*3.1.3 Developmental delays*

According to the Committee on Child Maltreatment Research, Policy, and Practice for the Next Decade: Phase II (2014), "children who have experienced abuse and neglect are at an increased risk for a number of problematic developmental, health, and mental health outcomes, including learning problems" [17]. The examples of the problems that the children experience include "inadequate attention and deficits in executive functions, problems relating to peers (example, peer rejection), internalising symptoms (example, depression, anxiety), externalising symptoms (example, oppositional defiant disorder, conduct disorder, aggression), and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)" [17]. As adults, these children continue to show increased risk for psychiatric disorders, substance use, serious medical illnesses, and lower economic productivity [17]. Dental professionals should therefore, be able to observe the delays in overall development that are not accounted for by parents or caregivers [17]. This includes both these social and behavioral signs that are noted here and that may be noticeable over a period of subsequent visits [17].
