This year’s Help Me Grow National Forum was the largest to date for our Help Me Grow National Center (National Center), which is based at Connecticut Children’s Medical Center in Hartford, Connecticut. More than 400 child health advocates gathered in Seattle from 29 states for the 3-day event. In 2017, 99 Help Me Grow systems…
Category: Child Development
Help Me Grow National Forum: The Inspiration Behind our Keynote Address
By: Kimberly Martini-Carvell The organizing, investing and curating of information, attendees and partners for the Help Me Grow National Forum is actualized by many. The Forum planning committee contributes significant energy and resources in informing and designing the content, while Help Me Grow National Center (National Center) staff works diligently to ensure that every opportunity…
Help Me Grow National Forum: An Opportunity to Advance a “Child-First” Agenda
By: Paul H. Dworkin, MD and Sharon Beaudoin As debate rages on as to how best reform our health care system, we ask, “What about our children?” It’s a question likely on the minds of the more than 400 child health advocates gathering in Seattle this week for the 9th annual Help Me Grow National Forum. This…
Engaging Early Childhood Providers to Improve Developmental Outcomes
By: Kimberly Martini-Carvell So often, community site visits between our Help Me Grow National Center staff and affiliates exploring and installing Help Me Grow (HMG) include a major focus on those tangible outcomes affiliates hope to achieve through the implementation of their HMG system. Regardless of the community, or the stakeholders engaged in the site…
“What Gets Measured Gets Done” Yet “We Measure What We Treasure”
By: Paul H. Dworkin, MD On February 7, 2018, I was excited to attend a convening organized by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation to identify strategies to build consensus about indicators and measures of child well-being. The eloquent title of the meeting reflected the daunting challenge of the task…
Time to Reframe our World View
By: Paul H. Dworkin, MD Spirited debate over immigration policy in our country and controversial comments attributed to our president regarding immigrants’ nations of origin have fueled intense concerns for the international reputation of the United States. Pundits lament a loss of global standing and prestige due to such policies and comments, as well as…
Groundbreaking Developmental Assessment Model Detailed in New Report
By: Lisa Honigfeld, PhD Mid-Level Developmental Assessment (MLDA) provides an improved way to assess developmental needs in early childhood. A new report from the Child Health and Development Institute (CHDI) highlights its successes in five communities in identifying and meeting the needs of children with mild to moderate developmental and behavioral problems. Initially developed by…
Developmental Screening and Referral: a Call for Careful Reflection
By: Paul H. Dworkin, MD Each month, I have the pleasure of meeting with first-year pediatric residents who are on their Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics rotation at Connecticut Children’s Medical Center. I employ a case-based approach to enhance their understanding of the process of developmental surveillance and screening and to strengthen their skills in the early detection…
Parent Health Beliefs, the Developmental Treatment Cascade, and the Need for Systems Thinking
By: Paul H. Dworkin, MD A recent research article in the journal, Pediatrics,1 as well as a related commentary in the same issue,2 caused me both comfort and concern. On the one hand, the research findings corroborated many of the key concepts regarding parents and their young children’s development that have informed our approach to…
Diffusing the Books, Balls and Blocks Innovation Across Connecticut
By: Von Jessee The Help Me Grow National Center is excited to bring a tested model that promotes optimal child development through age appropriate play to children and families in the Hartford area. Originally created by Help Me Grow Utah, the Books, Balls, and Blocks model is a fun and educational way to provide developmental…