You may be asking yourself why an Ear Nose and Throat group is discussing Child Developmental Milestones? These milestones are important growth steps for any parent to recognize in their children. Parents sometimes may get anxious to see certain development in their kids, but not be informed enough to know what is considered a milestone of development, nor the proper age for those milestones. The good news is most children are not required to exhibit a behavior exactly on a specific birth date. There are ranges of ages for certain milestones, and parents can track them as their child exhibits them within age range.
When children fall outside of the age range for a specific development milestone, and it relates to hearing; giving direction to your child, teaching words to describe things, listening to parents for calming interactions, and then seeing unusual reactions of frustration, this may be a hearing problem. Pediatric hearing difficulties can be the cause of some children not learning things within age range. Some symptoms of this may include not responding to parents calling on them when their child isn't looking at them, playtime parent / child interaction with low to no counter response by your child…these are just some of the ways children may be expressing a hearing problem. Diagnosing childhood hearing problems early is critical to helping your child get back on track, and without this important medical help, parents may be frustrated daily with helping their child cope with their lack of hearing.
Queen City Ear Nose and Throat doctors and audiologists are very experienced working with children and can help with diagnosing hearing loss in children. When seeing a slow pace of development in your child, it is important to check a number of potential causes, including hearing loss. If your child's hearing is compromised, an early diagnosis and potential remedy is critical to allow them to get back to socializing with their peers. The earlier you can get your child back on track with their hearing, the sooner they can get back into play groups with their peers and avoid feelings of isolation and loneliness.
It's one of life's most fantastic experiences to watch your baby grow and learn as they explore the world around them. As your child learns speech, communication and language through hearing and interaction, it's normal for parents to wonder if their child's skills are on par with their peers, or if their child is falling behind. Some children can begin a skill, such as reading, much earlier than their peers. Other children may not learn to read until they reach an older age. But signs of poor hearing in your child shows itself much earlier in daily interactions with your child, before reading can be taught.
According to the CDC collective research for child development stages by age, your child should have reached this milestone by the time they reach the top of their age group, in the age brackets posted below. If your child seems to be missing most of these milestones beyond their age bracket, you should bring up your concerns with a knowledgeable physician who has had experience diagnosing and seeing many young patients who do not have fully functioning hearing.
Birth - 2 Months:
- Smiles at people
- Recognizes and smiles at parents
- Coos, makes gurgling sounds
- Startles at loud sounds
- Turns head towards sounds
- Follows things with eyes and recognizes people at a distance
- Can hold head up and push up while lying on belly
4 - 6 Months:
- Likes interacting with people and cries when the playing stops
- Cries to show hunger, discomfort, tiredness
- Responds to affectionate touching
- Reaches for toys with one hand
- Reaches for things out of reach
- Passes things from one hand to another
- Makes speech-like sounds, (including pa and ma )
- Pays attention to music
- Notices toys that make noise
- Makes sounds when happy or upset
- Sits without support
7 Months - 1 Year:
- Has favorite toys
- Understands "no"
- Makes unique sounds for recognized family members
- Cries when Mom or Dad leaves
- Hands you book when he wants to hear a story
- Copies sounds and gestures
- Uses fingers to point
- Watches the path of something falling
- Uses thumb and index fingers to handle small objects
- Stands holding on to things
- Crawls
- Listens to short stories or songs
- Says 1 or 2 words like dog, mama, bye-bye
- Responds to spoken requests
- Bangs two things together
- Puts things into a container and takes them out
- Responds to simple directions like 'pick up toy'
1 - 2 Years:
- Points to a few body parts when asked
- Uses a lot of new words including the letters with the p, b, m, h and w sounds
- Asks questions like "what's that?" and "where's Da-da?" and responds to these questions when asked
- Clings to caregivers in new situations
- Says single words, and shakes head to communicate no
- Points to pictures in books when you name them
- Points to body parts
- Puts 2 words together like "more juice" and "mommy up", and then 4 word sentences.
- Follows 1-step verbal commands
- Repeats words overheard from others
- Walks alone
- Walks up steps alone
- Shows defiant behavior (testing boundaries)
- Gets excited when playing with other children
- Drinks from a cup
- Eats with a spoon
2 - 3 Years:
- Has a word for almost everything
- Uses k, g, f, d, t and n sounds
- Understands opposites in conversation; up/down, in/out
- Builds towers with 4 or more blocks
- Follows 2 part directions like "get the cup and give it to mommy"
- Recognizes and calls out things in a book
- May repeat works and sounds
- Asks "Why?"
- Stands on tiptoes
- Kicks a ball
- Climbs down furniture without help
- Throws ball overhand
3 - 4 Years:
- Responds when called from another room
- Shows affection without being prompted (hugs)
- Takes turns in games
- Shows concern for crying friend
- Understands concepts of mine, his, hers
- Gets upset when daily routine changes
- Answers simple who, where and what questions
- Says rhyming words
- Can articulate well in communication
- Talks about their day using about 4 sentences at a time
- Understands family words like sister, aunt, grandpa
- Understands item orientation like "in", "on" and "under"
- Plays make-believe games
- Builds block towers with up to 6 blocks
- Turns book pages one page at a time
- Can work a door handle
- Runs easily
- Walks up and down stairs, one foot each step
4 - 5 Years:
- Follows complex directions
- Can recall names, letters and numbers
- Keeps a conversation going
- Enjoys doing new things
- Is more creative with imaginary games of make-believe
- Would rather play with other children than himself
- Talks in different ways to different listeners and in different places
- Is showing proper use of grammar
- Can recite lyrics of songs
- Tells stories
- Remembers parts of a story
- Carefully uses scissors
- Plays card games and board games
- Hears and understands most of what is heard in school and at home
- Understands words designating time, like today and tomorrow
- Hops and stands on one foot
- Catches bouncing ball
- Food serving: pours liquids, cuts eatable size food pieces, mashes own food
5 Years:
- Follows complex directions
- Can recall names, letters and numbers
- Wants to please friends during play
- Wanted to be like others
- Likes to sing and dance
- Is aware of gender differences
- Knows the difference between real life and make-believe
- Sometimes demanding, sometimes very cooperative
- Speaks very clearly
- Uses future tense
- Counts past 10 items
- Can draw humans with 6 unique body parts
- Copies geometric shapes
- Knows about things used everyday
- Uses fork, spoon and sometimes table knife
- Can use toilet on their own
- Swings