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Milestone Myths
Babies Growing at Their Own Pace
By Jenn Director Knudsen
"I guess I'd have to say it was mainly gut instinct that something was wrong ... I knew I needed help identifying what was causing delays," says Hays. "Thankfully his physical therapist helped us both. He's made great progress and is so happy to be running after his big brother."
Dusty Johnson, of Lake Oswego, Ore., also is grateful to her 3-year-old son's pediatric physical therapist, Knudsen, who works weekly with Will in the hospital-based clinic but also has given Johnson tools to use at home.
Will suffers from a brain anomaly and many medical conditions in addition to speech and language and gross- and fine-motor skills delays. Will, who has an older sister and younger brother, didn't crawl until 19 months of age and walked at 2-1/2 years.
Knudsen has been working with Will since he was 8 months old. Johnson says Knudsen pushes Will harder than she, as the parent, feels comfortable doing and that Knudsen "knows the little things to get him to make the leaps."
With Knudsen's help, Will today is working on hopping and running, says Johnson, a part-time service awards coordinator and orientation facilitator with Providence Health System. Not only that, but "[Will] is the happiest kid I've ever seen," says Johnson. "He's always smiling; he just lights up everyone he meets."
And that's the most important thing for a parent, says Johnson, who has this advice for all parents: "Take any kind of chart there is out there and throw it out the window," she says. "Don't follow them. Because each kid's going to do their own thing when they're going to do it. As long as they hit the marks and the milestones it doesn't matter when they do it. I feel very fortunate for everything he [Will] can do and, no pun intended, for every step he takes."
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