at that given age. The milestones generally start at birth and go up from there. There are many different resources available with information on the milestones, each resource available gives varying information, though the facts are relatively similar.
Why are they important?
Milestones are important for a couple of different reasons. Many first-time parents/guardians look to these resources as a guide for building their child’s skill set. These milestones provide information for families to work on with their children and skills to keep an eye on. From problem-solving skills, coordination, movements, to speech/language.
Additionally, and most importantly (in my opinion), it can educate families on certain deficits or delays their child might have. For example, maybe the child is not yet rolling or crawling around the timeframe suggested in the milestones. Or, maybe the child is not yet speaking words or varying sounds. These milestones can be educational for families to seek professional help such as a Dietician, Occupational Therapist, Speech Therapist, or, you guessed it, a Physical Therapist.
One size does Not always fit all.
Personally, I think the milestones are a wonderful guide, however, they are not an absolute “one size fits all”. The milestones are meant to be a guide to give a general overview of where your child’s skills “should be” around their age. However, every child is different. Some children don’t walk until they are well over a year old, some walk well before a year. Some children can’t form full sentences by the time they are two or three, and some have been saying words since they turned one and the list goes on and on. It is important to have some general knowledge of the milestones so that you can recognize possible delays in your children either physically, socially, or emotionally. However, it is also important to keep in mind that they are not something that needs to be 100% followed, and just because your child doesn’t hit a certain milestone on time does not mean they have a deficit or delay.
Where it gets complicated
Some children are born prematurely. When children are born prematurely although they age normally, they have something called an actual age and an adjusted age (which I will cover more in depth in a later post). For example, a child who is born at 36 weeks is premature by 4 weeks, so although they may be 6 months old, on paper, skill wise, they are only 5 months old. So, say there are some concerns that this same baby is not yet sitting upright by themselves at 6 months old because the milestones said they should be sitting by 6 months old, this can cause unnecessary panic in parents/guardians of the child. This information is good to know if you are using the milestones as a guide to take into account when your child was born and any other factors that would affect their age and potential skills.
Conclusion
All in all, the milestones are a very helpful and beneficial guide to new parents, health professionals, and anyone who is around children. Although there are some discrepancies and things to keep in mind, they are a great educational guide to help children succeed or identify deficits in development.
Resources for Developmental Milestones: there are many different resources and variations of the Milestones, here are a just a few:
*The information on this site is to be used at your discretion. This is by no means a diagnosis or prescription for children. Every child is different and requires specific guidance. Always consult your health professional beforehand or if you have any concerns.*
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