Autism Spectrum Disorder and Auditory Processing Disorder: What are Developmental Disability and Developmental Delay?

Developmental Disability includes Autism, Asperger's, Pervasive Developmental Disorder - Not Otherwise Specified and other diagnoses. Developmental Delay includes Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, LD, Dyslexia, and more. Then there is Global Developmental Disorder and CAPD, and I don't know where they fit in the official structure of diagnostic categories, but I know they are a developmental problem.

I have been working with children with developmental problems for a few years. I use the terms developmental problems to encompass everything from Developmental Disability to Developmental Delay, and even more. In our consulting program we consider them all basically the same. They differ only by level of intensity. We have developed protocols which succeed with all of the developmental problems. Our method assists the client’s intrinsic knack for growing up.

What is the magnitude of this problem?

All of these developmental problems add up to an estimated 28 million children in the USA. The Census Bureau calculates there about 85 million children in the USA. The APA (American Pediatric Association) tells us that one in every six children have a diagnosis for some developmental problem (16.7%). The different associations for all of the individual diagnostic categories of developmental problems all agree when they report that about half of the children with these problems obtain a diagnosis for their problem (that makes it 1/3). And, one third of 85 million is 28 million children.

That means that 33% of all the children in every classroom have some level of developmental problem. Maybe it shows up as a lack of ability to focus or control impulses. Maybe it shows up as a lack of ability to learn writing. Maybe it shows up as an inability to hit a ball. Maybe it is so intensive, the children never learn to speak. Maybe it is mild and only an annoyance to the child and the teachers.

In whatever form, developmental problems seem to be growing in sheer volume. We are certainly getting more precise with our diagnoses. And, we are certainly advanced as a culture so that we offer those diagnostic services to more children who otherwise could not afford it. But, I am not sure this is the reason we have 33% of our children with developmental problems.

When I was a child in school, many years ago, I do not remember 33% of the children having these types of problems in my classrooms. I remember that maybe 5% to 10% might have had these kinds of problems, but certainly not 33%.

What is a developmental problem?

In basic terms, it is some interruption in the developmental process. All living things have a life cycle. Much of the early phases of that life cycle are involved in growing up. From inception to maturity, all living entities progress through a series of milestones. For us humans, we call them our developmental milestones.

For children with developmental problems, they do not progress through their stages appropriately. They get blocked at some of the stages. They skip some stages. So, many of the basic learning processes needed for appropriate maturity, are skipped. And, in some cases a child is held in a stage and does not move forward on to the next developmental stage.

I think that all of the different diagnostic categories are related to some basic factors. In which developmental stages did the child get blocked or which stages did the child lose? How intense is the ‘stuckness?’ And, how many stages did the child lose?

What can be done about it?

All of the different diagnostic category associations in the field of developmental problems are clearly in unison when they say that the 1) developmental process is not working correctly and that 2) there is no cure.

Professionals in this field are at a loss to cure developmental problems. Nothing that they attempt works with the developmental process. For decades academics have tried everything they can think of to do and nothing works.

After all these frustrating years, they have finally agreed with each other that there is no cure. And, now it is official. All of the diagnostic associations and all of the groups creating the diagnostic definitions have agreed that there is no cure. Now, they invest all of their research funding on finding causes instead of developing fixes for 28 million children with these developmental problems.

They have attempted many things, but they have not attempted everything.

With our work your children close the missed places in their movement through the developmental steps. Our method assists the client’s intrinsic knack for growing up.

Rodger C Bailey, MS has degrees in Social Science and Counseling. He provides www.gotofocus.com/ Developmental Discovery System™ consulting for families, in English and Spanish), which awakens the child’s concealed facility for developing. Checkout his Blog developmentald.blogspot.com/ Blog and his free Developmental Checklist www.developmental.gotofocus.com/

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