Transcription:

Deborah Howell (Host): Welcome. As parents, we often wonder or suspect that our child may have a developmental delay but just aren’t sure. That’s our topic today and we’ll discuss it with someone who works with families to help identify and treat developmental delays every single day. My guest is Shelby Schroeder, an Occupational Therapist at High Point Therapy at Deaconess, the Women’s Hospital. Welcome Shelby.

Shelby Schroeder, OT (Guest):  Good afternoon.

Host:  Great to have you on the show today. Can you tell us what is a developmental delay?

Shelby:  So, a developmental delay is a very broad topic. So, by definition, a developmental delay occurs when a child is slower to reach their milestones than other children their same age. A developmental delay can affect all, a couple or just one area of development. So, a developmental delay could be a physical delay, a mental delay or behavioral. And there could be a couple factors that can contribute to delay. Or there could be no true cause at all. These may include like a genetic condition, possibly a trauma that happened, prenatal exposure to a particular substance, an illness as a baby, just a variety of things.

Host:  Got it. And what should I do if I suspect a developmental delay in my child?

Shelby:  Every baby and child develops at their own speed. If you are concerned that your child might have a developmental delay, please contact your pediatrician. For children who are ages three and under, the state funds a program that’s called First Steps. First Steps provides children with physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy and developmental therapy. An evaluation can be done in your house and the evaluating therapist will determine which services are needed. Your pediatrician can put in a referral for you or you can place a referral for your child on the First Steps website. If your child happens to be over the age of three, you can request a referral for outpatient therapy.

So, here at High Point Therapy, we offer physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech therapy. And we have therapists who specifically see children with feeding difficulties.

Host:  And how do I spot a developmental delay in my child?

Shelby:  Please do not compare your children to other children that you might see on social media. Most of the time, parents just post the highlights of their children’s lives and again, every child is unique and develops at different rates and there’s different factors that contribute to development. For children who are born at full term, you could use an app such as the one developed by the CDC. They have a great checklist and comprehensive list of developmental milestones that you can download. There’s also free pdfs on the CDC website that you can utilize as well. We also have on our baby app, from the Women’s Hospital, we have a brief developmental milestones checklist as well.

If a baby is born prematurely, their prematurity can be accounted for until the age of two and by the age of two, we hope to have that baby caught up in all of their milestones by either utilizing outpatient services or First Steps to help so they can progress through a stated developmental checklist.

Host:  And Shelby, what’s the name of that app?

Shelby:  That app is called Oh Baby and it’s presented by the Women’s Hospital.

Host:  Perfect. And let’s get into some of the services that are offered at High Point for pediatrics. Can you tell us about them?

Shelby:  Yes, so here at the Women’s Hospital, at High Point Therapy, we offer physical therapy, occupational therapy and speech therapy in the inpatient settings and outpatient settings. At High Point, we also work hand in hand with neonatologists and pediatricians and pediatric dieticians to help to manage babies with their volume intake, their calories, growth and to help with feeding management of babies who may utilize feed tubes or other routes for feeding. We see many babies that come from our NICU as a transition to First Steps. Sometimes First Steps therapies can take a while to begin and out fragile babies cannot always wait that long. We also work closely with our Riley Specialty Clinic. We have a NICU developmental follow up clinic which is led by two pediatric nurse practitioners, an occupational or physical therapist and a dietician. This clinic was specifically designed for children who are most at risk for a developmental delay such as our babies who are born prematurely or babies who may be ill at birth.

These babies are screened to ensure that all that the child is receiving, all the services that they would benefit from. From this clinic, referrals can be made to other specialty physicians that may be needed as well. Children are typically seen at this clinic at their corrected gestational age of four months, nine months, twelve months, eighteen months and twenty four months. And if they qualify based on the gestational age that they were born; they also have the opportunity to participate in Bailey testing. And these results with the parent’s permission are submitted to the Vermont Oxford Network. Our Bailey testing is a comprehensive standardized developmental screen that accounts for babies who are born prematurely. The Vermont Oxford Network is a nonprofit voluntary collaboration of healthcare professionals who work together as an interdisciplinary community to change the landscape of neonatal care.

Host:  Shelby, when as a parent should I intervene?

Shelby:  As a parent myself, I think it’s you intervene when you feel it’s necessary. Done ever hesitate to ask your pediatrician for help if you have concerns that your child may be delayed. And again, you are always welcome to – if your child is under the age of three, get on the First Steps website and fill out a referral when you can have therapists come to your house to do a free evaluation and then see if your child would qualify for services from that point.

Host:  Great. And in your opinion, when is it time to talk to your pediatrician?

Shelby:  Anytime would be a great time to talk to your pediatrician regarding your child’s development. Never hesitate if you have a concern.

Host:  We’ve talked about other delays Shelby, but what is a cognitive delay?

Shelby:  A cognitive or developmental delay may include difficulties with following directions, troubles with learning, difficulty sequencing everyday tasks such as dressing and bathing.

Host:  And can you give me some examples of gross motor delays?

Shelby:  If your child has a gross motor delay, most likely they would see a physical therapist and a gross motor delay would be like a delay with rolling, and sitting, crawling, walking, or difficulty coordinating big muscle groups at the same time.

Host:  Got it. Big movements. All right. Well all of this has been such excellent information Shelby. I want to thank you so much for being with us today to talk about developmental delays and what you can do for your patients at High Point. Thank you so much for being on the show.

Shelby:  Thank you so much.

Host:  Now if you or someone you know might benefit from an evaluation at High Point, head on over to www.deaconess.com/highpoint to get connected with one of our providers. This is the Women’s Hospital, a Place for All Your Life. I’m Deborah Howell. Thanks for listening. And have yourself a great day.