The Pennsylvania Key is focusing on well-child visits – a routine, preventative check-up with a pediatrician or doctor to monitor a child’s physical, emotional, or social development – as a health trend.
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According to The Pennsylvania Key, well-child visits and vaccination rates are on the decline and the trend is worsening. A key driver of the trend is declining trust in government health agencies, medical institutions, and government officials.
Despite well-child visits being associated with fewer hospitalizations and emergency department use, children miss between 30% and 50% of well-child visits.
Many families struggle to access and utilize well-child preventative services in the community for the following reasons:
- Busy schedules, lack of transportation, or long wait times for appointments make it harder for working caregivers to prioritize well-child checkups.
- Uninsured families may prioritize immediate needs such as food and housing.
- Families who don’t immunize their children are also less likely to seek well-child care.
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that children receive 12 well-child visits during the first three years of life. The visits are considered during early childhood as an opportunity to identify and intervene on developmental risk or delay, maternal depression, and household social needs, including stable and safe housing.
The visits are important for all children, including children and youth with special health care needs who may also be under the care of specialists.
For more information on April’s health trend – well-child visits – visit The Pennsylvania Key’s website.
The Collaborative for Advancing Health Equity in Out-of-School Time (CAHE-OST) will kick off the 2024-2025 school year with a professional development opportunity for school staff and out-of-school time professionals.
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This webinar is designed to help professionals create international processes and partnerships to support youth with chronic health conditions.
Experts from the American Academy of Pediatrics, National Association of School Nurses, and the Collaborative for Advancing Health Equity in Out-of-School Time will share best practices and tools to tap into existing systems and supports. They will also discuss building relationships with student care teams, including parents, schools, and other health care providers. Another topic of discussion will be coordinating more effectively to promote the health, wellness, and safety of youth.
The webinar will provide for attendees:
- Increased awareness of how out-of-school time programs can partner with school health staff to support youth with chronic health conditions
- Examples from the field for how to build relationships that enhance warm handoffs and collaboration to increase student safety and support
- Access to tools and resources for creating processes and sharing information with the student’s care team, including schools, parents, and other health care providers
More Details
The webinar runs from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. ET on Aug. 22. Registration is now open.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) have revised developmental milestones for infants and young children in the Learn the Signs. Act Early. program, which helps parents identify autism and developmental delays in their children.
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According to a news release distributed by the CDC and the AAP, the previous developmental milestone checklists used 50th percentile, or average-age, milestones. Using this approach meant only half of children could be expected to achieve that milestone by that age. Thus, clinicians and families with concerns would at times choose a wait-and-see approach, leading to a delay in diagnosis.
The revised developmental milestones identify the behaviors that 75% or more of children can be expected to exhibit at a certain age based on data, developmental resources, and clinician experience.
Updates
Changes to the guidance include:
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Adding checklists for ages 15 and 30 months; now there is a checklist for every well-child visit from two months to five years.
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Identifying additional social and emotional milestones (e.g., Smiles on their own to get your attention, age four months).
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Removing vague language like “may” or “begins” when referring to certain milestones.
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Removing duplicate milestones.
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Providing new, open-ended questions to use in discussion with families (e.g., Is there anything that your child does or does not do that concerns you?).
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Revising and expanding tips and activities for developmental promotion and early relational health.
More Information
The process behind the revised milestones is detailed in an article titled “Evidence-Informed Milestones for Developmental Surveillance Tools” published in Pediatrics. Full resources and checklists are available on the CDC’s Learn the Signs. Act Early. page.
