What is Child Development?
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When you have a new baby, everything is all about developmental milestones. I know with my first child, I downloaded a parenting app and every week I would get notifications about new milestones my baby will be reaching soon. Most parents know some of the major developmental milestones, like smiling, sitting, walking, and first words. But child development is made up of so many milestones in so many different categories and sub categories. AND a lot of them overlap!
Starting at birth, it is important to bring your child to the pediatrician for well checkups. Sometimes this is every month or on a specific schedule. At the well checkups, the doctor’s office will ask you to fill out a questionnaire or ask you questions about your child’s development. Like, “does your baby make sounds”, or “are they sitting?” This is where they will get an overall understanding of what your child can do. They use this information in addition to seeing how your child acts or responds in each appointment.
All of this information is your child’s development. And then it’s compared to research on other “typically developing” children of the same age. I know i’m not the first person who was told NOT to compare my child to other children! But yet, that is exactly what the doctors and researchers are doing!! This can be harmful in many ways, because not all children develop the same, and it’s perfectly OK.
“Child development doesn’t stop at 12 months old. It technically doesn’t stop until adulthood.”
Jenna G. Mamidi, M.S., CCC-SLP
Child development doesn’t stop at 12 months old. It technically doesn’t stop until adulthood. But as a pediatric Speech Language Pathologist, i’m the most interested in the developmental milestones and categories of child development from birth through 5 years of age.
5 Major Areas of Child Development:
There are 5 MAJOR areas/categories of child development.
- Cognitive Development
- Social Emotional Development
- Speech and Language Development
- Gross Motor Development
- Fine Motor Development.
1. Cognitive Development: This is your child’s ability to learn, think and, problem solve. This is the part of development that helps your child retain knowledge and understand the world around them. Brain development is associated with cognitive development. Play skills are also under this category.
2. Social and Emotional Development: This involves your child’s ability to interact and form relationships with others, regulate their emotions, and help themselves. Self- control, turn taking, dressing, these are all some of the milestones that fall under this category.
3. Speech and Language Development: This category includes milestones in use and understanding of language. So think, vocabulary, questions, pronunciation, following directions, and communication with others in verbal and non verbal ways, including behavior and play. This also includes use of Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC). AAC included sign language, using pictures to communicate, and hi/ lo tech communication devices.
Then we have Physical Development, which is broken down into: Fine Motor and Gross motor development.
4. Fine Motor Development: This deals with the child’s ability to use their small muscle groups like the hands and fingers to interact in their environment. A lot of parents have heard about milestones in grasping, and their child’s ability to pick tiny things up.
5. Gross Motor Development: This is your child’s ability to use their large muscle groups to navigate their environment. This includes walking, running, jumping, kicking, and climbing.
These 5 major child developmental categories overlap tremendously! Don’t get caught up in which category a specific milestone falls under! There are some awesome resources out their to find out which milestones your child should be achieving by specific ages. It’s best to discuss any concerns about your child’s development with your pediatrician. But those resources can be helpful to get a general idea. One great resource is this CDC run website that is broken down by age and can be very helpful.
Click here to go to the CDC website
Sub-Categories and Important Notes:
In addition to the 5 Major Child Developmental Categories, there are many sub categories. This hierarchy system is not perfect and does not directly include every area of development. Sensory Development is one of them. You can see this as a whole separate category, or various developments can be sectioned under the categories listed above. For example, Oral sensory development as it relates to feeding, can be treated by Speech Language Pathologists or sometimes Occupational Therapists. And it may fall under more than one category. Sensory Processing milestones vary.
Another sub category is Oral Motor Development. Since a Speech Language Pathologist would be the one to diagnose and treat this area, it tends to fall under Speech and Language Development.
“Just because neurodivergent children may miss milestones, or reach some later, does NOT signify a problem.”
Jenna G. Mamidi, M.S., CCC-SLP
It is very important to note that the age of when milestones are achieved are based upon research. There are always limitations of research and not all children develop based on these milestones, just because research shows it. Actually, there is growing research that shows neurodivergent children do NOT follow the standard milestone chart. Just because neurodivergent children may miss milestones, or reach some later, does NOT signify a problem.
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