9.  Did your child stand up and walk without crawling first?

If your child skipped crawling during his developmental years, there may be an association with crawling and later developmental issues.  You may wish to try crawling with your child 15 minutes a day for three months and see if there is a change (make it a game).

We know of one child who had skipped the crawling stage and was walking at 9 months.  Everyone thought that he was so advanced because he was walking at such an early age.  His parents were really pleased.  However, he was not speaking at 3 years old.  A friend told the mom about a show she had seen which noted that many autistic children skipped the crawling stage.  As part of their therapy, the autistic children were taught to crawl.  The family decided to crawl with their son.  They bought four sets of kneepads and everyone joined in the game.  Within a few months, the boy started speaking and had enough vocabulary that the family could then add further options to help him with other skills; at 5 years old, he is speaking at an age-appropriate level.