AIMS: To identify key developmental milestones between 12-45 months in children requiring special education later in life. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Data on 36 milestones (gross and fine motor skills, adaptive/personal/social behavior, communication) from the Dutch Development Instrument, education type and background characteristics were obtained for the years 2008- 2016 from the electronic health records of the Youth Health Care of the municipality of Utrecht. Education type was defined by regular primary school (group 1), special needs primary school (group 2), school for children with serious communication problems (deaf, specific language impairment, etc.) (group 3), school for children with cognitive or physical disability, or a chronic illness that makes it difficult to go to a regular primary school (group 4). Descriptive statistics and logistic regression analysis were performed. RESULTS: A total of 30,499 children in group 1, 653 in group 2, 338 in group 3, and 196 in group 4 had scored an average of 21 milestones (standard deviation: 10, range: 1-36). In groups 2 to 4, the adjusted (for visiting age, sex, gestational age and birth weight) odds ratio (adjOR) was ≤0.1 compared to group 1 for passing the milestones ‘Points at 6 parts of a body of a doll (24 months)’ (pass rates: 88%, 54%, 32%, 27% in resp. group 1-4), ‘Says sentences of 3 or more words (36 months)’ (pass rates: 97%, 74%, 38%, 37% in resp. group 1-4), ‘Speech is understood by acquaintances (36 months)’ (pass rates: 97%, 80%, 54%, 49% in resp. group 1-4), ‘Talks spontaneously on daily events (45 months)’ (pass rates: 98%, 85%, 61%, 52% in resp. group 1-4), and ‘Asks questions beginning by who, what, where and how (45 months)’ (pass rates: 98%, 85%, 53%, 40% in resp. group 1-4). Group 3 had 1 (communication) and group 4 had 21 (all domains) additional milestones with an adjOR ≤0.1. CONCLUSION: Early developmental delay, especially in communication, often occurs in children with special educational needs later in life.
21st EUSUHM (European Union for School and University Health and Medicine) Congress School and Adolescent Health Priorities - Rethinking, Redefining, Responding, 29th Sept-2nd Oct 2022, Split, Coratia, 123