How to Evaluate Your Child’s Ongoing Development
Your child’s developmental progress is rarely a linear progression. Different children learn at their own pace and interact with their environment of their own accord. However, parents still track certain developmental assessments that their children should hit at specific stages in early childhood. As parents observe their child’s behavior, they can spot signs that prompt them to seek the professional opinion of doctors and mental health specialists to figure out why their child hasn’t hit specific developmental milestones.
As young children continue to develop and learn, different conditions can cause a developmental delay that can signal to parents and early childhood educators that the child’s development may not be going as expected. Various conditions can be the source of these social and emotional issues but have similar symptoms that can cause a misdiagnosis. Ensuring that infants and toddlers have the healthiest development possible can mean scheduling a screening test to help diagnose the issue.
But what types of conditions can doctors and mental health professionals check for? What symptoms overlap and potentially cause a child’s mental health misdiagnosis in a child’s early years?
The Potential Conditions
Children’s brains develop in remarkable ways. Some can progress at an accelerated rate, while others take a different path. Some children develop Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), various learning disabilities, and even depression that can present similar symptoms. The science behind what causes these divergences remains hard to pin down; however, developmental monitoring and screening processes help evaluators determine how children develop.
The evaluation process for each can be a long process but an important one to provide your child with the support they need to mature and develop at their own pace.
How Do Doctors Diagnose Autism?
The number of children diagnosed with autism has risen dramatically in recent years, mostly because doctors know what signs to look for during the evaluation process. Each evaluation will be different based on the child, but there are common screening tools used across the board. For children with autism, the official diagnosis rarely comes down to a simple questionnaire — it requires more in-depth observation and analysis.
One of the main assets used in evaluating a child comes from the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule. A trained and experienced evaluator performs this test to make objective ratings and observations about how the child plays, communicates, and interacts with the world around them. Early intervention can help ensure your child is diagnosed quickly and can receive the support they need.
Diagnosing ADHD in Young Children
To the untrained eye, ADHD and ASD can present similar symptoms — such as difficulty communicating or maintaining eye contact — and lead to a misdiagnosis. Following the guidelines set forth by the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, Fifth Edition, doctors can identify symptoms commonly associated with ADHD and avoid confusing them with other conditions or understand when a comorbid diagnosis is warranted as some of these conditions can co-occur.
Learning Disabilities
Children learn and process information at different speeds. For some children, the learning process gets more complicated when they develop learning disabilities such as dyslexia, dysgraphia, auditory processing disorder, language processing disorder, and other nonverbal disabilities. Each condition presents itself differently and can share common symptoms.
Testing for these conditions requires experienced teachers, mental health professionals, physicians, and parents to work together to bring their children to the people who can help support them.
Depression
Some parents may believe that depression cannot possibly affect their youngest children, but they would be sadly mistaken. Young children can experience full depressive episodes based on their life experiences and require professional help to process these complicated emotions. Listening to your children when they talk to you about what they’re going through — or even if the child begins to shut down and stop communicating — can help steer you towards getting them the help they need moving forward.
The FLOAAT Center Can Help Your Children’s Development
Early childhood development isn’t always a straight line. Unexpected roadblocks, mental health conditions, and lifelong changes can make their development a wholly unique process that you and your child must navigate together to get the support they need.
The FLOAAT Center has experienced child development specialists that can help perform various developmental assessments to help you accurately diagnose your child and give them the support they need. Contact our team to schedule your first appointment today!
