Act Early Network News, Spring 2022 Issue

Spring 2022 Issue

The AUCD 2022 Conference is designed to promote innovative thinking that will launch disability policy, research, and advocacy initiatives to the next level. Don’t miss this opportunity to highlight your work at #AUCD2022 and connect with other disability leaders in the field! Submit a proposal by June 20 at www.aucd.org/conference

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Children's Mental Health Awareness Week is celebrated during the first week of May every year! Mental health in childhood means reaching developmental and emotional milestones and learning healthy social skills and how to cope when there are problems. During Children’s Mental Health Awareness Week, AUCD focused on the importance of mental health parity laws, suicide prevention, support, and social skills development of Children and/or youth. In doing so we celebrated the work of the Children’s Mental Health Champions. From May 1-7th the Champion’s projects were highlighted on social media platforms along with discussions using the hashtags #ChildrenMentalHealth and #Phis4Everyone.

The Children's Mental Health Champions project is made possible through a cooperative agreement with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Building on the efforts of the year one Champions, 2020-2021, twelve Champions were selected for 2021-2022 to continue to provide timely support for children and their families. The Champions developed state-specific work plans to implement effective strategies for mental health promotion, prevention supports, and the creation of networks (e.g., school, healthcare, and community) to promote better connections between these systems. The 2021-2022 Champions represent American Samoa, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Kentucky, Maine, Montana, New Hampshire, New Mexico, and South Dakota. Learn more about the 2021-2022 Champions and find all Webinars and Resources archived at AUCD’s National Center on Disability in Public Health.

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Up to 80% of children referred to Early Intervention do not complete an evaluation, often due to practical barriers in accessing the Early Intervention System as well as distrust. As a response to these barriers, The Parent Navigator (PN) Program was created to provide four full-time PNs, who are parents or family members of individuals with developmental disabilities themselves and have extensive experience in system navigation, to assist families with linkage to Early Intervention Services, California Regional Centers, and other appropriate community resources.

Based at the University of Southern California's UCEDD at Children's Hospital Los Angeles and funded by the California DDS Promoting Service Access and Equity Grant, the PN team serves a largely low-income and ethnically diverse population. From the start of the PN program in July 2017 to May 2022, the PNs referred 1,047 individuals to Early Intervention. It was confirmed that 683 (65% of these individuals) were evaluated and 599 (88% of those evaluated) were found eligible for services. Having PNs present in a general pediatrics clinic that serves a vulnerable population is an effective way of facilitating referrals for Early Intervention and linkage to services for individuals with DD. Providing services virtually during the COVID-19 crisis did not reduce effectiveness.

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Minnesota Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Related Disabilities (MNLEND) Community Fellow Julie Li Yang is engaging in outreach activities to promote MN Act Early and Help Me Grow MN resources with the Hmong community in Minnesota. Yang is mentored by Dr. Jennifer Hall-Lande, CDC Act Early Ambassador to MN and MNLEND Faculty. By promoting early monitoring and early developmental screening resources at tabling events and through social media, Yang found that parents can often be reluctant to discuss early intervention services due to stigma surrounding autism diagnosis, specific to the Hmong community. Yang is addressing these issues through the power of storytelling by sharing her experiences with early intervention services for her children and how it led to discovering her children’s learning needs. Through parent-to-parent conversations and sharing Act Early resources, Yang focuses her outreach on empowering parents and caregivers to seek early intervention resources, normalize neurodiversity, and foster advocacy.

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On May 7th, the Taiwan Association for Global Health in Boston (TAGHB) held a health promotion station to emphasize the importance of health equity and provide health screening services during the annual Taiwan Day Festival in Newton. One of the Deputy Ambassadors for the MA Act Early Team, Alisa Lin, also promoted “Learn The Sign, Act Early” along with the health screening services. During the event, we reached out to at least 20 parents and educators. 80-85% of the audience are Taiwanese and they are interested in the materials and willing to be reached out in future events as well.

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Since 2004, CDC’s “Learn the Signs. Act Early.” program has offered developmental milestone checklists and other free materials to help caregivers track children’s milestones. Recently, the materials, and nearly all of the developmental milestones within them, have been updated to make them even more useful, relevant, and timely. In addition to the milestone updates, the “Learn the Signs. Act Early.” program also revised and added new tips and activities for caregivers to support child development at each specified age. These tips and activities can be used as caregiver education and to encourage child-caregiver interaction. They also support relational health by stimulating and nurturing the early relationships that children have with their caregivers. These updated resources are easy to find and FREE! Read the full article to learn more and access the new milestones by age and view or download a milestone checklist.

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Brief summary: The Disability Section Mentoring Program of the American Public Health Association (APHA) is seeking students and early career professionals interested in serving on its Mentoring Committee beginning Fall 2022. Committee positions are excellent opportunities for those interested in taking on national leadership roles in disability and public health, expanding their networks, and putting public health training into practice. This is a virtual, volunteer position. The Committee is willing to work with universities to provide field placement and internship credits as needed. Please visit our website to read a full position description and send a statement of interest and your CV to [email protected].

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The Association of Maternal Child Health Programs (AMCHP)’s Public Health Emergency Preparedness National Workgroup is seeking stories about public health emergencies that personally and/or professionally impacted individuals for their collection of testimonials that aim to:

• Build emergency preparedness and response capacity of maternal and child health (MCH) professionals and stakeholders,
• Share evidence-based practices and best practices for supporting MCH communities during emergencies, and
• Uplift the efforts and stories of MCH communities, and those who support them, in ways that center lived experiences.

By disseminating this collection of real-life stories, case studies, and tools, AMCHP is hoping to facilitate a more comprehensive understanding of MCH needs during public health emergencies and ensure there are adequate resources available to promote active emergency preparedness and response engagement among MCH stakeholders. Read the Information Guide to understand the types of testimonials and ways you can share your story. You can fill out the interest form, and an AMCHP staff member will be in touch to support you through the submission process.

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Would you like to share important Act Early updates or innovative practices from your state, program or organization?

Submit your updates for the next Act Early Network News (Summer 2022) by emailing Jordan Kerr ([email protected]).