Waving, pointing or saying "Dada" can often be taken for granted by parents who don't know that not achieving these simple milestones can be indicators of serious child developmental and behavioural disabilities.
The Dubai Health Authority (DHA) is running a campaign to raise awareness among parents on the importance of developmental monitoring and screening among children aged nine months to six years old. The DHA also launched a workshop on Tuesday to train healthcare providers from private health facilities on how to conduct these developmental screenings.
Dr Fatima Sultan Al Olama, consultant and head of childcare at the DHA, explained that developmental monitoring entails observing children's growth to make sure that they meet the typical developmental milestones in playing, learning, speaking, behaving and moving.
"Parents should track their child's developmental milestones and check off the ones their children have achieved. For example, at six months, a baby should be able to roll back and forth and sit up without support. At 12 months, a baby should be able to crawl, babble mama or dada and walk with or without support," she said.
Dr Al Olama emphasised that a missed milestone could be a sign of a problem, so the child should be referred to a doctor or a specialist for developmental screening. She said the DHA will soon be adding a developmental screening tool that can be accessed by parents through its Tifli App.
"The developmental screening tool includes a brief questionnaire on a child's development, including language, movement, thinking, behaviour and emotions. The tool is currently used in all primary healthcare centres run by the DHA for children aged nine months to six years."
She said that monitoring and screening is important because lack of early intervention contributes to the fact that one in three children have significant school disabilities or difficulties. Preterm babies or children with an existing long-lasting health problem are at a higher risk of developmental problems that might require additional screening.
She said that most child delays are not discovered early, in fact, studies have found that only 20 per cent of these children are identified and receive help before school begins and as a result, these children must wait to get the help they need to do well in social and educational settings.
She added that studies have also found that 11 per cent of children are at high risk of disability and need referrals for further evaluation while 43 per cent of children are at low risk of disability and only need routine monitoring and follow-up.
Dr Al Olama said that the most common developmental or behavioural disabilities that these screenings can discover are autism, learning disorders, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorders and language delays.
Study on child development
She said that raising awareness on this issue is important as a Dubai-based study found that while most the women surveyed keep an eye on their child's growth, a notable percentage is unaware of developmental screening tools.
The study found that 13 per cent of respondents said they do not use a screening tool and 14 per cent are unaware of the availability of screening tools that can detect developmental delays.
"The DHA currently provides a number of early detection services that can prevent future developmental delays, such as pre-martial tests, early detection test of genetic and metabolic diseases of newborns, pregnancy examinations and follow-up as well as early detection tests for jaundice, hearing and visual disabilities and autism," she said.
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