For a long time, I saw no reason to ever use a Development Checklist for children. My philosophy has been that children develop at their own pace and should not be expected to hit "milestones" at any certain age.
But, then I had a child that seemed slow to develop. Not just slow, but super slow. Thankfully, her parents noticed it, too, and had her evaluated and she got the help she needed. I saw a positive change in this little girl very soon after she started getting some outside therapy. She was back on track for hitting those milestones not too far behind her friends of the same age in my daycare.
I saw how not measuring up to basic developmental milestones was a red flag for a child who is not meeting most of those targets. I began to see that a checklist was not to measure the children against one another or against someone's idea of when a milestone should be accomplished on a timeline, but it can be used for a tool to alert you, the parent or caregiver, when something should be checked out.
As parents or caregivers it's not our job to diagnose, but to know when it's time for a professional to be contacted. I am including these Developmental Checklists for you to use as a tool. I have included different types of checklists so you can choose what works best for you.
