Developmental Screening

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One of the most troubling feelings to a parent is knowing something maybe wrong with your child. All children develop at different levels; however, when a parent notices that their child is not doing the things that children typically do at a given age it becomes alarming. Children are expected to learn several skills as they grow up. All skills learned by children are referred to as developmental milestones’. No one really knows why some children can walk at nine months, while others do not walk until they are twenty months. When a child is classified as having a developmental delay, there are medical and educational interventions, challenges, and accommodations that need to be made for children to have a successful life.
Developmental delays …show more content…

Before any type of intervention can be put into effect, the child must be diagnosed with a developmental delay. Developmental screening and developmental evaluation are two types of tests that can be conducted to determine if a child has any form of a delay. With developmental screening, the children’s physician examines the ability of the child and how well the child does things like learns, speaks, behaves and moves. Considering there is no real way for a physician to make a determination based off the screening, if a delay is suggested the child will be referred to a specialist for a developmental evaluation. A developmental evaluation is a detailed assessment of a child’s skills and is managed by a team of highly trained professional. When a delay is confirmed, the child will be referred to a specialist that will help to determine why the child might have a delay in a specific area. Once the evaluation is complete and the specialist have determined the area of delay, the children will be places on a treatment plan. The plan is designed to meet the needs of the individual child. Early intervention services include speech, occupational, physical, and behavior therapies. Each are put in to place according to the area of delay. Early intervention is a program that children with developmental delays will be able to utilize until the age of three. After age three children have the opportunity to go into a service for school age children. The services are also known as special education services ages 3 to 5 within the public-school system. Before entering into the public-school system, the child must go through another evaluation under IDEA. This team of specialist will determine if there was any progress made with the previous delays of if there are any new area of concern. This evaluation will give the specialist ground to create an IEP for the child entering into the school

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