Has your child not reached his or her developmental milestones because of malpractice?
Physically, at the end of the first month, your child should be able to make jerky, quivering arm thrusts, move his/her head from side to side, keep hands in tight fists, and have strong reflex movements. His hearing should be fully mature, with some ability to recognize sounds. After the first months, your baby may be having developmental delays if he sucks poorly and feeds slowly, doesn’t blink when shown a bright light, doesn’t focus and follow a nearby object, rarely moves arms and legs, or doesn’t respond to loud sounds.
At the end of three months, he should be able to raise his head or chest and support his upper body with his arms when lying on stomach, opens and shuts his hands, brings hands to mouth, swipes at dangling objects with hands, and grasps and shakes toys. He should be able to recognize familiar objects and people at a distance, start using his hands and eyes in coordination, follow moving objects, and watch faces intently. He should also begin to develop a social smile, enjoy playing with others, begins to babble, and imitate some sounds. Developmental problems may be present if he does not respond to loud sounds, does not notice his hands by two months, does not smile at people by three months, does not grasp and hold objects by three to four months, does not bring objects to mouth by four months, or begins babbling but does not try to imitate any of your sounds by four months. Additionally, if your child has trouble moving one or both eyes in all directions, or crosses his eyes most of the time, and does not pay attention to new faces or seems very frightened by new faces, there may be a problem.
By the end of seven months, your child should be able to roll both ways, sit with, and then without support hands, reach with one hand, transfer objects from hand to hand, and use a raking grasp (as opposed to a pincer grasp). He should also have developed full color vision, distance vision should also mature, as well as the ability to track moving objects. He should be able to respond to his own name, and also to the word “no,” distinguish emotion by tone of voice, respond to sound by making sound, use voice to express joy and displeasure, and babble chains of consonants. He should be able, cognitively, to find partially hidden objects, explore with hands and mouth, and struggle to get out-of-reach objects. He should enjoy social play, be interested in mirror images, and respond to others’ emotions. There may be problems if your child seems very stiff with tight muscles, seems very floppy like a rag doll, head still flops back when body is pulled to a sitting position, or reaches with one hand only. There may also be problems if he refuses to cuddle, shows no affection for the person who cares for him, does not seem to enjoy being around people, does not respond to sounds around him, does not laugh or make squealing sounds by six months, has difficulty getting objects to mouth, or does not roll over in either direction (by five months). You should be worried if your child does not try to attract attention through actions by seven months, does not babble by eight months, and shows no interest in games of peek-a-boo by eight months.
By one year of age, your child will have become shy or anxious with strangers, cries with mother or father leaves, enjoys imitating people in his play, shows specific preferences for certain people or toys, tests parental responses to his behavior and actions during feedings, may be fearful in some situations, prefers regular caregivers over all others, repeats sounds or gestures for attention, and finger-feeds himself. He should be able to reach a sitting position without assistance, crawl forward on belly, assume hands-and-knees position, creep on hands and knees, pull himself up to stand, walks holding on to furniture, stands momentarily without support, and may walk two or three steps without support. He should pay increasing attention to speech, respond to simple verbal requests, uses simple gestures (such as shaking head “no”), babbles with inflection, tries to imitate words, says “dada” and “mama,” and uses exclamations (like “uh-oh!”). He should be exploring objects in many ways (shaking, banging, dropping), finds hidden objects easily, looks at correct picture when image is named, imitates gestures, and begins to use objects correctly. There may be problems if he does not crawl, or drags one side of body while crawling, cannot stand when supported, does not search for hidden objects, says no single words, does not learn to use gestures, such as waving or shaking, and does not point to objects or pictures.
At the end of two years, he should be able to walk alone, pulls toys behind himself while walking, carry toys while walking, begin to run, stands on tiptoe, kicks a ball, climbs onto furniture unassisted, and walks up and down stairs. He should also be able to point to named objects, recognize names of familiar people, objects, and body parts, say several single words (15 to 18 months) and use simple phrases (18 to 24 months), follow simple instructions, and repeats words overheard in conversation. He should imitate the behavior of others, especially adults and older children, become increasingly aware of himself as separate from others, and increasingly enthusiastic about company of other children. He should start to demonstrate increasing independence, begin to show defiant behavior, and have episodes of separation anxiety increase toward midyear, which should then fade.
There may be problems if your child cannot walk by 18 months, fails to develop a mature heel-toe walking pattern after several months of walking, or walks only on his toes, does not speak at least 15 words, does not use two-word sentences by age 2, does not seem to know the function of common household objects, does not imitate actions or words by the end of this period, does not follow simple instructions by age 2, or cannot push a wheeled toy by this time.
By age three, there may be developmental problems if he persistently falls or as difficulty with stairs, persistently drools or has very unclear speech, cannot build a tower of more than four blocks, has difficulty manipulating small objects, or cannot copy a circle. It is also problematic if he cannot communicate in short phrases, has no involvement in “pretend” play, does not understand simple instructions, has little interest in other children, has extreme difficulty separating from mother or primary caregiver, has poor eye contact, or has limited interest in toys.
By age four, your child may have problems if he cannot throw a ball overhand, cannot jump in place, cannot ride a tricycle, cannot grasp a crayon between thumb and fingers, has difficulty scribbling, and cannot stack four blocks. He may also have problems if he still clings or cries whenever parents leave, shows no interest in interactive games, ignores other children, does not respond to people outside the family, resists dressing, sleeping, or using the toilet, lashes out without any self-control when angry or upset, or does not use “me” and “your” correctly.
By age five, your child may have problems if he acts extremely fearful or timid, or extremely aggressively, is unable to separate from parents without major protest, is easily distracted and unable to concentrate on any single activity for more than five minutes, shows little interest in playing without other children, or refuses to respond to people in general, or responds only superficially. He may also have problems if he does not engage in a variety of activities, seems unhappy or sad much of the time, cannot tell the difference between fantasy and reality, seems unusually passive, cannot understand two-part commands using prepositions, cannot correctly give his first and last name, does not use plurals or past tense properly when speaking, and does not talk about his daily activities and experiences. It is also problematic if your child cannot build a tower of six to eight blocks, seems uncomfortable holding a crayon, has trouble taking off clothing, cannot brush his teeth efficiently, or cannot wash and dry his hands.
If your child or any of your loved ones’ children have not reached their milestones, and decease, call Alan Ripka to discuss your claim. Alan Ripka and his professional team of lawyers can evaluate your situation and determine the next steps to gain justice for you and your family. Alan Ripka has fought against all kinds of companies in other matters and will fight for you if I believe you have a potential case for medical malpractice, products liability, or personal injury. I am prepared to go to court and have a trial if necessary. Please fill out the form and submit or call and ask for me, Alan Ripka. Please specifically mention that you read the blog when contacting me.
