Developmental Delay: Early Intervention and Diagnosis of the Cause is Necessary and Required

Dr. Greg Vigna

Early MRI testing is critical for children with developmental delays and birth complications to identify or rule out hypoxic brain injury and plan care

SANTA BARBARA, CA, UNITED STATES, June 17, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- “Developmental delay is a descriptive term used when a child does not achieve expected developmental milestones compared to other children of the same age range. Hypoxic brain injury should be ruled in or ruled out early, using MRI with diffusion-weighted imaging and volumetric analysis," states Greg Vigna, MD, JD, Board Certified PM&R.

Dr. Greg Vigna, MD, JD, national birth injury attorney, states, “Some toddlers and children who were clearly hypoxic at birth may not meet the clinical diagnosis for cerebral palsy and are instead labeled as having 'developmental delay.' In these cases, objective diagnostic testing is necessary to rule out hypoxic brain damage with advanced MRI testing with diffusion-weighted imaging and volumetric analysis. These are serious injuries that need to be diagnosed."

What does the article, "Developmental delay: Identification and management at primary care level" describe in the Singapore Med J 2019: 60(3): 119-123?

“Developmental delay occurs when a child does not achieve developmental milestones in comparison to peers of the same age range. The degree of developmental delay can be further classified as mild (functional age < 33% below chronological age), moderate (functional age 34%–66% of chronological age) and severe (functional age < 66% of chronological age).”

Read: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6441684/pdf/SMJ-60-119.pdf

Dr. Vigna explains, “Domains include language, social, and motor development which may co-occur with intellectual disability and other disabilities, including autism spectrum disorders. Delays can be isolated or global.”

Dr. Vigna explains, “There is no justifiable reason to delay diagnostic testing for a toddler or child who showed red flag warning signs of hypoxic brain injury at birth. Clearly, every toddler or child with developmental delay who required therapeutic cooling after delivery should undergo early, objective testing which requires MRI with diffusion-weighted analysis and volumetric analysis. Any child who experienced hypoxic conditions due to a negligent delivery and now present with developmental delay should undergo early, objective testing. Early diagnosis allows for early treatment and advanced planning of future care."

What did Dr. Perciado report in her article published in Autism Research, “Prenatal exposure to hypoxic risk conditions in autistic neurotypical youth; Associated ventricular differences, sleep, disturbance, and sensory processing” (2024; 17:2547-2557)?

“Results from a cohort of 104 youth revealed a higher incidence of exposure to prenatal hypoxic conditions in the autism spectrum disorder (ASD) group.

Additionally, ASD individuals with prenatal hypoxic exposure demonstrated larger third ventricle volumes compared with both autism spectrum disorder and neurotypical control individuals without such exposure, respectively.

Furthermore, associations were identified between prenatal hypoxic exposure, third ventricle volume, sensory dysfunction, and severity of sleep disturbances. These findings suggest exposure to prenatal hypoxic risk conditions may exacerbate or modify the neurodevelopmental trajectory and symptom severity in ASD."

Read Dr. Perciado's article: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/aur.3250

Dr. Greg Vigna, MD, JD, national birth injury lawyer, states, “We are providing case evaluations for toddlers and children with a history of complicated deliveries, developmental delay, and a diagnosis of Level 2 or Level 3 autism. We have a Board-Certified Ob-Gyn to provide analysis of the prenatal care and delivery records. Red flags of hypoxic brain damage or hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) include 1) Neonatal encephalopathy, 2) Seizures, 3) Low APGARS, 4) Emergent C-section, 5) Hypotonia, 6) Acidosis, and 7) neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).”

Click here to read Dr. Vigna’s book, "The Mother’s Guide to Birth Injury".

Dr. Vigna is a California and Washington DC lawyer who focuses on neurological injuries caused by medical negligence, including birth injuries. He is Board Certified in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. Dr. Vigna co-counsels with Ben Martin Law Group, a national pharmaceutical injury law firm and birth injury lawyer in Dallas, Texas.

Click here to learn more: https://vignalawgroup.com/practice-areas/birth-injuries/

Greg Vigna, MD, JD
Vigna Law Group
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