Funded Projects

Promoting Early Relational Health in Childcare

Project Year

2023

City & State

East Brunswick, New Jersey

Program Name

CATCH Implementation

Topic

Child Care

Program Description

My project will aim to solve the problem of a strong need for education on early intervention services and early child development for staff and parents of children of an early childhood education center in a diverse community who have been impacted by the far reaching effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. There is also a need from families of the early childhood education center for information on positive parenting aimed at promoting child development, communication and engagement. This early childhood education center serves children of families that are mostly non english speaking immigrants with 15% of children enrolled receiving assistance through the New Jersey Department of Human Services’ Child Care Assistance Program. There are a total of 69 children enrolled. The project goal will be to enhance and support parental and staff confidence in the understanding of developmental delays and disabilities while providing them with information on how to access resources should concerns arise. The intervention will be to provide educational sessions for staff and parents of the center on early child development, early intervention and positive parenting by pulling many different evidence based interventions and presenting them in a unified way through direct community outreach. I plan to use material from CDC Learn the signs Act Early campaign, World Health Organization Caregiver skills training for families of children with developmental delays and disabilities, Ages and Stages developmental screening and intervention activities, and Reach out and Read. There will be 6 scheduled bi-monthly one hour in person didactic sessions on childhood development and positive parenting using above references (CDC, World health organization caregiver skills training, and ages and stages intervention activities, Reach out and Read) for the parents of the center. They would be conducted in the early childhood education center at the time of parent pick up in the evening with childcare provided during the session. The presenters of the information will include myself, medical students, and pediatric residents who are interested in community engagement and child development. There will also be 6 scheduled bi-monthly one hour in person didactic sessions for the staff members conducted after their regularly scheduled staff meetings. I hope to connect families to community resources such as early intervention and free developmental screening programs offered through Children's Specialized Hospital (QUICK PEEK). The anticipated outcomes include providing families with skills to engage and enhance their child's development at home with easy and practical activities to do with their child. Families will also have the tools to be able to recognize and act on concerns for developmental delays. Families will know what to look for in terms of milestones with a goal to de-stigmatize developmental delays and neurodevelopmental disabilities in the community. Staff will have knowledge of developmental delays and how to express concerns to families as well as age appropriate activities to enhance the student's learning and development . With parental consent, staff will also be able to administer and score the Ages and Stages Questionnaire for developmental screening and be able to provide families with next steps.

Project Goal

To engage the community and staff/ family members of a small daycare serving mostly immigrant population and to educate on childhood development with goal of connecting families to local resources/supports.

Project Objective 1

One community outreach/ information session for parents conducted by developmental behavioral fellow/medical student/resident every other month over 12 months for a total of 6 sessions that will use World Health Organization caregiver skills training for families of children with developmental delay/ disabilities, CDC Learn the signs act early, Reach out and Read and Ages and Stages intervention activities

Project Objective 2

 One session every other month over 12 months for a total of 6 sessions at scheduled staff meetings with focus on educating child care staff with survey to be given to staff members prior to the program to assess pre-program knowledge/ comfort level with issues related to early development, followed by survey after the program with hope of >75% improvement in comfort level

Project Objective 3

To connect families with list of resources/ services available in the community- approximately 15 families (20% of the population at the center- given approximately 15% of children in general population with developmental delays) over a period of 12 months to actually connect to services

AAP District

District III

Institutional Name

Rutgers RWJ/ St. Mary's Christian Academy

Contact 1

Lilian Mekhail