Another aspect to consider is how many age-appropriate tasks are too hard for your child within a particular skill area. If your five-year-old can string beads, assemble a jigsaw puzzle, build a fort out of Legos, and button her shirt, but can’t use scissors, does she truly have a fine motor delay? Also, a child who is delayed in one area is quite likely to have other delays as well. At the same time it’s quite common for a child who is delayed in one area to be ahead of the game in another area. It can all be very confusing, and for a parent, upsetting. With so many variables, it’s essential to get professional help to identify and sort out your child’s strengths and weaknesses, and to provide appropriate interventions. We’ll give you a few developmental benchmarks here (based loosely on a combination of developmental scales), but keep in mind that age expectations vary between scales, evaluation is subjective, and most developmental delays are not an irreversible, major catastrophe.
