Washington Looks to Help Kids Grow

Washington has incorporated a new resource for families called "Help Me Grow." This is a national network that helps states implement state-wide planning and implementation of behavioral and developmental screenings. Twenty-three states are currently affiliates.

Between 12 and 16 percent of all American children experience developmental, behavioral and/or emotional delays or problems. In Washington, 1 in 6 children face a delay by age 18--50 percent of children with a delay are not identified before school.* Experts and the Washington State Department of Early Learning agree that early detection and connection to services lead to the best outcomes for children with such challenges.

"Help Me Grow" provides:

• Child health care provider outreach
• Community outreach
• Centralized telephone access points to connect families to services
• Data collection

What does Help Me Grow Washington offer families?

• Free developmental screening for all kids under 5 (no waiting lists or income requirements)
• Activities and games that support healthy growth and learning
• Community resources like parenting classes, medical clinics, and food banks
• Referrals for further evaluation and early intervention services

How Can Developmental Screening Help My Child?

Often, the signs are hard to see, even for a professional. Screening all kids regularly is the best way to catch delays early, when intervention is most effective. Even for families with kids developing on track, screening is a fast, flexible and fun way to learn about what’s coming next and what you can do to encourage healthy growth!

The Ages and Stages Questionnaire

To screen kids Help Me Grow Washington uses a survey tool called the Ages and Stages Questionnaire (ASQ). This tool can be accessed easily online by clicking the link above. Developmental screening cannot give you a diagnosis; however it can show you if your child is developing more slowly than kids in the same age group.

The ASQ covers 5 areas of development:

• Communication – how kids use language
• Gross Motor – how kids move their bodies
• Fine Motor – how kids use their hands
• Problem Solving – how kids interact with their world
• Personal-Social – how kids calm themselves down

When using the ASQ:  Based on your child’s age, you will be asked about your child’s ability to complete certain activities, such as “Can your child stand on one foot?” When you’ve tried each of the items with your child, submit your answers online. The expert staff will score the ASQ and contact you with results within one week. They will also give you suggestions for games and activities to do with your child to practice emerging skills. They will send another screen every 3-6 months, so you can continue to learn about and support your child’s growth.

If you have questions or want to learn more about it first, please call the Family Health Hotline at 1-800-322-2588.

*Citations for this article are courtesy of the Washington State Department of Health. For more information regarding developmental delay statistics, please click here: Screening Brief. Other data is courtesy of WithinReach's ParentHelp123.

For more information about DEL's role in developmental screening, check out the Early Support for Infants and Toddlers page at del.wa.gov. 

Summer To-Do List: Consider Kindergarten Readiness

 Many WA children are looking forward to their first year of kindergarten at the end of this summer. They will meet new people, spend time in a new classroom and learn new rules. As a parent or caregiver, you can help your child start kindergarten ready to succeed. In their earliest years, children can learn and develop so much--simply through playing, exploring and reading with a parent. 

The Department of Early Learning (DEL) believes that school readiness is about much more than whether a child is ready. Many people have a role to play in ensuring children enter kindergarten ready to learn. Kindergarten readiness is achieved when children, schools, parents and families, and communities are prepared.

DEL has committed to working with our private partner, Thrive WA, and the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction to support families, parents, schools and communities in helping children succeed in kindergarten and beyond.

The Washington Kindergarten Inventory of Developing Skills (WaKIDS) helps ensure that children in Washington get a great start in kindergarten. WaKIDS is a development tracking system created to help early learners, families and educators work together, learn about children's strengths, and share information with the pre-kindergarten communities in Washington. To learn more about the program, go visit the WaKIDS page online or watch the WaKIDS video. 

According to WaKIDS standards, children who are ready to enter kindergarten show signs of development in several areas. The following are small examples of how your child might be showing signs of kindergarten readiness. 

• Social-emotional
• Example: your child might be able to easily join other children at play, and play cooperatively.
• Physical
• Example: your child is able to throw a ball or other objects, trap a thrown ball against his or her body, and/ or kick a ball forward by stepping or running up to it.
• Language
• Example: your child may be able to name the cow, horse, chicken, pig, sheep and goat as he or she sees them on a trip to the farm and is beginning to be more descriptive, such as “The red barn had three sheep inside.”
• Cognitive
• Example: your child is able to ask for a solution and use it like asking another child to hold his cup while he or she pours. 
• Literacy
• Example: your child recognizes and can say words that repeat sounds, he or she may repeat the “b” sound by singing, “I’m bringing home a baby bumble bee.” Your child is beginning to be able to identify sound patterns: “Max and Maya… our names start the same!”
• Mathematics
• Example: your child is able to combine and separate up to five objects and describe the parts. He or she may say, “I have four cubes. Two are red and two are blue.”

For the full listing and deeper explanation of the six areas of development above, read "The Characteristics of Entering Kindergarten."

For a printable brochure about Kindergarten Readiness, click here: DEL Kindergarten Readiness. 

This summer, consider working with your little learner on these six areas. Reading with your child, exploring the outdoors, and playing games with educational components contribute to kindergarten prep. Being proactive with your child's learning will be beneficial in the long run as families are children's first, most important and life-long teachers. 

Quick tip: one creative example of productive play at home was featured in yesterday's National Association for the Education of Young Children's blog regarding music.

For an even more in-depth look at developmental guidelines, read the "Washington State Early Learning and Developmental Guidelines."

See also the WaKIDS pathway to success graphic below:

Active Play Can Promote Development & Learning

One of the hottest media topics is the increase in health risks for children, namely the rising rates of childhood obesity. In fact, health experts have warned for the first time in a long time that this generation of children may have a shorter life expectancy than their parents. One way to combat childhood obesity is to incorporate healthy activity and play into children’s lives.

Living in a climate where clouds and rain are common can be challenging, but according to the National Weather Service, with the proper clothing, children can play outdoors daily when weather and environmental conditions do not pose a significant health or safety risk:

•    wind chill factor at or below minus 15°F
•    heat index at or above 90°F

Governor Inslee, who has made improvements in children’s health a key Results Washington goal, worked with legislators in early 2014 to secure funding for his Healthiest Next Generation initiative. The public-private partnership developed strategies to reduce obesity in children such as promoting breastfeeding, supporting schools in providing more nutritious meal and drink options, and encouraging children to be more active.

The Department of Early Learning supports the many benefits of activity.

Active play:

• Builds strong, fit bodies
• Supports a healthy weight
• Promotes balance and coordination
• Decreases chronic risk of disease
• Encourages active living habits
• Helps children sleep better
• Contributes to cognitive skills
• Improves behavior
• Promotes school readiness
• Teaches focus
• Enhances memory

Adrienne Dorf, DEL’s Healthiest Next Generation Program Manager and Katy Levenhagen, Nutrition Coordinator at Puget Sound Educational Service District  trained to DEL childcare licensors this past spring on nutrition and physical activity national evidenced based best practice standards. The two outlined clear guidelines based on the best practice standards are as follows.

Infant movement guidelines:

• Infants have at least 3, 5 minute sessions  of supervised “tummy time” when they are awake
• Infant environment is least restrictive at all times
• Infants go outside 2-3 times a day 

Physical activity guidelines:

• Moderate to Vigorous Activity
• —Toddlers: 60 - 90 min for a full day
• —Preschoolers: 90 -120 min. for a full day
• School Age: At least 20 minutes for every 3 hours of care2 - 3 adult led activities/day

Things to consider:

• Have children play outside 3 times or more per day
• Outdoor activity provides continuous opportunities to practice skills
• Never withhold active play as a form of punishment

Data from the UW Center for Public Health Nutrition’s:  2013 Washington State Survey of Nutrition and Physical Activity in Child Care:

• 32% of 2 year-olds get 90 minutes of physical activity per day
• 18% of preschoolers get 120 minutes of physical activity per day

Check out the recent article published in the Seattle Times revolving around the link between movement and brain development. The article states:

“Babies, for example, need regular movement to carve out critical pathways and form connections in the brain. In children, research suggests exercise improves attention, focus and academic performance…”

Physical activity might seem impossible to incorporate into tight lesson plans and packed days at child care programs and pre-schools, but with the help of multi-beneficial activities, kids may experience lasting advantages.

Activity idea: outdoor scavenger hunt (find three, green objects and two, red objects)

Benefit: curriculum teaches colors and counting, while also engaging kids in physical activity

Follow the links below for more information and best resources for Child-Care Providers and parents:

DEL, Healthiest Next Generation Resources

Child Care Health Program, PHSKC

Let’s Move Child Care

Early Childhood Toolkit

A personal note from Director Bette Hyde

The Department of Early Learning announced today that Dr. Bette Hyde will leave her position as director after six years of leading the department. Dr. Hyde will stay until August 31 to complete work in the legislative session which has a heavy early learning agenda and to provide time to find a new director.

Since taking the directorship in early 2009, Dr. Hyde has made significant strides in improving the quality and availability of early learning opportunities for the youngest Washingtonians. Under Dr Hyde’s leadership, the department developed a comprehensive 10 year early learning plan in Washington State that supported the development of ready and successful children, families, early learning professionals, schools, and communities.

One of Dr. Hyde’s proudest accomplishments is the creation and dissemination of the Early Learning and Development Guidelines, Birth Through 3rd Grade. These guidelines support families and providers in the recognition and cultivation of key developmental milestones for children from birth through 3rd grade. These guidelines are a useful tool for everyone who loves, cares for and educates young children. The guidelines also promote a whole child approach that acknowledges and honors the diversity of our state.

“We have made great progress in building a quality early learning system that is nationally recognized. While there is always more to do, I am honored by the partnerships we have established with fellow state agencies and community partners” Hyde said.

Other key accomplishments under Dr. Hyde’s leadership include: the launch of WAKids, a transition process and evaluation tool that enables a more successful start in K12 education for early learners; the development and implementation of Early Achievers, our state’s Quality Rating and Improvement System; and, the award of a $60 million Race to the Top Early Learning Challenge federal grant and a $43 million federal Maternal Infant and Early Childhood Home Visiting program grant.

“Under Bette’s leadership, Washington has made tremendous strides forward in improving access to high quality early learning opportunities for Washington’s families,” said Gov. Jay Inslee. “I couldn’t be more proud of everything Bette has accomplished and appreciate her role in putting Washington on the map as a leader in early learning. The work of her and her team means thousands of Washington children are on the path to a brighter future.”

Prior to her directorship with the Department of Early Learning, Dr. Hyde served as superintendent of the Bremerton School District, a special education teacher, and a school psychologist, deputy superintendent for Puget Sound Educational Service District, a building principal and assistant superintendent in the Seattle, Vashon Island, and Highline school districts.

Washington State Early Learning and Development Guidelines - a resource for parents, providers

The Washington Department of Early Learning (DEL) has published the Early Learning and Development Guidelines (guidelines) for children from birth through third grade. The guidelines replace the Early Learning and Development Benchmarks, which were first created in 2005 to outline what children know and are able to do at different stages of their development.

DEL, the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) and Thrive by Five Washington led the recent revision of the guidelines in close partnership with a 51-member workgroup that included statewide representatives from Head Start, the Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program (ECEAP), parents, Tribes, child care providers, special needs experts, K-12 staff and our state's ethnic commissions.

The guidelines are a resource for child care providers and families to help recognize what children ages birth through third grade should be doing and learning at different stages of their development. The guidelines have pages for each age group to use as a quick reference and are written in a clear, easy-to-understand way.

For example:

• Page 16 has suggestions for the ways parents, child care providers and kingergarten through third grade teachers can use the guidelines.
• Each section starts with "What families already know about their children: five questions to reflect on."
• At the end of each section is a page called "Differences in development" that outlines areas of potential concerns for that age group.

Thrive by Five Washington, one of the partners for this project, blogged about the guidelines today: "The new Early Learning and Development Guidelines, though, are something more basic, and just as important. The resource is designed to be used by families and educators in every day parenting and care. Instead of describing an important but technical public policy, the guidelines explain to parents in clear terms the milestones in their children’s development, such as how their child may interact with other children, eat and communicate. Broken down by nine age groups, it also provides strategies to encourage healthy development at each stage."

Related links:

• View the guidelines: http://www.del.wa.gov/development/guidelines/default.aspx
• Read the press release: http://www.del.wa.gov/resources/newsroom/032012.aspx  
• Read Thrive by Five Washington’s blog post about the guidelines: http://t.co/dl9s5bbP