“Learn the Signs. Act Early.”
Children typically reach developmental milestones in how they play, learn, speak, act, and move by a certain age. Encouraging families to learn about and track their children’s milestones can help them support their growth and development. A well-functioning system of care can ensure families are educated about how children develop, engage them in monitoring, and promote positive parent-child interactions. Family-engaged developmental monitoring, as part of developmental surveillance, and screening for child and family strengths and needs must happen during clinical visits. When there are concerns about a child’s development, the system must be able to connect children and families to needed services and further consultation or care. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) “Learn the Signs. Act Early.” program has free tools to help build a well-functioning system.
The program’s collection of milestone checklists and other family-friendly tools helps providers and parents learn the signs of typical development from two months to five years old, monitor every child’s early development, and take action when there is a concern. The program aims to improve the early identification of developmental delays and disabilities by facilitating family-engaged developmental monitoring and promoting developmental screening so children and their families can get the early services and support they need.
Health care providers, home visiting staff, early care and education providers, WIC staff, and others who work with young children can promote and use these resources to engage, educate, and empower families. Materials are free; available in English, Spanish, and a variety of other languages; able to be printed or ordered online; and can be customized with local contact information.
CDC’s “Learn the Signs. Act Early.” resources include:
- Developmental milestone checklists (for ages 2 months to 5 years), booklet, brochure, and growth chart.
- Milestone Tracker mobile app (iOS and Android) with interactive, illustrated checklists, tips for supporting development, a sharable summary, and more.
- A one-hour online training for early care and education providers, titled Watch Me! Celebrating Milestones and Sharing Concerns, to learn how to monitor each child’s development.
- Concerned About Development? How to Help Your Child tip sheet to support parents when there is a development concern.
- Children’s books that entertain children and educate families about milestones.
- Additional resources to support developmental surveillance in primary care for health care providers serving young children and their families.
“Learn the Signs.
Act Early.”
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) • cdc.gov
CDC’s “Learn the Signs. Act Early.” materials facilitate family engagement in developmental surveillance for all children as recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics. Health care providers can use these free materials to help parents and caregivers track milestones between visits and provide guidance about steps to take if they have concerns.
How Health Care Providers Can Use “Learn the Signs. Act Early.” Materials in Their Practice
- Print and post the free Milestone Tracker app flyers in exam rooms.
- Encourage families to download the app, complete a checklist, and review the app’s milestones during and in between visits.
- Print and give the milestone checklists at every health maintenance visit.
- Checklists are available at 2 months, 4 months, 6 months, 9 months, 1 year, 15 months, 18 months, 2 years, 30 months, 3 years, 4 years, and 5 years.
- Checklists are also available in English, Spanish, Arabic, Brazilian Portuguese, Farsi, French, Haitian Creole, Hindi, Korean, Simplified Chinese, Somali, and Vietnamese.
- Add a web button to link the practice’s website to “Learn the Signs. Act Early.” resources.
- Share prepared social media content to promote developmental monitoring at home.
- Encourage colleagues to reference and disseminate the materials routinely.
- Reach out to your Act Early Ambassador as a source for tips on using “Learn the Signs. Act Early.” resources and related efforts across your state.
- Download this primer for health care providers to learn more about CDC’s “Learn the Signs. Act Early.” resources.
Developmental Surveillance vs Screening
Together, developmental surveillance and screening are more likely to identify the 1 in 6 children with a developmental disability than either one alone. Developmental surveillance is a continuous process that is recommended at least at every well-child/health supervision visit through early childhood. Developmental screening is done with validated screening tools with appropriate sensitivity and specificity at strategic time points in early childhood. (Note: “Learn the Signs. Act Early.” resources are not a substitute for validated screening tools.)
“Learn the Signs. Act Early.” provides developmental surveillance resources for health care providers, including this presentation to describe the difference between developmental surveillance and screening and to educate other providers on how to use CDC’s milestone checklists and improve early identification of developmental delay or disability.
Surveillance
Screening
- Ongoing/longitudinal at each well-child visit
- No scores/risk categories
- Can support screening
- Six components:
- Elicit concerns
- Obtain developmental history
- Assess strengths and risks
- Observe the child
- Document findings
- Obtain and share results
- Recommended at:
- 9, 18, and 30 months for general development
- 18 and 24 months for autism
- Also if there are concerns at other times or missed visits
- Validated screening tools
- Provides scores/risk categories
- Not diagnostic, but helps determine if evaluation is needed
- May be used to qualify for some state early intervention programs
