Growth and development topics for General Physicians
How growth and development is tested
Written for DHA, SMLE, DOH, QCHP, OMSB, MOH, NHRA and Kuwait MOH — the same GP licensing mix, not a growth and development specialist paper.
These items are milestone ages, faltering growth, and when short stature is a disease rather than a small family.
Gross motor, fine motor, language and social streams are tested as “which is delayed.” Know the red-flag ages that trigger referral.
Failure to thrive is plotting, then organic vs non-organic. Puberty is Tanner and precocious vs delayed by sex.
Which milestone delay is most urgent?
Lost skills (regression) and a child who never sat or never developed any words by the expected red-flag age. Isolated late walking in a bottom-shuffler is a different stem.
How is FTT defined in MCQs?
Crossing centiles downward or weight far below length. The next step is history and a focused exam, not a 20-test shotgun on a well child with a small parent.
Precocious puberty — first split?
True central vs peripheral, and boys vs girls age cut-offs. Bone age and when to MRI are the follow-on, not a random karyotype first.
More Pediatrics subspecialties