DEVELOPMENTAL DELAY: Focus on Meeting Children's Needs
Congress tried to find ways to define disability so that they could be fair to all children. The goal was and still is to be sure that special needs children anywhere in the US would get the same education and services because they would be tested the same way and labeled the same way.
Another concern was that of age and ability. Was a three-year-old in need of special services, or would they be okay in a year? Congress answered question by encouraging states to serve all children with disabilities from age three. These children from age 3 to 5 are diagnosed as having developmental delays. The term developmental delay means that the children are just a bit behind their peers. Special services are granted to these young children in the hopes that services will only be needed for a short while, that the children will soon develop at the same rate as their peers. This means that children may only need services for a short time instead of for their entire school experience as it had been in the past.
Over time, the term “developmental delay” has been changed to fit many different age ranges. Depending on your state’s definition children as young as three and as old as nine can still be classified as having a developmental delay.
The reason for diagnosing a child with developmental delay instead of something else is complicated. One of the reasons could be to spare the child from a label they will get rid of when they have grown a bit more. Another reason is that it can, for the short term, prevent a child from receiving a more negative, possibly inaccurate label. Finally, it becomes a sort of catch-all for children who “fall through the cracks” and need help but don’t seem to fit any category.
In the end, the goals as outlined in laws like IDEA are to make the law work FOR the children in need of special services. It is hoped that under IDEA and all of its laws all children in need will receive special services. Even though some of the practices, rules, and labels vary by state the spirit of the law remains the same: help children with disabilities get what they need.