Real Milestones: Daniel at 9 months
It’s hard to believe how quickly Daniel’s first year is flying by! It seemed like overnight he went from a 7-pound newborn to a 19-pound 9-month-old who has kept his family hopping! At his 9 month “birthday” at the end of May, Daniel was crawling all over the place and was pulling up and cruising. He had four teeth that he used after he picked up small food (like cereal o’s) with his thumb and index finger and put them into his mouth. Daniel liked to watch things fall, and he was a big fan of peek-a-boo. He copied sounds his parents and brothers made, and he made lots of sounds on his own. There was a lot of emotion in those sounds; it was obvious when he was happy or sad or angry. Daniel definitely recognized the members of his family and others he saw regularly. He went through a phase of being really clingy with his mom and got upset when others tried to hold him, but that passed. Check in on Daniel in our next issue to see what else he learned in his first year of life.
Alabama Team Encourages Referrals, Distributes “Learn the Signs. Act early.” Materials:
Although 2009 CDC data suggested that Alabama children received an ASD diagnosis 15 months earlier than they did 3 years ago, the average age of diagnosis was still 51 months. With 95% of these children’s caregivers noting a developmental concern before the children were 3 years of age, it was clear that a significant lag time remained between the age of first concern and the age of first diagnosis. Read more.
New Initiative: Act Early Ambassadors
Eleven new Act Early Ambassadors are poised to expand the reach of “Learn the Signs. Act Early.” program and support their states’ work toward improving early identification. They were selected from a group of such highly qualified applicants that choosing only 11—which is what the funding allowed—was very difficult. We are excited to work with the ambassadors over the coming year in this pilot project. We hope to learn from and support the ambassadors as they tackle training and education, partnership development, and Act Early state team liaison work.
Act Early Ambassadors will work with programs that serve young children and their parents, such as Head Start and Early Head Start, WIC, and home visiting; health care and child care professionals; and their Act Early state teams (some ambassadors are state team leaders) to improve early identification of developmental delays. Ambassadors also will promote the Autism Case Training (ACT): A Developmental Behavioral Pediatrics Curriculum. This case-based, facilitated curriculum is designed to teach pediatric residents and other trainees about autism identification, diagnosis, and treatment.
To see if there is an Act Early Ambassador in your state, view our map.
The Act Early Ambassadors project is a collaborative effort of CDC’s National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities, the Health Resources and Services Administration’s Maternal and Child Health Bureau, and the Association of University Centers on Disabilities.
Champion for Families: Roxane Romanick
Roxane is the State Family Liaison through North Dakota’s Early Intervention program, a board member of a national organization called the Early Intervention Family Alliance and parent of a child with a disability. She brings a parent perspective to policy and program development, in her state and nationally. She is enthusiastic about the “Learn the Signs. Act Early.” materials and shares them with families and child care providers to help them communicate their concerns with families. She is passionate about supporting parents. “It’s what keeps my lifeblood going”, says Roxane. Read more
Nominate your family's champion
Question Corner:
Question:
Will a child’s language be delayed if he or she learns two languages at one time, for instance, Spanish at home and English at day care?
Answer:
Learning two languages rather than one does not cause speech or language problems. Bilingual children follow the same basic milestones as children who learn just one language.
It is a normal part of bilingual development to mix words and grammar rules from time to time. Children who learn two languages at the same time also might not start out speaking as much as children who learn only one language. They usually understand, but might take longer to use as many words; for instance, they might know a word in one language, but not the other. For children who are developing typically and have people who speak and read to them, this is not a concern; they will catch up, and later they might be better at certain types of activities (multitasking, for instance) than children who only learn one language.
Some children have trouble with learning and talking, whether it is one language or two. If you have concerns about a child who is learning two or more languages, it is important to find someone who knows about bilingual language learning and can assess the child in both languages.
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"Learn the Signs" of healthy development and warning signs of delay. |
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