Q: My eight months old daughter has developmental delays especially her eyes. She cannot see things clearly / follow up with her eyes. The doctor told us that her eyes are all right and it just has delays like other overall development. Apart from her eyes, size of her brain is bit small and is still below 5 percentile. How can my daughter’s developmental delays be managed?

A:The child has global developmental delay, microcephaly and is not fixing or tracking. The fact that there is no dysfunction of the eyes indicates that she should be checked for cortical visual impairment (damage to the occipital lobes) by an MRI scan of the brain. It is not possible to give you specific treatments on a brief description of her problems. Neurological and developmental assessment is a highly specialised area. I would advise you to meet your child neurologist to determine - what are the disabilities affecting the child, what is the cause for these disabilities, is there a cure; if not then what therapies will help the child, and what will be the ultimate outcome?