Developmental Milestones

Introduction
A critical part of childhood development is recognition of developmental milestones not being met which allows for children to receive early intervention (EI) sooner if necessary. With developmental disorders being more prevalent than they were 15 years ago (Chakrabarti & Fombonne, 2005), it is important to identify the disorders so children and families can be directed to appropriate interventions as early as possible. Due to the use of informal milestone checklists, only one-third of the children out of the 16% who have developmental disabilities are detected by their health professionals (Brothers, Glascoe, & Robertshaw, 2008; Guevara et al., 2013; Mackrides & Ryherd, 2011; Morelli et al., 2014 & Sheldrick et al., 2016). Along

Professionals use age-appropriate developmental checklists to record milestones during well-care checkups (American Academy of Pediatrics, 2001). Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEA) mandates that child health care professionals identify and find interventions for children with developmental disabilities through community based systems (American Academy of Pediatrics, 2006 & American Academy of Pediatrics, 2001). Due to IDEA the emphasis of screening is focused on infants and children from birth to 2 years of age. IDEA act requests that children who are suspected to have developmental problems be referred to an appropriate EI system (American Academy of Pediatrics, 2001). Although screening is emphasized there are inconsistencies in how health care professionals apply

Muir (2012) discusses occupational therapy in the primary care field in her article. She states that someday OTs should be the first professional some patients and are assessed by. She indicates that OTs are qualified for well-baby checkups and would assess for infant developmental milestones and other patterns. An OT is in a good position to be able to take parent’s focused interventions if any delay is noticed, they would be in a position where the link to EI for children who need it (Muir, 2012). Future research can also look into making policies of screening strict, eliminating physicians bias on whether to screen or