Developmental diagnostics is a subfield of pediatric neurology. It focuses on infants, toddlers, and preschoolers. As children get older, developmental diagnostics is primarily handled by child and adolescent psychiatrists and child psychologists. They then assess, for example, the child’s cognitive abilities (IQ).
Below you will find further information as well as a selection of specialists in developmental diagnostics.
What is developmental assessment?
Developmental assessment covers the following areas:
- Sensory perception (touch, feeling, hearing, seeing, smelling, and tasting)
- Motor skills (walking unaided, crawling, creeping, and crawling on all fours)
- Cognitive development, including language (learning and memory skills, categorization and classification, spatial reasoning)
- Social and emotional development
Developmental disorders begin in infancy or early childhood and are associated with impaired maturation of the nervous system @ N_studio /AdobeStockThe Individual Areas of Development
Sensory development encompasses the development and processing of:
- Vision
- Hearing
- Touch
- Smell
- Taste
Motor skills encompass a child’s movements and motor sequences. This includes not only locomotion but also sucking, swallowing, fine motor skills, and (oral) motor skills.
Cognitive development includes:
- Language
- Memory
- Attention
- Abstract thinking
Social development refers to the ability to engage in interpersonal relationships. The foundation for this is the mother-child relationship.
Social behavior develops more and more as a child gets older @ Gennadiy Poznyakov /AdobeStock
Emotional development is a child’s ability to perceive and express different emotions.
There are close interrelationships between a child’s social and emotional development. Through a trusting relationship with their caregivers during childhood, children learn to recognize positive emotions at an early age.
Developmental Milestones and Developmental Disorders
Developmental disorders can occur across the board or in a specific area of development. For each area of development, there are specific milestones with age ranges during which children should reach certain stages.
If a child does not reach a milestone, their development in that area falls outside the norm. One example is walking independently by 18 months of age.
This does not necessarily indicate an underlying pathological developmental disorder. However, a pediatric neurologist should be consulted at this point. The neurologist will conduct the neuropediatric evaluation. Fortunately, many abnormalities can be effectively treated with early diagnosis.