• Skip to main content
  • Skip to navigation
  • Accessibility
  • Contact Us
Government of Western Australia Crest
Government of Western Australia
Government of Western Australia Crest

Additional Menu

  • Accessibility
  • Contact us
Go to WA Government search
  • About us
    • About CAHS
    • Health Service Board
      • Frequently asked questions
    • Executive team
    • Our performance
    • Annual Reports
    • Strategies and plans
    • Acknowledgement of Country
    • Conduct standards
      • Public Interest Disclosure
      • Reporting misconduct
    • Contact us
  • Our services
    • Neonatology
      • Neonatal Units
      • For parents and carers
      • Newborn Emergency Transport Service
      • The Perron Rotary Express Milk (PREM) Bank
      • Neonatal Follow up Program
      • Neonatology Clinical Research
      • Neonatology clinical guidelines
      • NETS WA clinical guidelines
      • Compliments and complaints
      • Neonatology Resources
      • Contact us
    • Community Health
      • Aboriginal Health Team
      • Child Health
      • Child Development Service
      • Immunisation
      • Refugee Health
      • School Health
      • Healthy Lifestyle Program
      • Bedwetting program
      • Compliments and complaints
      • Contact us
    • Mental Health
      • About us
      • Get help
      • Your healthcare rights
      • CAMHS Crisis Connect
      • Community CAMHS
      • Specialist services and day programs
      • Hospital services
      • Aboriginal Mental Health
      • For families and young people
      • Compliments and complaints
      • Contact us
    • Perth Children's Hospital
    • Children's Hospice Project
    • Community Hubs
    • First 1,000 Days Framework
  • For families and carers
    • COVID-19
      • Visiting CAHS sites
      • COVID-19 and children
      • Vaccination
      • Resources
    • Accessing or updating medical records
    • Being involved in your child's care
      • Your healthcare rights
      • Your child's medical record
      • Informed consent
      • Shared decision making
    • Consumer engagement
      • Become a consumer representative
      • Consumer groups and committees
      • Consumer Engagement Strategy
    • Compliments and complaints
      • Feedback form
      • You Said, We Did
      • Stars of CAHS Awards
    • Safety and quality of care
      • Preventing infections
      • Patient safety
      • Protecting the vulnerable
      • Listening and communicating with our consumers
    • QRious Health Hub for young people
    • Resources
    • Telehealth
  • For health professionals
    • Work with us
      • Careers at CAHS
      • Our vacancies
      • Why work for us?
    • Resources
      • Community Health Clinical Nursing Manual
      • Aboriginal child health resources
      • CAHS Clinical Disclaimer
      • Neonatology guidelines
      • Neonatology Postnatal Ward guidelines
      • Newborn Emergency Transport Service WA guidelines
      • Schools and Child Care
    • CAHS Medical Library
    • CAHS Child Safeguarding Unit
    • Referrals to our services
      • Community Health
      • Mental Health
      • Newborn Emergency Transport Service
  • Research
    • For researchers
      • Things you need to know
      • Ethics and governance approval
      • Support for researchers
      • Research funding opportunities
      • Research suites at Perth Children's Hospital
      • Research events, training and meetings
      • Ethics and governance
      • Research Education Program
    • For families
    • Featured projects
      • ACORN project
      • Early Moves
      • ESCALATION
      • FH in Kids
      • Food Allergy Clinical Research Program
      • Healthy Lifestyle Program
      • Move to Improve
      • SPECIAL kids study
    • Clinical research overview
      • Clinical Trial frequently asked questions
    • COVID-19 and research processes
      • COVID-19 Research Ethics and Governance Processes
    • For industry and sponsors - clinical trials
    • Our research partners
  1. Home
  2. Our services
  3. Community Health
  4. Child Health
  5. Resources
  6. Child Development

Child Development

Child Development

What is development?

The changes your child goes through as they grow is called development. They learn new skills and then combine these skills to develop more complex tasks such as walking, talking and playing.

Developmental milestones are skills such as taking a first step, smiling or waving goodbye or the first time,

Most children reach specific milestones at around similar ages, and this is called ‘normal development’.

The 5 key areas of development:

  • gross motor skills, such as crawling, jumping or running
  • fine motor skills, such as writing and drawing
  • speech and language
  • cognitive (thinking and learning), such as counting or identifying shapes and remembering
  • social and emotional skills, such as playing with other children

Read more about child development:

  • in your Child Health magazines (from birth to 4 years)
  • Child development 3 - 4 years 
  • Child development 4 - 5 years 
  • Raising Children Network has lots more information on child development
  • Bright Tomorrows app gives you access to over 1,000 meaningful moments and tips to help build young brains
     

Why are the early years so important?

Your child’s early development is vital to their health and wellbeing throughout their whole life.

The quality of nurturing and support you provide in the early years will influence your child’s ability to learn, their behaviour, their ability to control emotions and their risks for disease later in life.

Children experience the greatest rate of development during their early years. The first 5 years of life are a critically important time in brain development. While connections in the brain are made throughout life, the rapid pace at which our brains develop in these first 5 years is never repeated.

What is developmental delay?

Developmental delay is when a child's skills and abilities in one or more areas are delayed compared with other children of the same age.

Developmental delays can reduce a child’s ability to communicate, learn, be mobile, live independently, make decisions and care for themselves.

Why is early intervention so important?

If we recognise developmental delay early, we can work together to give your child the opportunities and support to develop new skills.

Need help?

  • Your local child health nurse
  • Your family doctor
  • Ngala Parenting Helpline (8am–8pm everyday) 9368 9368 
Last Updated: 02/02/2024
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • YouTube

Footer menu

  • wa.gov.au
  • Copyright
  • Disclaimer
  • Privacy
  • Sitemap
  • Contact Us

Brought to you by the Department of Health, Western Australia

© Government of Western Australia 2018 to