Early childhood is a pivotal period of child development that begins before birth through age 8. This is a period of rapid brain and body development. In the first few years of life, more than 1 million new neural connections are formed every second (Center for Developing Child). The experiences and opportunities offered in early childhood lay the foundation for how children grow, learn, build relationships, and prepare for school.

A child does not grow in a silo. The health of their family, community, safety of their environment as well as the systems and policy all interact to affect the trajectory and health of a child.

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New Toolkit! Developing Sustainable Policy, Financing, and Payment Strategies

Designed for early childhood professionals and organizations, this toolkit developed by AAP, as part of ECDHS, offers practical resources to understand health care financing, learn from state examples, and build support for sustainable early childhood developmental services.

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Change Package for Early Childhood Development

The Early Childhood Developmental Health Systems: Evidence to Impact Center, of which AAP is a core partner, has recently released the Change Package for Community Health Centers: Integrating the Early Childhood Developmental Continuum of Care.  The change package offers step-by-step guidance and customizable sample tools – such as scripts, checklists, and templates – to support teams in testing, refining, and sustaining improvements over time. 

Professional Resources

Early Childhood Health and Development

Learn about what can we do during this incredibly important period to ensure that children have a strong foundation for future development.

Early Relational Health

Early relational health is a framework that explores the role of early relationships and experiences in healthy development across a child’s lifetime. Relationships, especially in the early years, build a foundation for lifelong growth and development.

Council on Early Childhood

The Council on Early Childhood is the AAP home for pediatricians actively working to make pediatrics, children’s health care, and society more focused on young children and families, so that every child can reach their full potential.

Initiatives

Learn the Signs. Act Early. (LTSAE)

Explore the CDC’s Learn the Signs. Act Early. (LTSAE) program that aims to improve early identification of developmental delays and disabilities, including autism, by facilitating parent-engaged developmental monitoring and promoting developmental screening so children and their families can get the early services and support they need.

Early Childhood Developmental Health Systems (ECDHS)

Access support resources and stories about states and communities building family-centered early childhood systems that work to secure the health and well-being of young children and their families.

Safe Babies

Learn more about work to transform child welfare into the practice of strengthening child and family well-being.

Facilitating Attuned Interactions (FAN)

The American Academy of Pediatrics and Erikson Institute have joined forces to facilitate a learning journey for medical students and practicing pediatricians in Erikson’s Facilitating Attuned Interactions (FAN) approach to relationship-building and reflective practice.

Addressing Social Health and Early Childhood Wellness (ASHEW)

Discover the ASHEW initiative, focusing on social health and early childhood wellness.

Early Mental Health Alignment to Pediatric Primary Care (eMHAPP)

Explore the Early Mental Health Alignment to Pediatric Primary Care program, focusing on improving early childhood wellness and social health for better outcomes.

Last Updated

07/28/2026

Source

American Academy of Pediatrics