Resources:
Below is an excellent site on pediatric developmental screening.
Learn The Signs. Act Early: Information For Health Care Providers From The Centers For Disease Control. This site has information for doctors and nurse practioners on pediatric developmental screening. What follows is from the site:
Using CDC’s Learn the Signs. Act Early. materials in your practice can:
- Help you meet the American Academy of Pediatrics’ (AAP) recommendation for developmental surveillance at each health supervision visit.
- Prepare families to provide more accurate responses to validated developmental screeners recommended by the AAP.
- Lay a foundation for engaged and efficient conversations with families about developmental progress or concerns.
- Aid in early identification of the 1 in 6 children with a developmental delay or disability so they can benefit from early intervention services shown to improve skills, abilities, future school performance, and later success in life.
Healthcare providers can ensure children with developmental delays and disabilities receive the help they need at the time that intervention is most effective by:
- Performing developmental surveillance at each health supervision visit and encouraging parents to monitor milestones between visits;
- Provide Milestone checklists as anticipatory guidance; ask families to complete the checklists before each health supervision visit to facilitate developmental surveillance discussion
- Welcome newborns with a Milestone Moments booklet; refer to it at every health supervision visit
- Print and post a free flyer encouraging families to use CDC’s Milestone Tracker app to track and quickly share developmental progress at visits
- Making connections with childcare providers, directly or through parents, to encourage use of these resources so they can share additional information with you about a child’s developmental progress.
- Conducting developmental screenings and autism-specific screenings as recommended by the AAP using a validated screening tool; and
- Referring children with concerning screening results for further evaluation AND to your state’s early intervention services (www.cdc.gov/FindEI).
Share Materials with Families
Most materials are available in English and Spanish, many in simplified Chinese, Vietnamese and Korean, some in other languages. Provide customized resources by adding your practice’s logo and contact information. Request customizable files from ActEarly@cdc.gov and print them in your office.
- FREE materials: print or order (in limited quantities) in English and Spanish.
- Promote CDC’s FREE Milestone Tracker app for families by printing a flyer for your clinic.
- Use a web button to link your practice website to “Learn the Signs. Act Early.”
Resources for Developmental Surveillance and Screening
- Early Intervention
View early intervention contact information by state.- STAR Center
Visit American Academy of Pediatrics’ Screening Technical Assistance and Resource Center for information on screening tools, practice resources, and technical assistance.- Birth to 5: Watch Me Thrive!
View the healthcare provider guide that addresses how to talk with parents, where to go for help and includes the Compendium of Screening Measures for Young Children to select the most appropriate screening tool for the population served, and a Screening Passport to print and use with families.- Comprehensive Toolkit
This toolkit was developed by CDC and AAP to assist providers with implementing a MOC part 4 project on developmental surveillance and screening in the office.- Developmental Screening
Access information on developmental screening for health care providers from CDC. Includes information on how to incorporate screening into your practice, research, interventions, and more.- American Academy of Pediatrics Clinical Reports
- Identifying Infants and Young Children with Developmental Disorders in the Medical Home: An Algorithm for Developmental Surveillance and Screening
- Identification and Evaluation of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder – detailed information on signs and symptoms of ASDs and an algorithm for autism screening.