While every child will grow and develop and his or her unique pace, some lags in meeting the milestones of the respective stages could be red flags for developmental delays. Developmental delays in infants and young children are said to have occurred when the infant or child experiences a significant delay in showing the milestones. Such delays are caused by such factors as genetics, fragile X syndrome, fatal alcohol consumption by pregnant mothers, and such other things as prenatal stress and depression. This paper endeavors to explain various aspects of delays in language, motor, emotional and social, vision and cognitive skills in infants and children.
Language or speech – a delay is the development of language or speech skills is the most prominent indication of autistic disorders. However, there are many causes of the delays, according to Glenmen (2002). Carrying out a research on internationally adopted children, Glenmen (2002) established that children that were adopted by parents that did not speak their birth language experienced delays in language development with regard to both languages. This, according to Glenmen is due to the attrition and confusion caused by the dissimilarities in the two languages.
Vision – Muzik and Borovska (2010) argue that delays in the development of vision in infants can be caused by different factors, among them, genetics. However, the two scholars, in their research, established that vision skill delays were associated with pre-natal stress and depression
Motor Skills – also referred to as physical or movement skills, delays in the same could be caused by, among other factors, genetics, and fatal alcohol disorder (Gernsbacher et al, 2008). According Gernsbacher et al, there is a strong, scientifically proven connection between autistic spectrum disorders and delays in motor skills.
Social and Emotional Skills – according to Muzik and Borovska (2010), the social, emotional and cognitive skills of an infant is affected by the prenatal condition of the mother. According to the two researchers, prenatally stressed mothers are likely to nurture children with both emotional and cognitive skill delays.
Cognitive Skills – arguably the most important skills, cognitive or thinking skill development can be impaired by either prenatally stressful conditions for the mother (Muzik and Borovska, 2010), or maternal steroids and surfactants (Bauer and Msall, 2010). A child with delayed cognitive skills may be a very slow learner, and will not be able to move at the same pace with her peers, intellectually.
References
Bauer, S. C., & Msall, M. E. (2010). Kindergarten Readiness after Prematurity: Integrating Health, Development, and Behavioral Functioning to Optimize Educational Outcomes of Vulnerable Children. Developmental Disabilities Research Reviews, 16(4), 313-322.
Gernsbacher, M., Sauer, E. A., Geye, H. M., Schweigert, E. K., & Goldsmith, H. (2008). Infant and Toddler Oral- and Manual-Motor Skills Predict Later Speech Fluency in Autism. Journal Of Child Psychology And Psychiatry, 49(1), 43-50.
Glennen, S. (2002). Language Development and Delay in Internationally Adopted Infants and Toddlers: A Review. American Journal Of Speech-Language Pathology, 11(4), 333.
Muzik, M., & Borovska, S. (2010). Perinatal depression: implications for child mental health. Mental Health In Family Medicine, 7(4), 239-247.
