NORWALK — An initiative that helps parents track their young children’s milestones is being credited for getting more kids ready for kindergarten.
The program collaborates with the Family & Children’s Agency in the city, which has organized home visits to assess early childhood development.
FCA and 211 Child Development use the Ages and Stages Questionnaire, which asks parents questions related to their child’s development to determine if they are experiencing developmental delays.
Jennifer Barahona, the CEO at Norwalk ACTS, a group that works with FCA and other groups in the city, said the questionnaire was helpful for parents.
“Endorsed by the American Academy of Pediatrics, it’s a developmental screening tool to be used with children born to five, starting at one month of age and going all the way up until 60 months,” she said. “It’s a way for both parents as well as physicians and health care workers to measure how children are doing developmentally.”
Sometimes, understanding how children are doing and how they are meeting milestones can be difficult, said Lindsay Perry, the director of marketing and communications at FCA.
“People talk a lot about milestones for kids and how important it’s for them to reach milestones,” Perry said. “But until you have a child, you don’t know what those milestones are. The ASQ [Ages and Stages Questionnaire] really helps to solidify what small actions you could be looking for.”
For example, the questionnaire asks whether toddlers can jump off two feet at the same time or complete tasks in a specific order — things parents may expect but don’t recognize as developmental milestones, Perry said.
“Talking about myself as a parent, we have a better sense of what we should be working on, what we should be emphasizing and looking for in our kids to help make sure that they are developing properly is so helpful,” Perry said.
‘Empower’ parents
As registers for home visits with FCA to administer the questionnaire, the test becomes accessible.
Maria Cloke, the ASQ community liaison for FCA, administers such home visits.
She said that they administer home visits after referrals from other organizations like the Department of Children and Families or if parents register with FCA for home visits.
“The enrollment is free and voluntary, so they can just call, make a phone call, say they want to be part of the program,” Cloke said.
In addition to home visits, the questionnaire is also available on the Sparkler app, which Cloke and Perry said has been very helpful in allowing parents to submit the questionnaire manually as well as providing solutions and activities to engage children after developmental delays are discovered.
“The app offers a library of more than 2,000 activities that [parents] can check on their own,” Cloke said. “Check on the app to try to get more of the ASQ practice activities at home that don’t necessarily require extensive materials or toys.”
Marcia Hughes, a research analyst at the University of Hartford, studies Norwalk’s child development data.
She said that these tests could help address delays and help a child grow in the future.
“The idea is to reach families, to empower them to understand their child’s development, and to identify any concerns or delays early,” she said. “The sooner you address problems, the better off the child will be.”
Baharona agreed that catching issues sooner is helpful.
“The earlier you identify potential challenges or issues with any of the domains of early childhood, the more likely you are to be able to intervene and rectify an issue,” she said.
She also offered an example that explains why catching delays early is helpful.
“Acquisition of a world language, the earlier you start, the more successful you’re with learning a world language,” she said. “The brain is much more malleable as you’re younger. And the connections and synapses haven’t been totally formed yet, right?”
To learn more about the ASQ, download the Sparklers app or call FCA at (203) 855-8765.