Child motor development: when an assessment is worth it

Your friend’s child was walking before their first birthday. Yours has just blown out the first candle and still prefers to crawl. Their cousin runs everywhere, while yours trips over often. Comparisons are inevitable, and worry tends to come with them. Most of the time, everything is within the normal range. Sometimes, though, an assessment can bring peace of mind and a sense of direction.

Every child has their own pace

Developmental milestones, such as holding up their head, sitting, crawling and walking, aren’t strict deadlines. They’re time windows, and those windows are wider than many parents imagine. Some children skip crawling altogether and still walk normally.

What matters most isn’t the exact age but the overall progression: whether your child keeps moving forward, moves in a variety of ways and uses both sides of their body.

Signs worth discussing

The signs below don’t necessarily mean there’s a problem. They are reasons to talk to your pediatrician and, if needed, to arrange an assessment with a pediatric physiotherapist.

In infancy

• almost always turns their head to the same side
• their head constantly tilts to one side, or has flattened in one spot
• their body seems unusually “floppy” or unusually “stiff”
• struggles to lift their head when lying on their tummy
• shows a strong preference for one hand very early on

In toddlers and older children

• walks on their toes almost all the time
• falls often, or their clumsiness doesn’t improve over time
• finds running, jumping or stairs harder than other children their age
• often complains of tiredness or pain in their legs
• loses skills they had already mastered

Losing skills, at any age, always needs to be discussed with your pediatrician right away.

“No parent is overreacting by asking. An assessment that ends with ‘everything is fine’ is a valuable answer too.”

What an assessment involves

The assessment is calm and mostly based on play. We watch how your child moves freely, how they change position, how they balance and how they use their body. We talk with you about their history, the pregnancy and birth, their milestones and their daily routine.

At the end, we share what we noticed in plain language. If treatment is needed, it happens mainly through play and always includes guidance for home. If something needs further medical investigation, we refer you back to your pediatrician or to another specialist.

When to ask for help

Talk to your pediatrician without delay if:

• your child is losing skills they already had
• there’s marked asymmetry in how they move their arms or legs
• they suddenly start limping or refuse to put weight on a leg
• their muscle tone seems noticeably different from before

And if something simply doesn’t feel right to you, trust your instinct. A conversation with your pediatrician and a motor development assessment often work best together.

If you’d like us to look together at how your child moves, book an assessment at Reset Lab.