Child Development: Interventions

by CDC

The early years of a child's life are crucial for cognitive, social and emotional development. Therefore, it is important that we take every step necessary to ensure that children grow up in environments where their social, emotional and educational needs are met.

Cost to society of less than optimal development are enormous and far-reaching. Children who grow up in environments where their developmental needs are not met are at an increased risk for compromised health and safety, and learning and developmental delays. Failure to invest time and resources during children's early years may have long term effects on the foster care, health care, and education systems. Therefore, it is in the public's interest to ensure that children develop in safe, loving, and secure environments.

Overview

What is Child Development?

Children grow, develop, and learn throughout their lives from birth and infancy to adulthood. A child's development can be measured through social, physical, and cognitive developmental milestones. If children fail to develop properly they may be unable to reach their full potential. However, healthcare professionals and parents can work together as partners to help children grow up healthy and strong.

Why be concerned if a baby shows signs of developmental delay? Won't she just grow out of it?

Developmental delays can have future negative effects on your child, which may lead to speech and language difficulties, behavioral problems and learning problems.

How can I prevent developmental delay in my baby?

There isn't one "right way" to prevent developmental delay. Consult a pediatrician for specific activities for your child. Some activities such as singing and reading to your child help to stimulate cognition and recognition of a mother's voice by her child.

What is early childhood intervention?

The intent of early child intervention is to lay a foundation, in conjunction with the family, to support infants as they grow and mature into healthy individuals. Healthy means the best possible outcome the physical, mental, and social functioning and well-being of an individual.

I have concerns that my child could have a developmental delay. Whom do I contact to get my child a developmental assessment in my state?

Consult your pediatrician if you have concerns about your child's development. An additional resource, the National Early Childhood Technical Assistance Center, lists early intervention programs by state. It is important to remember, however, that there is a range of what is considered normal development. Some babies may accomplish certain tasks or reach a specific developmental milestone sooner or later than others.

How is CDC working to improve child developmental outcomes?

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is committed to promoting optimal child health outcomes by preventing developmental delay and disabilities. Following is a description of our current programs.

Legacy for Children™ is a parenting intervention and research project that seeks to learn how to help children develop into happy, successful, and healthy individuals. Research shows that children are more likely to overcome challenges and obstacles when their parents are involved and committed to providing a safe, strong base of support. Through weekly group meetings, Legacy for Children™ aims to enhance the mother/child relationship by helping mothers to realize the importance of establishing a nurturing and responsive relationship with their child. The focus of group meetings is to foster each mother's sense of parental responsibility and feelings of competency as a parent.

The program is currently being implemented at the University of California, Los Angeles and at the University of Miami. For more information about Legacy for Children™, please click on the tab above.

Interventions

National and Multistate Intervention Programs Related to Developmental Screening

1. Bright Futures

The goal of Bright Futures is to respond to the current and emerging preventive health promotion of infants, children, and adolescents. It 1) develops and disseminates materials for health professionals and families to implement the Bright Futures approach, 2) fosters partnerships among families, health professionals, and communities, and 3) encourages family participation in health promotion and disease prevention activities. It has created guidelines for health supervision for infants, children, and adolescents (since 1995 more than 1.3 million copies of guidelines have been distributed), and it also builds on the guidelines by providing tools and resources for health care providers and families.

2. Child Find Demonstration Projects

Child Find is a continuous process of public awareness activities, screening, and evaluation. It is designed to locate, identify, and refer, as early as possible, all young children with disabilities and their families who are in need of early intervention (Part C) or preschool special education (Part B), as mandated through the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Each statewide Child Find system should include procedures for screening of health and development. Use of standardized, validated, accurate measures is highly recommended and informal detection methods (checklists, observations, review of milestones, or use of selected items on validated screening tools, etc.) are not. Some states encourage parents and caregivers to ask questions about a child's health or development that might lead to screening and/or evaluation.

There are six Child Find Demonstration Projects, five of which are relevant to DS, they are: Interagency Collaboration for Colorado Part C Child Find in Denver, CO; Strategies for Effective and Efficient "Keiki" (Child) Find (Project SEEK) in Honolulu, HI; Promoting Early Identification and Support for Families of Young Children: The Early Connections Project in Durham, NH; Dynamic Community Connections: A Process Model for Enhancing Child Find in Rural Areas in Missoula, MT; and Creating Partnerships between Pediatric Practitioners and Early Developmental Interventionists for Child Find (PEDI-Link) in Burlington, VT. Most of these projects work with health professionals and or intervention specialists.

About the Author

www.cdc.gov
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is one of the 13 major operating components of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which is the principal agency in the United States government for protecting the health and safety of all Americans and for providing essential human services, especially for those people who are least able to help themselves.