Building Healthy Children and Strong Families: Increasing Access to Early Developmental Screening and Early Intervention

Description

Evaluates the early identification of child developmental delays and the implementation of intervention services that optimize child and family well-being in Hennepin County, Minnesota.

One in four young children are at risk for a developmental delay. Early childhood screening provides access to early intervention, and a valuable opportunity to intervene during a critical period of brain development.

Early intervention is key to strong educational outcomes. Early intervention positively changes a child's developmental trajectory and improves outcomes for children and families. Without intervention, delays contribute to educational underachievement and disparities.

A vital component of early intervention is family engagement. Family engagement begins early and is a key ingredient in educational success. Yet families in many diverse communities are not engaged in early intervention, and many children remain unscreened and unconnected to early intervention. A need exists to increase access to early screening and intervention, with a focus on engaging diverse families.

This project is funded by a Hennepin-University Collaborative Grant and the objectives of the Hennepin-University Partnership are:

1. Evaluate current Hennepin County screening rates and follow up for early intervention services

2. Evaluate family perspectives on early screening/intervention including cultural/contextual factors in access

3. Determine impact of parent-to-parent navigator model on family engagement and participation in early screening and intervention follow up.

This project was archived on 11/18/2021

Contact

Jennifer A Hall-Lande

Director

Jennifer A Hall-Lande, Karen Adamson

Funder

Hennepin-University Partnership

Collaborators

Hennepin County [MN]

Staff