How to address developmental delays in children

We all pray and hope for a classroom full of children who have happy and healthy childhood. The fact, however, remains that not all children are fortunate enough to have perfect health and capabilities.

Just as there are a lot of us who are good at some things and not so great at other things, there are strengths and weaknesses in each child. The children could be facing difficulties in any area of growth and development — social, emotional, cognitive, language, physical and motor skills.

Some delays and difficulties are easy to recognise at the time of birth itself, especially physical and sensory impairments. Some other difficulties become more obvious as the child grows older. For example, there can be delays in speech, motor delays, low functioning of vision or hearing and intellectual difficulties. Several other difficulties become diagnosable only in later years, but the warning signs are present during the early years also. These children are said to be ‘at-risk’ for a difficulty. The environment surrounding the child becomes an  important factor in determining whether the child develops a significant difficulty or not.

Early childhood educator

It is in the case of the latter category of children that an early childhood educator can make a massive impact. Recognising difficulties early and doing something about them as early as possible helps in several fronts — time, effort, resources — and it also ensures higher success rate. So, how does one recognise that there is a delay or difficulty in the child’s development? There are some signs that are very obvious, for which help is at hand also.

So how does one recognise that there is a delay or difficulty in the child’s development? Some signs that educators or parents can notice include repeating words that have no meaning or absence of speech entirely; no interest in playing with toys or other children, even during break time; lack of eye-hand coordination; very low attention span; unable to sit in one place for any significant amount of time; can not develop a comfortable rapport with the adult in the classroom despite a passage of time; remaining quiet and withdrawn from classroom activities; difficulty in understanding instructions and they also have difficulty retaining information being taught in class. Keep in mind these are merely signs that one should keep an eye on and not a full-blown diagnosis. If a child aged three or 3.5 years is not doing some or many of the activities mentioned above, it may be wise to seek a specialist’s help.

When we talk of children, please remember that although there is a fixed pattern of development, there are also a lot of individual variations. All the ‘typical’ development milestones are always a range, so there is no one fixed time when children achieve the milestones. Instead, there is a range of time in months. It is important to draw the fine line between panicking early and unnecessarily and ignoring the early warning of delays and difficulties.

Adaptive environments

There is a large group of children with mild and borderline difficulties who can  easily thrive in a mainstream preschool environment. In this context, the most important aspect becomes the sensitisation of and some additional training for the early childhood educator or pre-school teacher. The awareness of how to adapt to the environment along with  teaching content and instructional methods go a long way in helping this process, with minimal strain and tension to the teacher.

A child with difficulties needs to be correctly screened before being sent for a comprehensive, child-friendly evaluation of the learning skills and capabilities. This has to be followed up by a careful look and evaluation of the classroom practices and lesson planning. Do the activities include a variety of learners — in terms of the pace of learning and style of learning? Are the activities flexible enough to be adapted for use for the children with special needs? Is the classroom flexible and adaptable enough to provide access and learning opportunity to all children, specifically keeping in mind their capabilities?

One way to ensure that a teacher covers all needs in a classroom is to teach any one subject through several modalities. For instance, every topic should include activities that require oral work and visual tasks. Music, drama, storytelling, dance, art and craft are ideal activities to address all levels of learners.

Planning a lesson based on the principles of multiple intelligences can also help the teacher address students of different abilities in a classroom. A teacher can confer with parents and seek the opinions of other teachers who have worked with the child. She can also approach trained special educators if available in the school to confer regarding the child. Sometimes, a medical opinion may also be indicated.

Do not forget to appreciate, laugh, play  and enjoy being with your children, because ultimately those are the best therapies or interventions that your children require the most, regardless of whether there is a problem or not.