Assessment of the Very Young Child

Infant and toddler development (i.e., children ages birth to 36 months) typically follows a trajectory of achieving cognitive, motor, language, social, emotional, and self-help milestones within a certain age range. Although most children achieve these milestones within a similar range, many children exhibit mild to severe developmental weaknesses that signal a possible developmental disability. Developmental disabilities are conditions caused by an impairment in one or more developmental areas (e.g., physical, learning, communication, behavior, or self-help). Based on a child health survey from 2005 to 2011, it was estimated that approximately 20% of children aged 0 to 17 years showed developmental disabilities of varying severity, such as communication difficulties, learning disorders, intellectual disabilities, seizures, hearing or vision problems, autism spectrum disorders, or other developmental disorders.

Early identification ...