Developmental / Autism - Assessments for Children

When does my child need to have a Developmental Assessment completed?

• Do you or your child's teachers have concerns about your child's abilities?
• Do you or teachers think your child is behind in certain areas of development?
• Is he/she not doing things other children the same age can do?

Children develop and learn at their own pace and there is a pretty wide range in what is considered normal. As children grow and develop, they learn different skills, such as:

• walking
• putting together a sentence
• playing with other children.

These skills are known as developmental milestones. It is important to beware of signs that your child may not have the skills of other children within the same age group.

Most delays aren't serious and if detected early, children can catch up. The key is to get your child the help he/she needs as soon as a problem is suspected. A developmental evaluation can be completed to better understand your child's strengths and weaknesses and to create a plan for intervention.

There are 5 main groups of skills that make up milestones of development:

• Language Skills (e.g. speaking words, formulating sentences, and understanding what is being said)
• Gross Motor Skills (e.g. walking, carrying things, running, jumping)
• Fine Motor Skills (e.g. cutting, buttoning, gripping)
• Social and Emotional Skills (e.g. paying attention to others, making eye-contact, separating from parents, showing interest in other kids, managing emotions).
• Cognitive (thinking) Skills (e.g. copying shapes, paying attention, solving problems, understanding directions).

The Battelle Developmental Inventory, Second Edition (BDI-2) is used to comprehensively assess a child in all domains of development in order to determine strengths and areas needing attention. If parents and/or teachers are concerned the child is showing symptoms of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) , the Children’s Autism Rating Scale (CARS-2) and the Test of Pragmatic Language (TOPL-2) are some of the additional assessment measures utilized for autism spectrum disorder assessments.