You see your child nearly every minute of every day. That puts you in the best position to monitor your child’s development. You want your child to learn, grow, and develop. Your pediatrician can help. The pediatricians at Child & Adolescent Clinic offer comprehensive children’s medical services, including evaluation of child development and behavior. They have two convenient office locations in Longview, and Vancouver, WA.

What You Need to Know about Child Development

Developmental milestones are what you and your pediatrician use to determine whether your child is doing well. The Centers for Disease Control, or CDC, lists developmental milestones by month and year. To access this comprehensive list of developmental milestones, please click here.

You want to observe whether your child is:

• Interacting well with you, including playing games, talking, and responding at a level appropriate to your child’s age
• Able to stand, walk, and move around at a level appropriate to your child’s age
• Able to eat and drink foods at a level appropriate to your child’s age
• Able to learn at a level appropriate to your child’s age

Behavioral development is also a factor you need to pay attention to. First, let’s look at a few normal behavioral milestones:

• Defiance, which is a sign your child is testing boundaries and becoming independent
• Withdrawing, which is a sign your child is demonstrating autonomy
• Acting out, can be a way your child deals with changes in life events like moving or going to a new school

Your pediatrician will perform comprehensive developmental and behavioral evaluations, typically during well-child visits. Your pediatrician may order lab testing to determine if there is an underlying cause for a developmental or behavioral issue.

If a developmental or behavioral problem has been identified, your pediatrician will develop a comprehensive treatment plan to help your child. The treatment plan may include:

• Physical and occupational therapy
• Dietary and lifestyle modification
• Pediatric specialty care if your child has a developmental or behavioral disorder
• Medication to treat underlying medical conditions

Want to Know More?

To learn more about ways to monitor child development and how your pediatrician can help, call the pediatricians at Child & Adolescent Clinic. You can reach them in Longview, WA, by calling (360) 577-1771, or in Vancouver, WA, by calling (360) 254-7750, so call today.