Developmental milestones in children

The ability to recognise, evaluate, manage and refer for additional assessment or community services is essential to ensure the future welfare of a child. There is a wide range of normal development and it is also normal for spurts and lags in development to occur. Small gender differences can be seen, eg girls generally manifest an earlier onset of some social and communication skills. Development occurs in five domains or streams: language, visual fine motor (problem solving), gross motor, social and adaptive. If a child has not attained a certain developmental skill by a certain age, they are at increased risk for a developmental disability. (author abstract)