Dr. Dworkin: Informing the National Discourse

Dr. Paul Dworkin is the founder of Help Me Grow and Director of the Help Me Grow National Center. He writes a monthly blog updating state affiliates and the public regarding HMG at a national level. In the excerpt below, he shares positive news from a recent meeting of national leaders.

On March 5, 2013, Joanna Bogin and I had the honor of representing the Help Me Grow National Center when federal officials came together with community leaders in Washington, D.C., at a meeting hosted by the Center for the Study of Social Policy.

The focus of the meeting, titled “Community-Based Assessment, Services and Supports for Young Children,” on community pathways for early identification, referral, and linkage to developmental services and supports for young children led to a lively, productive discussion. While we look forward to sharing with you a comprehensive review of the dialogue, two aspects of the session merit special attention...

Finish reading here and check out Dr. Dworkin's entire blog here.

HMG Washington Video

Take 5 minutes and enjoy this powerful video from Help Me Grow Washington. Consider the impact HMG is having on families in central Alabama already!

 

Robin on Strengthening Families

Robin Mackey has worked with Alabama Partnership for Children (APC) for the past two and a half years and she coordinates Strengthening Families for the state. Prior to joining APC, Robin worked in a variety of settings with children, youth, and families as a licensed social worker. We posted about Strengthening Families back in January, but we wanted to hear Robin’s vision for the initiative...

Through my work at APC, I’ve been involved in communities across the state to implement the Strengthening Families Protective Factors framework within agencies and early care and education settings. I enjoy this work, and its connection to Help Me Grow, because I believe in the power of families. I see Strengthening Families and Help Me Grow as strategies which families can parlay into a customized support network.

Strengthening Families is not a program, but it is a framework of Protective Factors that can be embedded into any organization. The five Protective Factors are:
- Parental Resilience
- Social Connections
- Concrete Support in Times of Need
- Knowledge of Parenting and Child Development
- Social and Emotional Competence of Children

HMG services such as developmental screening and surveillance reinforce Strengthening Families Protective Factors within a family’s daily life. Help Me Grow provides a much needed in-road for families to access developmental screening, surveillance, and services. It promotes all five Protective Factors for families who engage with Help Me Grow, fortifying families, and extending the impact of the Strengthening Families Initiative.

If you have any questions, I hope you’ll contact me at rmackey@smartstartalabama.org or (256) 310-6621.

Harvard: Early Childhood Mental Health

The framework for stable mental health is constructed when we are all very young. As infants and toddlers form connections regarding people and the world around them, their mental health is developing. When there are unhealthy relationships or adverse experiences, a child's brain can be negatively impacted.

Harvard University's Center on the Developing Child continues to produce sound research to explain why it's important to protect all children's early life experiences. The newest publication in their InBrief series presents a solid case for why investing in young children's early development can help prevent many common problems in the future. The research presented supports the very core of Help Me Grow.

Learn more and download InBrief: Early Childhood Mental Health.

Help Me Grow in Central Alabama

Courtney Nix is the Program Manager for Help Me Grow Central Alabama (HMG-CA) and he works directly with each family connected to Help Me Grow. The Central Alabama site reaches five counties through United Way of Central Alabama: Blount, Jefferson, Shelby, St. Clair, and Walker. Courtney's been working hard to serve these communities. Read on to find out more about his work...

Alabama is in its infancy as a Help Me Grow state affiliate, so there is a lot of exciting development regionally and statewide. We have begun building a solid foundation by focusing on the following five goals:
1. Creating parent and physician brochures and other marketing materials
2. Building infrastructure: policies and protocols for data collection, processes for referrals, etc.
3. Training local pediatric offices in Help Me Grow
4. Data tracking and database management
5. Recruitment of new pediatric offices

Everything we are doing in the beginning stages of HMG-CA is focused on the four components of the Help Me Grow national model:
· Child Health Care Provider Outreach
· Community Outreach
· Centralized Telephone Access Point
· Data Collection

These components guide HMG-CA's emphasis on early detection and early intervention for children at risk of developmental and behavioral problems by using the ASQ-3 developmental screening tool. We provide and promote the use of this tool in medical homes, with child care providers, and to parents. HMG-CA is currently partnering with the Alabama Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics to reach out to physicians. This important collaboration is funded by the Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham.

We are also utilizing the 2-1-1 Connects Alabama resource database along with BeeLocal to assist us with connecting children and their families to local resources. In addition to building a great foundation for statewide expansion, we have begun intake for Help Me Grow cases. We currently have approximately 40 open cases. If you would like any additional information on Help Me Grow and how we can assist you or someone you know, please call 205-458-2070 or email HelpMeGrow@uwca.org.

Success By 6 & HMG

Beth Johns is an assistant vice president at United Way of Central Alabama and she leads the Success By 6 program. Take a look at what she has to say about her passion for young children and how she thinks Help Me Grow fits in Alabama.

Success By 6 is the umbrella for early childhood initiatives at United Way of Central Alabama covering 5 counties- Blount, St. Clair, Jefferson, Walker and Shelby. Since its inception, Success By 6 has worked with preschoolers in a variety of settings with our quality preschool initiative. One component of our work is developmental screening onsite and linking children to appropriate services in the home, community, school, and/or health system.

Before joining the team at Success By 6 as the part time Health and Developmental Specialist, I practiced in Alabama, Tennessee, and North Carolina as an occupational therapist. I personally saw the impact of late identification of behavioral or developmental issues on families who felt left behind by the system. This was an ongoing issue with the families I worked with and I was driven then and am now to link families to what they need and to assure children are identified and connected to services as early as possible.

For years, Success By 6  has provided child care provider training on child development, developmental screening, resources, and empowering the child care and early childhood professionals to trust their instincts based in experience. The Success By 6 team works with child care providers, families, and community service providers to identify children's developmental delays using Ages and Stages Questionnaire-3. The team then links them to preschool special education or community based services for further assessment and possible services.

Early identification is a priority at Success By 6 and we believe strongly that through Help Me Grow efforts in physician outreach, community outreach, data collection, and our centralized call center that assesses needs and connects resources, we will be able to reach MORE children and assure they have a great start in school and in life. We are thrilled to be the regional implementation site of Help Me Grow in Alabama and to help strengthen a system which enables children and families to be successful.

---

Do you have a question for Beth? Leave it in the comments or visit http://www.uwca.org/successby6/index.htm to find out more.

Congratulations, Alabama Act Early Ambassador!

Congratulations to Anna McConnell, State Autism Coordinator and new Alabama Act Early Ambassador! Anna is with the Alabama Department of Mental Health and serves as a leader on the Help Me Grow Alabama state team. We are very proud of Anna and excited about the Learn the Signs, Act Early materials and information that she will gain.

The Act Early Ambassador program is funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)  and the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), Maternal and Child Health Bureau.  The 15-month program allows Ambassadors to help promote the goals and objectives of Learn the Signs, Act Early (LTSAE), to improve early identification of autism and other developmental disabilities, to work closely with the LTSAE national program and Act Early Alabama state team, and to utilize and help promote the “Autism Case Training: A Developmental Behavioral Pediatrics Curriculum.”

This opportunity will make more resources available to further the progress that has already been made by the Act Early Team by continuing to strengthen and expand relationships with the medical community to improve developmental monitoring and to provide resources and training.  These activities are in line with the mission and charge of the Alabama Interagency Autism Coordinating Council (AIACC), which already participates in LTSAE initiatives.  Anna's ambassadorship will strengthen partnerships around the state, like Help Me Grow, as these initiatives continue to expand.