A well-child developmental assessment of a 3 year old girl reveals that she is able to dress herself and pedal a tricycle; however, her vocabulary skills consist of “mama”, “dada”, and “doggie”. You would classify
her development as:
A. Constitutional developmental delay
B. Completely normal
C. Developmental deviancy
D. Developmental dissociation
D. **Developmental dissociation**
This term describes the child’s uneven development, where motor skills are advanced, but language is significantly delayed. This gap between abilities in different developmental areas characterizes developmental dissociation, suggesting a need for further evaluation.