Just curious - how is 'developmental delay' determined in toddlers?

[festivalwidow]

Posting this as I know a few people who have been told their DCs should be assessed for 'developmental delay' at aged between 2 and 5. I know there are some fairly obvious warning signs for babies (not appearing to hear or see properly for instance) but not quite sure what they look for in older toddlers.
All of the ones I know who have been flagged for assessment seem perfectly happy kids who can do most things for themselves like reprogam their poor parents' Sky+ to record CBeebies, but I only have a small DD so not sure what's 'normal' IYSWIM. Just feeling for some of the parents who are finding it all quite upsetting, and wondered how these things are determined?

It goes by a whole range of things! My dd had some gross motor development delay as she still couldn't roll over at 10 monthe and didn't walk til 19 months. The oter kids may have been referred due to poor speech, poor gross or fine motor (can't jump or can't hold a pen/do a puzzle), cognitive development or social skills. It all depends really on where they fall behind, a small lag is ok but a bigger one is more worrying

I'd be interested in this too, since I'm starting to get concerned about my 19 month old son. He's only just started walking and hasn't started talking yet.

All the mums i know are bragging about how their younger babies are doing everything already. At what point should I take him to the doctors for investigation? This has been a constant worry for me as I've not had kids before and not sure how things work.

Development milestones are only an indicator of a child's development at a particular stage. Every child is different and will met milestones at different rates.

Litha - is ur son make noises, copying sounds, pointing to what toys etc he wants. Talking can start as early as a year or as late as 2. If u have concerns then speak to ur health visitor.
Some children are quicker at getting one milestone and slower at another.
For children of a year normal would be consider to be pulling themselves up on furniture, crawling, reaching for toys, starting to feed themselves with finger food, making noises and starting to speak a few words. BUT many children have not achived all of this at one as they all develop at different rates. Children have a great deal of learning to do between the age of birth and 3 and at this stage an assesment of development delay is difficult to make unless there is an obvious problem.
My son didn't walk till he was about 19 months - he was a fast crawler - but my daughter never crawled and walked at 14 months. HTH x

Litha I only know the answer about language.
He should be able to do lots of imitating.
plus he should understand quite a lot of things you say to him
plus he should be able to show intiative to explain what he wants - not by talking but by, for instance, pointing at what he wants or dragging you to it then pointing to it and checking you've noticed.