Developmental Milestones and Early Intervention

By Cindy Barnum. Ed.D. 

“My baby is 12 months old and is still crawling.” “My child is three and no one can understand what he says.” “My son is five and he still can’t pronounce his r’s.” Are any of these areas of concern? What guidelines do we have to follow? What steps should we take? 

As early educators, we are typically the first ones to notice developmental differences in the children in our classrooms. For example, when a group of two-year-olds are all together in one place, it is easier to see the different levels of physical development or speech and language abilities. To determine if skills are within normal limits, it is important to have a thorough understanding of the developmental milestones, especially for the ages of the children that you serve.  

There are excellent online resources, such as the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) developmental milestone charts. There are also charts for the development of speech sounds, for example, this one at The SLP Solution. These and other resources are great tools to guide your expected student outcomes, observations, and assessments.  

It is important that you follow the steps in your school’s plan to observe, record data, assess, teach, and support the child; communicate with the parents; and connect with resources in your community. If your school does not have a procedure for identifying and supporting children who exhibit learning differences, creating a plan is step one.  

It will make a big difference if you act early for delays noted in any area of a child’s development, i.e., physical, language, cognitive, or social/emotional. Partner with the parents and the resources in your community to help every child flourish and grow in the plan that God has prepared for them!