Milestones of development

Despite the great variety of environmental and genetic influences upon a child’s development, certain patterns emerge as common to the majority of individuals within a large social group. These have been studied and observed by many famous researchers into childhood development, such as Piaget,¹ and form the basis of many guides to development which are used by clinicians involved with monitoring the development of infants.

Denver Developmental Screening Test

The Denver Developmental Screening Test² has long been used to show the main events expected at any specified age in a child’s development.³ A thorough history and symptoms taking from a child may well touch on several of these key events and so an awareness of the normal patterns of development are useful for any clinician dealing with children. Table 1 gives a summary of the milestones or key events in the development of the child.