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

Abstract

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.