Missing Milestones: Caregivers

Aired on Lifetime Television
February 24 and April 6, 2008
Show 507

Children who develop with disabilities often miss certain developmental milestones – it simply comes with the territory. Even things like rolling over, standing up, and walking can be affected or missed entirely. When you're the parent of a disabled child, you have to measure progress in a different way. No one knows that more than Madeline, whose 21-month-old son Jacob has Down's Syndrome. Milestones get missed, but the significance of that becomes more apparent when other children Jacob's age hit those milestones. Feelings of sadness or anger can well up in moments like those, but they must be balanced with the motivation to continue developing both your child and yourself. Leeza and Dr. Jamie discuss the difficulty of missing milestones when caregiving for a child with developmental delays. Expectations and milestones, however, don't have to be the same for everyone and unique situations like Jacob's have their own set of milestones. Educating yourself on those milestones and having the courage to chart your own course and your own timeline rather than succumb to the pressure of someone else's is the most important thing to remember.