In the children's rehabilitation treatment area, nurses are taking children to do sensory integration training.

Doctors do a physical exam to assess your child's development

Nurses exercise children's language and cognitive abilities through one-on-one training.

Child stunting refers to children under the age of 6 who fall significantly behind their peers in terms of movement, perception, language, cognition and behavior. For example, children with developmental delays may still be toddlers and have difficulty completing more complex movements when other children of the same age have already demonstrated good limb coordination. In terms of language development, there are problems such as slurred speech, communication difficulties, etc.

In the short term, developmental delay may make it difficult for children to adapt to group life in kindergarten; In the long run, future academics, social skills, and the ability to live independently will all be affected. How can we scientifically help children with developmental delays to "catch up" with their peers? In the daily parenting process, what details can be used to find clues related to developmental delays? With these questions, recently, the reporter came to the Children's Health Care Department of Nanping Maternal and Child Health Hospital for an interview.

Affected by multiple factors

In the children's physical examination room of Nanping Maternal and Child Health Hospital, doctors are examining the body of a 1-year-old child, and judging whether the child has developmental delay by tracking objects, grasping reactions, gross motor development and other items.

Yan Hong, chief physician of the Child Health Department of Nanping Maternal and Child Health Hospital, told reporters that there are many reasons for stunting in children, and genetic factors play a key role in them. "If there are certain genetic diseases in the family, such as chromosomal abnormalities, monogenic genetic diseases, etc., they may be passed on to the child and affect their normal development." Yan Hong introduced that children with Down syndrome will have obvious mental retardation and growth and development disorders, and they often lag far behind their peers in the development of cognition, language and motor ability.

The health of the mother during pregnancy can also affect the development of the child. If a pregnant woman smokes or drinks heavily during pregnancy, harmful substances will enter the fetus through the placenta and interfere with the normal cell division and the development of tissues and organs of the fetus. In addition, infection with certain viruses during pregnancy, such as rubella virus and cytomegalovirus, may also cause damage to the development of the fetal nervous system, which may lead to developmental delay after birth. If a pregnant woman suffers from severe diabetes during pregnancy and poor blood sugar control, it will cause the fetus to be in a hyperglycemic environment for a long time, causing the fetus to overgrow and develop into macrosomia, and it may also cause fetal asphyxia and damage to cranial nerves during delivery.

Babies need nutritional support after birth, relying on a constant supply of "fuel" for brain development. If breastfeeding is not possible for various reasons, and the right milk substitute is not selected, the baby may develop iron deficiency anemia, zinc deficiency and other problems, long-term malnutrition will not only slow down the growth of height and weight, but also hinder brain development, resulting in slow response and cognitive development.

"The lack of external stimuli in the growing environment can also limit a child's development. This condition is most often found in cases of elderly people with children, who have problems with poor development of perception, language, and cognitive abilities. Yan Hong found in the diagnosis and treatment work that many children are not able to speak when they are more than a month old, and the reason is not congenital factors, but that some elders only pay attention to food and clothing when they take children, and lack the awareness of physical and verbal interaction, which makes it difficult for children to fully exercise their abilities in all aspects, which is ultimately reflected in poor language expression skills.

Yan Hong said that stunting in children is the result of a variety of factors. Only by having an in-depth understanding of these factors can we take scientific and effective measures to prevent and intervene in children for stunting, from pre-pregnancy preparation, pregnancy health care, to careful nurturing and care of babies after birth.

Catch abnormal signals in your life

Delay in speaking is "wise and foolish", children who do not listen to parents' instructions are "mavericks", and children who do not cry after injections are "emotionally stable...... Some parents do not have enough awareness of child developmental delay, and often miss the best period of rehabilitation treatment and delay treatment. In fact, these "abnormalities" may suggest that the child has developmental delays.

For example, some children with language delay may not make any sounds at the age of 30 to 0 months, cannot consciously call "Daddy" or "Mommy" by the age of 0 months, and cannot speak two- to three-word phrases by the age of 0 months; Children with delayed cognitive development often have poor learning and cognitive skills, difficulties in understanding and solving problems, and have manifestations such as not recognizing people, dull expressions, unable to imitate movements, and no eye contact when communicating. Children with delayed social and emotional development have difficulty getting along with others, they may not know how to interact and share, they may not respond appropriately to the emotions and behaviors of others, they may not be interested in the games of their peers, or they may have high mood swings and difficulty integrating into group activities.

For parents, early detection of developmental delay is a crucial step in helping children start their recovery in time. This requires parents to carefully observe their children's growth and development in daily life and learn to recognize the signs of stunting.

Comparing yourself to your peers is a simple and effective way to do this. Parents can pay attention to their children's development at all ages, such as raising their heads, turning over, sitting, climbing, standing, walking and other gross movements, as well as fine movements such as grasping objects, whether they are significantly behind their peers. For example, if a child is not able to raise his head after 9 months of birth, and cannot sit alone at 0 months, these may be signs of motor delay and need attention. Parents should also pay attention to the subtle changes in their children, such as facial posture, feeding situation, sleep patterns, emotional reactions, etc.

Regular child health check-ups are also an important way to detect stunting in children at an early stage. The doctor will evaluate the child's developmental level based on the child's height, weight, head circumference and other indicators, and give corresponding recommendations. "According to the Guidelines for Outpatient Visits to Children's Health Clinics, infants and young children under the age of 6 need to have a physical examination every 0 or 0 months; Children aged 0 to 0 should have a physical examination every six months; Children aged 0 to 0 are required to have a medical check-up once a year. Yan Hong introduced that physical examination includes routine physical development examination, growth and development monitoring and neurodevelopment screening, etc., which can detect children's behavioral, nutritional and intellectual problems as soon as possible.

In addition to the above-mentioned speech, cognition, and social interaction, children's developmental delay also includes physical development, motor development, intellectual development and other directions, which require parents to observe carefully and abandon the luck psychology of "sooner or later to catch up". Once early abnormal signals are detected, medical attention should be sought in time and intervention and treatment should be carried out. "Every child is a unique individual, and the rate of development can vary from person to person." Yan Hong reminded parents and friends that when identifying developmental delays, they should consider multiple factors, follow the scientific advice of doctors, and avoid excessive anxiety or ignoring the real situation of their children.

Early intervention is particularly important

"Zhouzhou, you run slower and go back to the music room with the teacher." In the children's rehabilitation treatment area, Zhang Guidi, the deputy chief nurse, was anxiously chasing a small figure and shouting. The small figure was Zhouzhou, and I saw him like a frightened deer, staggering but stubbornly rushing forward. Zhang Guidi took a lot of effort to hold him into her arms. Zhou Zhou was reluctant to go back to the classroom, but he didn't open his mouth to express it, but his body struggled desperately and twisted, and his two little hands waved wildly, hitting Zhang Guidi's shoulder. After a while, fine beads of sweat appeared on Zhang Guidi's forehead, but her eyes were only full of patience and gentleness.

After understanding, the reporter learned that Zhouzhou was an abandoned baby and also suffered from mild autism. Although he is 2 years old, he looks about the same size as a 0-year-old child, and is a typical developmental delay. Under the careful care and leadership of the staff of the welfare home, Zhouzhou came to Nanping Maternal and Child Health Hospital every three or five days for rehabilitation training.

In order to help Zhouzhou, the doctors carefully evaluated him and developed a series of scientific and comprehensive training courses for him, including language ability, social ability and sensory integration training. "When Zhouzhou first arrived, he was extremely emotionally unstable, often crying and fussing, and was full of resistance to rehabilitation training." Recalling the situation when she first came into contact, Zhang Guidi couldn't help frowning slightly. But it is gratifying that after this period of unremitting rehabilitation training, Zhouzhou has made significant progress. Now he is more focused, and he can slowly understand the meaning of the nurse's words. These little bits and pieces of progress have laid a solid foundation for him to be able to enter the classroom smoothly in the future and learn with normal children.

In the early years, well-designed and purposeful educational activities stimulate the development of the child's senses and nervous system. With early intervention, many children with developmental delays are able to catch up with normal developmental levels to some extent. "However, all rehabilitation is not achieved overnight." Zhang Guidi told reporters earnestly that each child has a different degree of stunting, and the training method and duration are also different. This requires not only solid professional knowledge from doctors and nurses, but also tireless guidance for children.

In recent years, in order to meet the diversified needs of the masses, the Department of Pediatric Care of Nanping Maternal and Child Health Hospital has expanded a number of children's rehabilitation services, which can not only provide rehabilitation treatment for children with autism, mental retardation and language delay, but also intervene for children with learning difficulties or ADHD.

今年1月，南平市婦幼保健院被確立為南平市殘疾兒童康復救助服務協定管理機構。這意味著，在該院接受康復治療的未成年孤獨症患者，每月可領取1800元的康復補助費用；被診斷為孤獨症、發育遲緩、智力障礙等兒童康復特殊病種的兒童，每年可享受7500元的特殊病種醫保報銷待遇，有效減輕了患兒家庭的經濟負擔。

In order to make the treatment more accurate and efficient, the department has also purchased advanced rehabilitation diagnosis and treatment equipment such as transcranial magnetic stimulation instrument, EEG biofeedback therapy instrument, emotional behavior intervention instrument and sensory integration training equipment to provide comprehensive, professional and personalized rehabilitation services for special children.