Global Developmental Delay

Children with global developmental delay experience deficits across most domains of developmental functioning when compared with same-age peers. Although many are eventually diagnosed with a more specific condition that explains their delays, the term global provides a framework for thinking about the whole child when planning for his or her future.

Learning to walk, talk, play, and interact socially are all examples of the developmental progression that occurs from infancy through childhood. Typically, infants, toddlers, and children follow a predictable sequence of developmental milestones. Although there are individual variations in the age at which children achieve certain milestones, most progress through stages in the same general order. For example, most infants sit by 7 months, crawl by 9 months, and walk by 12 months of age. ...