Childhood Disabilities & Disorders
- When to Seek Therapy
- Disabilities & Disorders
- ADHD/ADD
- Anxiety Disorders
- Apraxia of Speech, Childhood
- Articulation Disorders
- Asperger's Syndrome
- Autism Spectrum Disorder
- Birth Injuries
- Central Auditory Processing Disorder
- Cerebral Palsy
- Clubfoot
- Conduct Disorder
- Down Syndrome
- Elimination disorders (enuresis and encopresis)
- Failure to thrive/feeding disorder
- Fine and Gross Motor Delays
- Fluency/Stuttering
- Fracture
- Fragile X Syndrome
- Gait abnormalities
- Global Developmental Delay
- Hip dysplasia
- Language Delays
- Learning Disabilities
- Legg-Calve-Perthes Disease
- Mental Retardation
- Mood Disorders
- Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD)
- Oral Motor Disorders
- Orthopedic conditions
- Osgood-Schlatter Disease
- Pervasive Developmental Disorder
- Pica
- Reactive attachment disorder of infancy or early childhood
- Reading Disorders
- Scoliosis
- Selective Mutism
- Sensory Processing Disorder
- Separation anxiety disorder
- Tic disorders
- Torticollis (Wry Neck)
- Additional Resources
Global Developmental Delay
Global Developmental Delay is a generalized intellectual disability that is characterized by notably impaired cognitive abilities and deficits in two or more areas of personal independence and social responsibility. It can be indicated by an IQ score of less than 70, but the child’s adaptive functioning must also be considered, especially in children younger than five years old, because IQ testing is less reliable in this age group.
Signs and Symptoms
Because of their limitations in cognitive functioning, children with global developmental delay learn and develop more slowly. They may also show some of the following characteristics: delays in oral language development, deficits in memory skills and difficulty with problem-solving skills, delays in the development of adaptive behaviors (such as self-care skills), as well as difficulty learning social rules and lack of social inhibitors.
In the case of mild global developmental delay (IQ 50–69), symptoms may only become evident once the child starts to attend school. On the other hand, moderate global developmental delay (IQ 35-49) is typically obvious within a child’s first years. Such children need adequate support at home and at school. Children with severe global developmental delay will require more intensive support and supervision throughout their life.
Although learning will require more repetition and adapted tools, children with global development delay are able to learn and develop.
