Early developmental intervention and education help maximise a child's developmental potential and his functional abilities such as social communication, mobility and adaptive skills.
In a paper entitled Developmental Milestones, which was presented during a recent Malta College of Family Doctors' continuing professional development seminar, Renzo De Gabriele, specialist in family medicine, said that early intervention provides preventive strategies for environmentally and, possibly, biologically, at-risk children. In some cases, early diagnosis of a genetic disorder, metabolic or infectious disease can prevent further damage, or another child being born with the same disability.
Eight papers were presented by specialists and family doctors with experience in child health, under the theme Update In Community Child Health, during the seminar held last month at the Westin Dragonara Resort. It was well-attended by family doctors, paediatricians and health professionals.
Dr De Gabriele said that while developmental and behavioral problems are commonly seen by family doctors and paediatricians, parents can learn how their child is developing in relation to other children and prepare the child for the different milestones. In his paper, he explained that developmental milestones are set skills or tasks that children perform at a certain age range, although this varies from child to child, and are classified according to age. During each visit to the doctor or specialist, a child is checked by means of a growth chart. Identifying and addressing these concerns is of great importance so that appropriate intervention can be instituted. However, he said that sometimes doctors and child specialists overlook developmental problems because of a number of reasons.
Normal acceleration and delays in development may be perplexing, as is confusing the difference between girls' and boys' development. For example, girls develop their social and communication skills earlier. In fact, while a girl may start uttering words at the age of 18 to 24 months, it may take a boy a couple of years.
"One may take care not to overlook one area of development. All streams of development need to be assessed," Dr De Gabriele said. "The best predictors of development are skills relating to brain functioning, rather than reaching specific movement milestones within the expected time frame. Motor milestones are excellent indicators of movement skills, but correlate poorly with intellectual functioning.
"Language and problem solving milestones in infancy provide the best insights into intellectual potential, and their evolution is independent of motor skills which may be obscured by physical disability. Psychological abilities are critical to understand the whole child and in making a meaningful assessment about behaviour, but they do little in assessing motor and intellectual skills," he explained.
This event was sponsored by Vivian Corporation Ltd, exclusive agents and distributors of Plasmon Infant Foods in Malta, in collaboration with Plasmon Italia, which also sponsored the publication of the book carrying all the papers delivered during this meeting.