Milestones and red flags of child development What pediatricians need to know

Knowledge about milestones and red flags in children's development is essential for pediatricians. A milestone defines the point in time at which a developmental step occurs for the first time in a child. An individual milestone must be distinguished from a cut-off point (red flag), the point at which 90% of all children have reached a developmental step. Milestones and cut-offs do not represent qualitative aspects of children's development; they do not describe children's individual developmental trajectories and developmental variations, but define the age at which the majority of children have reached a given developmental goal. Milestones can be considered as cut-off points and provide some indications that further diagnostic work-up should take place.

Automated summary

Knowledge about milestones and red flags in children's development is crucial for pediatricians as they provide important indications for further diagnostic work-up. Milestones are the points in time when a developmental step occurs for the first time in a child, while red flags represent the age at which 90% of children have reached a developmental step. They do not describe the individual variations in children's development, but rather define the age at which most children have achieved a specific developmental goal.