What should we do if children have developmental delays?

As parents, we must pay special attention to the developmental delay of children. We must pay attention to the various symptoms of developmental delay in children, such as delayed physical development, motor development, and language development. We must promptly detect and take intervention measures.

1. Physical development is backward

Some children with congenital developmental delay have abnormal facial and body appearance. For example, children with congenital idiocy have eyes that are too wide apart, slanted eyes, flat noses, tongues that often hang outside the mouth, and drooling, which is what people often call an international face. Children with hydrocephalus have particularly large head circumference, while children with microcephaly have particularly small heads. Children with hypothyroidism are particularly short, children with phenylketonuria have abnormally white skin and very light hair, etc.

2. Motor development is delayed

Children with developmental delays have significantly slower motor development than normal children. The starting age for movements such as raising the head while lying on the stomach, sitting, standing, and walking is later than that of normal children of the same age. This is especially obvious in walking. It is often not until the age of 3-4 or 4-5 that the child can walk independently, and the walking is unstable.

3. Language development is delayed

Normal babies will imitate sounds at 7-8 months old, call mom and dad at around one year old, can say a dozen words at one and a half years old and understand simple instructions, can ask simple questions at around 2 years old, and can basically express their thoughts at around 3 years old. If these symptoms appear only after a child is four to five months behind or even one to two years behind, they should be regarded as a sign of intellectual disability.

4. Intellectual development retardation

The earliest symptoms shown by babies with developmental delay are often difficulty in feeding, inability to suck, and being particularly prone to spitting up, which means that the nervous system is damaged and their intelligence will be affected in the future.