When parents hear I am a speech pathologist, I tend to be inundated with questions about their child, their niece, nephew or cousin who is or is not doing certain things and the biggest question is always “Is this normal?”.

First let me say, I truly LOVE to talk about all things speech related! So it does not bother me when I’m at my book club, a church picnic, my son’s preschool, the grocery store, Target, holiday parties, weddings, or funerals (true story), and get stopped by all types of people asking questions about child development.  I feel honored to know I must seem approachable enough that people do not feel intimidated to ask their questions.  But this got me thinking. Why don’t a write a post with some nice parental resources so if anyone has questions in the future, they can always begin here to see if they can get their questions answered.

So today, what I’d like to do is share some basic website resources anyone can go to, to learn more about typical child developmental milestones:

•  CDC: http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/actearly/milestones/ (you can even print out a pdf version of their milestones)
• PBS has some nice resources in areas of physical, social/emotional, communication and thinking skills: http://www.pbs.org/wholechild/abc/
• Baby Center shares developmental milestones up to 3 yrs: http://www.babycenter.com/milestone-charts-birth-to-age-3
• University of Michigan Health System: http://www.med.umich.edu/yourchild/topics/devmile.htm
• WebMD: http://www.webmd.com/children/features/is-your-baby-on-track
• The Institute of Human Services for the Ohio Child Welfare Training Program: http://www.rsd.k12.pa.us/downloads/development_chart_for_booklet.pdf
• Children’s Medical Services: http://www.floridahealth.gov/alternatesites/cms-kids/families/child_family_info/your_childs_development/development_milestones.html
• All Children’s Hospital (John’s Hopkins Medicine): http://www.allkids.org/body.cfm?id=654

(NOTE: The following list of websites above are shared here as a resource only. Communication Station, Speech Therapy, PLLC in no way endorses any of the below websites.  If you have concerns regarding your child’s development please speak to a professional about those concerns)

Only concerned about your child’s communication? Then check out the developmental checklists the American-Speech-Language-Hearing Association shares on it’s website at http://www.asha.org/public/speech/development/.

So the next time you have a question about your young child’s development or you are asked that dreaded question “Is it normal?”, feel free to direct anyone to this post for further information.

Enjoy and happy talking!