Children reach milestones in many ways such as taking their first step, smiling for the first time, crawling, walking and more.
The CDC's milestones aim to give doctors and parents clearer benchmarks for identifying whether or not their child could have a developmental delay or disability such as autism. If they do, this helps so they can receive treatment early.
Sharlie Barber, assistant professor, family & human studies at Salt Lake Community College joined us to talk about the new updates by the CDC.
Updates include:
• Adding 15 and 30 months to the list of milestones.
• Moving 21 developmental benchmarks to older ages.
• And changing the average number of kids meeting those milestones from 50% to 75% to paint a more accurate picture.
Milestones are just guideposts but not the most important thing—What is really important is that a child is making progress.
Make sure you are doing regular visits with your pediatrician and for more information go to CDC Milestones or slcc.edu.
