Make the First Five Count!

Easter Seals has launched an advocacy and awareness campaign called Make the First Five Count. A big thank you to Ellen over at Love That Max for bringing this campaign to my attention. The goal of this campaign is to get children at risk for developmental delays or disabilities the support that they need to be school ready.

As an early intervention provider, I am a huge proponent of intervening as early as possible. In my experience, children who start therapy early make great gains that I'm not sure they would have if they didn't receive intervention at a young age. It breaks my heart every time I evaluate a child who is about to turn three (when children age out of the state funded programs), knowing that the family has only a limited time to receive therapies.

I don't know how many times I've walked out of an assessment thinking to myself, "I wish this family had come in a year ago." So, if you've stumbled across this blog because you are concerned about your child's development, please head over to the Easter Seals website and check out their free developmental milestone screening, the Ages and Stages Questionnaire, Third Edition. This is a quick screen for children ages birth to age 5 and the results will help you see if your child's developmental progress is on time and alert you to any concerns that you should discuss with your child's healthcare provider.

Trust your parental instinct and get your child checked out if you are concerned. I can't stress enough how critical early intervention is.