Pediatric Neurology

My Daughter just turned 1 on April 15th. She has her 1 year well visit yesterday and her pediatrician has referred us to a pediatric neurologist for a possible developmental delay. I am confused because every developmental milestone chart has her right on schedule with every milestone except the fact that she's yet to pull herself up on things and doesn;t walk yet. She sits well on her own, army crawls, bangs objects together, feeds herself using pincer grasp, waves hello and goodbye, imitates our speech such as mama, dadda, ooh, ahh, baba and what not. I just don;t understand the cause for concern. Every site I read states that it is normal for children to not walk until 15 months of age. Please help! :)

[Neuro Forum]

Thanks for using the forum. I am happy to address your questions, and my answer will be based on the information you provided here. Please make sure you recognize that this forum is for educational purposes only, and it does not substitute for a formal office visit with your doctor.

Without the ability to examine your daughter and obtain a history, I can not tell you what the exact nature of the concerns is. However I will try to provide you with some useful information.

There are certain milestones that as you mention occur on average at a specific age, but some milestones can be delayed with there being an abnormality or underlying cause. Sometimes, since pediatricians see so many children and have an eye for what is normal and what MAY be abnormal, they pick up on things that a person that is not medically trained would not pick up on.

I can not tell you based on the description you provide above what the pediatrician was concerned about but discussion with your pediatrician as to what his/her specific concerns are is important. Evaluation for developmental delay is useful even if findings are subtle so that if a subtle delay is found, intervention with physical or speech therapy or other therapies can be done, and testing for causes if appropriate.

Thank you for this opportunity to answer your questions, I hope you find the information I have provided useful, good luck.