Signs/Indicators of a Disability

The following are SOME indicators that MAY be a sign of a disability in a child (a full evaluation is necessary):

• Not reaching developmental milestones at the same time as other children of the same age (see age-appropriate links to the left and above)
• Not responding to sounds/noises around them or not responding to their name by 6 months to 1 year of age
• Vision difficulties - by 9 months they should begin to recognize familiar faces - look for ability to focus on objects and not look past objects
• Speech seems delayed significantly or words are very difficult to understand even at 2-3 years of age
• Not being able to crawl or walk in a realistic age range
• Acting out very aggressively and/or having social difficulties with other children
• Genetic diseases may lead to other disabilities
• Not responding to being cuddled

Web sites with more information:

• Department of Health and Human Services Center for Disease Control and Prevention - http://www.cdc.gov/
• Zero to Three - http://www.zerotothree.org/
• National Dissemination Center for Children with Disabilities - http://www.nichcy.org/
• Children's Disabilities Information - http://www.childrensdisabilities.info/
• Learning Disabilities Online - http://www.ldonline.org/

Developmental Facts:

• A baby's brain is a "work in progress."  Most connections are formed after birth as a result of interaction with the baby's environment.
• Most human brain connections for vision are in place by 8 months.
• Language development is one of the most important activities for a developing infant.  Babies can recognize their native language and their mother's voice even before birth, and begin absorbing information immediately after birth.
• Hearing loss is the most common congenital disorder in newborns.
  • The average age at which children are diagnosed with a hearing loss is 2.5 years.
  • Research suggests that children identified with a hearing loss that are given appropriate intervention before 6 months of age have significantly better language skills than children identified after 6 months of age.
  • Infants identified with a hearing loss can begin immediate intervention as early as 4 weeks of age.  Early identification is the key to increasing the chances that language, cognitive, and social development are similar to that of hearing infants.
  • Hearing tests are painless and can be done while a baby is sleeping.  Small microphones placed in the infant's ears by an Audiologist will measure the ear's response to sounds.  The process takes less than five minutes.