The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has updated its developmental milestones for children for the first time in nearly 20 years.
It changed verbiage to simplify what should be met. It also eliminated a large number of milestones per age group while adding a few new ones.
The expectations are especially lowered when it comes to language. For example, a two-month-old baby should calm down when spoken to and a 15-month-old should be able to clap when excited.
ABC10 health expert Dr. Payal Kohli said a partial reason for these changes was to allow for earlier intervention in children who might be on the autistic spectrum.
"It used to be that at a well-child visit, 50% of children hit a milestone and 50% don't. So, that's basically like saying it's ok whether you're at that milestone or not," Kohli said. "Now, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the CDC have changed that to 75% to make it quite clear that children should be hitting certain milestones at certain well-child visits and they've really clarified the milestones and the guidelines."
The new milestones are checked at every well-visit from two months to 5-years-old. Kohli said this is a great development for children. She said it is a long time coming to make things more clear for parents and caregivers.
CDC Developmental Milestone Tools:
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