|
Basic InformationMore InformationLatest NewsKids' ER Visits for Injuries Rose During Lockdown, While Non-Injury Cases FellShould Your Child Get a COVID Test?Climate Change Is Spurring Malnutrition in Kids WorldwideNew Year, New Tips for Keeping Your Kids Safe and HealthyAHA News: Pandemic Pods Offer Social Relief, But There Are RisksPediatricians' Group Says School Is Priority, With Proper Safety MeasuresKids With Congenital Heart Disease Face Higher Odds of Mental Health IssuesReady to Resume Sports? Health Tips for Getting Back in the GameMasks Don't Mask Others' Emotions for KidsCould Going Vegetarian Lower Kids' Asthma Risk?Parents Feel the Strain as Pandemic Adds New Role: TeacherInvolved Dads Make a Difference for Disadvantaged TeensPoll Charts U.S. Parents' Biggest Worries During PandemicDo Genes Doom Some Kids to Obesity? Probably Not, Study FindsSchools, Day Care Not a Big Factor in Kids Getting COVID: StudyType 2 Diabetes in Youth Is Especially Unhealthy: StudyWhen Sepsis Strikes Children, Black Kids More Likely to Die: StudyNew Clues to Crohn's Disease in KidsKids With Dyslexia May Have Hidden StrengthsKids' Weight Rises When Convenience Stores Open Nearby: StudyA Better, Safer Way to Rid Some Kids of Seizures?More Clues to Why Kids Have Much Milder COVID-19Pandemic Causing Dangerous Delays in Care When Appendicitis Strikes KidsHow to Keep Kids Resilient in a Strange Holiday SeasonLockdowns May Be Keeping Kids' Asthma Attacks at Bay: StudyYoung Epilepsy Patients May Benefit From Mental Health ScreeningSudden Death More Common Than Thought in Very Young With EpilepsyCOVID in Kids: The Most Telling SymptomsPreemie Babies End Up Hospitalized More as KidsCommon Weight-Loss Surgery Can Weaken a Teen's BonesAnother Study Finds COVID Usually Mild in KidsParents' Age Key to Whether Kids Get Vaccinated Against COVID, Study FindsDoes Parents' Nagging Kids About Screen Time Even Matter?Which Kids With COVID Will Get Very Sick?Add Kids to COVID Vaccine Trials, Pediatricians' Group SaysToo Many Kids Still Get Antipsychotics They Don't NeedIs the Pandemic Harming Kids' Mental Health?Eczema More Common Among Black, Hispanic KidsTelemedicine Is Keeping Kids' Asthma Care on Track: StudyKids With Food Allergies Can Become Targets for BulliesHelp Young Athletes Keep Their Competitive Edge During PandemicAlmost 1 in 5 Parents Are 'Vaccine Hesitant,' Study FindsFor Rural Youth, Mental Health Care Can Be Tough to FindAre Healthy Kids Getting Too Many Heart Tests?Big Spike Seen in COVID Cases Among KidsAsymptomatic Kids With COVID-19 May Also Carry Less VirusLockdowns Can Widen Kids' Waistlines – Here's How to Curb ThatSocial Media 'Kid Influencers' Are Promoting Junk FoodsPoverty Might Raise Black Kids' Health Risks as Early as Age 5Losing Some TV Ads Might Reduce Childhood Obesity Questions and AnswersLinks |
| |
Developmental Stages and Milestones of Child Development Angela Oswalt, MSWOften, developmental stages are defined by milestones. A milestone is a sort of marker that tells you where you are while traveling. The term is drawn from literal stone markers that were used to mark the passage of each mile on early roads. Today, the term milestone is used more figuratively, to indicate that a developmental stage has been achieved. Often, special milestones mark children's accomplishments, such as walking in infancy and entering school in early childhood, and these milestones can help mark children's movement inside and between developmental stages.
Children build new skills and developments on top of old skills and developments from stage to stage; each stage is cumulative. A child is able to run bases in a game of baseball in the middle childhood phase because she was first able to walk near the end of her infancy stage.
Entry and exit from the various developmental stages tends to occur at particular ages. Often, a child's stage of development can be figured out by a child's age because children generally experience the same stages at the same ages. However a child's age only provides a clue as to his stage; it does not determine it. Every child develops at his or her own speed. It is the tasks and skills children master that truly identify what stage they are in. Because of this, different children of the same age can be expected to be at different developmental stages.
Children's development does not happen uniformly, but rather, it progresses along at its own rate. Just because one child is potty trained at age three and his neighbor is potty trained at age three and a half does not mean that one is brighter than the other. Furthermore, children can develop the different channels at different rates. For example, a twelve-year-old's body may have already gone through puberty and look like an adolescence's body, but that child may not have the cognitive and social abilities of an adolescent quite yet. It will take a little longer for their mind to catch up with her body.
Keep this lack of developmental sameness in mind as you read the documents in this series. Whenever a document suggests ages that children reach specific milestones, keep in mind that these are general average ages that research has found children develop these skills. In reality, children reach milestones across a wide range of ages. Sometimes children will appear to even skip an entire developmental stage in some channels as they advance quickly in a short amount of time.
Also keep in mind that there are some situations in which children become severely inhibited and unable to reach certain milestones within an acceptable time frame. Developmental delays in a child's functioning caused by disease, injury, mental disability, problems developing in the womb, environmental reasons, trauma or unknown causes can keep some children from developing properly or can even cause children to regress and go backward into some stages in some channels. |