Developmental delay

Developmental delay (DD) is seen in almost all orphans. It is understandable: many of them spend months in the hospital cribs before placement to the orphanage. They suffer from physical, emotional and speech deprivation. The situation is usually better when kids arrive to the orphanage soon after birth. There are stuff members there- speech therapists, physical therapists and others- who are responsible for stimulation of development of children. You will not find such professionals in the hospital- there are only nurses and doctors, who are busy with standard hospital routines.

If DD is caused by all the above, it is usually reversible after adoption. In order to understand, if a kid had emotional and speech deprivation, as well as motor deprivation, one should analyze his medical and social history with attention.

Nevertheless, developmental delay may be caused by a huge number of severe congenital diseases (fortunately, they are rare), perinatal problems and inherited predisposition. It is not easy to differentiate one from another and professional help may be essential.

The general rule is that the level of delayed development must not exceed the half of biological age. For instance, we evaluate gross motor skills in a 12 months old infant. He is not able to walk, but he can stand, holding on. This skill must be present in 9 months old i.e. the boy has a developmental delay of 3 months. It is less then 6 months-half of 12 months- and thus is not considered a severe delay. But if the 12 months old infant is unable to sit-and this ability is present in normal 6 months old- this delay is equal to 6 months and thus is considered severe.

In general, developmental assessment of children is one of most complicated parts of preadoption evaluation.