Importance of a Developmental Assessment of Children and Adolescents Essay

An assessment basically refers to a structured evaluation of the development of a child in terms of language, physical, social, intellectual and emotional perspectives. Therefore, it maps the performance of a child in comparison to that of children of a similar age (Sadock, Sadock & Ruiz, 2014).  A developmental assessment provides knowledge on the loss of skills that a child had previously acquired which can be a red flag and an indicator for a more detailed assessment. Importance of a Developmental Assessment of Children and Adolescents Essay. It also helps to know about the concern of a parent regarding his/her child, identifying possible health risks and protective factors. If a developmental assessment identifies potential developmental issues, further medical or developmental evaluation can be conducted using various screening tools (Thapar, et al, 2015). A developmental assessment also provides a platform for a therapist to educate parents on monitoring a child’s development. Therefore, parents become aware of developmental milestones, can closely observe their children and inform on any concerns. This can be fulfilled through milestone checklists towards evaluations and intervening if any concerns are noted.