Visits to the pediatrician usually begin with measurements of a child’s physical growth: how tall or long the baby or child is, his or her weight, and his or her head circumference. These are important measurements, but also important is whether a child is reaching age-appropriate developmental milestones in the categories of physical, cognitive, social and emotional growth, and language acquisition and use.
Physical Development
A child’s physical growth is easy to measure with simple tools; his or her physical development requires observation by parents, caregivers, and health care practitioners. Physical development encompasses many things depending on the child’s age: rolling from back to front and front to back, holding one’s head up, sitting alone, standing with or without support, crawling, walking, climbing stairs, throwing a ball, and imitating scribbling are all examples of a child’s physical development.
Cognitive Development
Cognitive development also encompasses a variety of skills and abilities. Whether a child will search for an object hidden while he is looking, or while he is not looking, is a measurement of cognitive development. A child’s problem-solving skills (does she move a stool to the counter in order to reach an object?) and ability to understand concepts such as “two” are examples of how cognitive development is measured.
Social and Emotional
A child’s social and emotional development is vital. Expressing joy or displeasure, being able to understand when another’s facial expressions or tone of voice indicate joy or displeasure, smiling, laughing, waving, and maintaining eye contact are all measurements of social and emotional development. For older children, the ability to play cooperatively and collaboratively and to take turns are other developmental milestones. Playing make-believe games is another example of emotional and social development.
Language
Babies are hard-wired for language, and, if developing appropriately, will coo and make other noises from birth. Around one year, normally developing children can use a word or two; by age two, short subject + verb sentences and repeating words are signs of normal development. The extent to which a child uses language to express him- or herself as appropriate for his or her age is measured in language development assessments.
These definitions should serve as a starting point for understanding what is measured in developmental assessments. Your child’s health care practitioner can offer more detailed explanations of both what each term refers to and where you child should be developmentally at his or her age.