A short transcript excerpt from a YouTube video by Ming @ Agents of Speech discussing how focusing solely on hitting developmental milestones can be limiting. Ming argues that milestones are probabilistic guides (e.g., 90% attain by an age) and warns against treating surface symptoms (like producing three-word sentences) rather than underlying language skills such as vocabulary, grammar, and sentence structure.
Don't just think about treating milestones. I need hit. This is my goal. I want them to do this. No child ever put their hand up when they're born and it's like oh, I'm going to be delayed, right? I'm going to not hit milestones and stuff. And milestones are what people set anyways. If you read the fine patterns, 90% of children should attain these skills by age, whatever. It's a should, not must. And those skills are what we deem important in the world. There's a reason why we do things. Okay? If we only think about how to teach a child to say three word sentences then you will only get three word sentences, right? You're not thinking about whether you're increasing the number of vocab. You're not thinking about whether they understand the grammar, the sentence structures. You're not thinking about that. Then if you treat symptoms, all you get is better symptoms.
