Global Development Delay

Global Developmental Delay (GDD)

A child is deemed to have ‘Developmental delay’ or ‘Global developmental delay’ when they are taking longer to reach age and stage development milestones compared to other children the same age. It is more than feeling that your child is a ‘little behind’ other children in terms of development as each child is an individual. The difference in a diagnosis is that the extent of the delay and developmental delays in children with GDD persist over time and significantly impact them on many levels.Your child may struggle in one or several areas of development but to receive a diagnosis of GDD they will be expected to have a significant delay in two of the five areas of development.

The five areas of development include:

• Gross motor skills: skills in relation to movement like sitting, running, standing, walking, jumping
• Fine motor skills: such as hand and eye co-ordination, using tools and writing
• Social and Emotional Skills: Interacting with other people, both socially and emotionally as well as self-care
• Speech and Language: understanding what people are trying to communicate, verbal expression, and slow speech
• Cognition: the ability to think, learn and solve problems

For some children, the delay in developing maybe short term and with early intervention they can overcome the delays, effectively catching up with their peers. For others, the delay maybe more significant and they will continue to need ongoing support. This may also indicate that there is another condition impacting their development like a learning disability which effects their ability to learn, think and solve problem so its important to get early intervention in order to identify how bestto support your child.

Children with Global Developmental Delay can also have co-morbidities which may include:

• ADHD
• Sensory an Auditory Processing Disorder
• ASC
• Epilepsy
• Learning Difficulties
• Hypermobility