# GDD- what does it mean as they get older?



## emyandpotato

Got CCed in to a letter from the paediatrics team in my old area to my new one. The old paediatrician refers to Rory as "a child with with a severe speech delay [I knew this] and a general developmental delay". I mean, I knew this, but I hoped I was wrong and that his general development was delayed due to his speech problems, so now I feel weird. I'm wondering what it means for Rory later on? Will he always have difficulties throughout his life? Does a GDD mean they won't just grow out of their difficulties and eventually catch up?


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## Thurinius

How old is your son?


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## emyandpotato

Three.


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## Feathers

Global Development Delay is a blanket term really which means they have a few areas of developmental delay on their assessment forms. I'd guess how it will affect him in future depends on the cause / how he progresses? Some children do catch up, others struggle more and don't. Have they offered any support to help?


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## emyandpotato

The letter wasn't to me but it did suggest further tests, though not sure what these would be.


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## Feathers

I'd ask next time you see them to clarify what was meant. DD has GDD and has had since she was younger, around 18 months. She's had a lot of people see her and diagnostic play sessions and support since that time. Maybe they are looking for a reason for your little one to have GDD. 
It's difficult with children who are behind because no-one has an answer for you on their future prognosis and it's really really worrying. All you can do is take it a day at a time and try and get the best support for your child.
You can always contact your Paed and ask them to clarify for you before your appointment?


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## Thurinius

Agree with feathers. I should ask them where they think he is behind along with his speech and what tests they'd like to do.
It's very difficult to say with gdd, because children do develop all,differently at different rates that the professionals like to wait till as late as possible before looking for other causes. I understand your worry though xxxx


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## RachA

Did they use the term "global' development delay or a 'general' development delay? These two things are different (as far as i'm aware anyway).

Esther doesn't have a global delay apparently as her motor skills and social skills aren't as severe as her speech but she does have a general delay.

If Rory has a general delay then i'm assuming its along the same lines as Esther. The way it goes with Esther is that her speech is 18months behind. Her motor and social skills are around 12 months behind. The social skills part is as a direct consequence to her lack of speech. As her speech is improving her social skills are too. At 3 she could not initiate play with another child and her boundaries were not existent. At 5 she will initiate play, although it very much depends on the child because she children are more response to her lack of words than others are. Her boundaries are still lacking but isn't does have some.
As her speech improves and as she gets older the gap between her and her peers will become less pronounced.

IRO her motor skills - this is now showing itself in a lack of pencil control. She has just learnt to write an e for her name but that is it at the moment. Again as she gets older the gap between her and her peers will get much less.


As far as I'm aware a global delay is slightly different as it's possible that a lo will not improve as much as a child that is only slightly delayed. Having said that being behind by 18 months at 3 is a huge thing whereas, as long as the gap doesn't widen, an 18 month delay at 18 is almost not noticeable.


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## mummy3

There's no answer to this really, it all depends on if there's a cause (genetics etc) and then the therapies offered and when.

3 of mine have global delay, turns out the motor delays are hypermobility/low tone and CP(just for the youngest) related. All 3 have speech delay (6,3, 17m) and 2 it turns out have ASD also. For us its genetic, although we haven't narrowed down the reason ASD is in there. 

Therapy helps so much as does just monitoring their progress via reports etc, seeing an up trend even if its slower. 

When did Rory turn 3? My 3 year old is 4 in march, she is about 25% understandable in speech, with a couple attempts at 2 word utterances but just a year ago was non verbal, having had a full speech and sound regression at about 15ish months. Next to another 3 year old its glaringly obvious she is way behind but on her progress reports you can see a different picture. Letter aside, what have you seen progress wise as his mum? 

Tests, usually some talks of genetic tests, sometimes MRI and/or blood tests. 

You are right about speech delay affecting general delay, the frustration for a start affects their behavior, temper tantrums! Then there's the aspect where the social/emotional development cant progress as 'normal' because if you cant communicate vocally when your peers are then you're going to avoid or at least have a lot more difficulty. 

My 6 year old with global delay is academically ahead now and aside from taking EVERYTHING literally he has normal vocabulary, his speech therapy is for pragmatic language delay. He had 1 word at 3. Motorwise, his EDS is severe so that's still years behind but known cause. 

Keep on looking into the cause of Rory's delays and don't be afraid to ask questions:hugs: We're all here for you:hugs:

Btw, my 6 year old son's name is Ruaridh, Scottish Rory, you have good taste:winkwink:


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## emyandpotato

RachA said:


> Did they use the term "global' development delay or a 'general' development delay? These two things are different (as far as i'm aware anyway).
> 
> Esther doesn't have a global delay apparently as her motor skills and social skills aren't as severe as her speech but she does have a general delay.
> 
> If Rory has a general delay then i'm assuming its along the same lines as Esther. The way it goes with Esther is that her speech is 18months behind. Her motor and social skills are around 12 months behind. The social skills part is as a direct consequence to her lack of speech. As her speech is improving her social skills are too. At 3 she could not initiate play with another child and her boundaries were not existent. At 5 she will initiate play, although it very much depends on the child because she children are more response to her lack of words than others are. Her boundaries are still lacking but isn't does have some.
> As her speech improves and as she gets older the gap between her and her peers will become less pronounced.
> 
> IRO her motor skills - this is now showing itself in a lack of pencil control. She has just learnt to write an e for her name but that is it at the moment. Again as she gets older the gap between her and her peers will get much less.
> 
> 
> As far as I'm aware a global delay is slightly different as it's possible that a lo will not improve as much as a child that is only slightly delayed. Having said that being behind by 18 months at 3 is a huge thing whereas, as long as the gap doesn't widen, an 18 month delay at 18 is almost not noticeable.

Thanks, this is really helpful! It said general delay, not global, I didn't even know they were different! Rory and Esther sound quite similar actually. I didn't think of it as him just always been 18 months or so behind, I just see all the other children being so advanced and kind of assumed he'd never manage to be on par with them, but you're right, 18 months is no big deal in the long term.


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## sequeena

I think it really varies on an individual basis. As Rory has a general delay I think he has a really good chance of catching up with help. I really hope that is the case :thumbup: it's worrying when you see things written that haven't been discussed with you :(

Thomas is globally delayed. He's delayed in every area of development, is a year old mentally and is referred to as mentally r*tarded. (his IQ is the lowest it can get). He's gone from 1 year behind, to 18 months, to 2 years. His Paed can't be sure that he's regressing yet.

I think for Thomas he will never truly catch up and I do believe the developmental gap will widen. 

I think we'll be told he has learning disabilities when he's 5 as I don't think GDD is a term used for over 5 year olds.


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## mummy2o

I don't know as DS 7 still has GDD. So maybe its different across the bridge. With DS though, he has improved, but still behind. He can now more or less get dressed and undressed although he'll look really scruffy! He can now jump off things which was impossible at 4/5, he can hold a pen and write big letters only. As in big I mean half the page big, but a few years ago he would just do scribbles. His speech and reading this year is his biggest improvement since September even and prior to that it was around 3/4 year olds now its on the lower end of a 6 year old. So its a bit hard to say how far someone will come one as every child is different and all progress at different rates. Just nurture the child and encourage him to do the more tricky stuff as well as working on his strengths.


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