At least 15% of all children have special health care needs and more than 11% of school-age children have problems serious enough to be in special education programs. In other words, almost every family is touched by someone - their child, or a brother, sister, grandchild, nephew, cousin or neighbor - who has a disability, developmental delay, or mental health, behavioral or learning problem. Early detection and intervention work. As the National Academy of Sciences said in From Neurons to Neighborhoods: Compensating for missed opportunities, such as the failure to detect early difficulties or the lack of environments rich in language, often requires extensive intervention, if not heroic efforts, later in life. This interactive pre-conference institute explored:

• What we know vs. what we do as a country in terms of early identification and effective interventions for problems in young children;

• How very different places and settings are working to make high-quality developmental screening and follow-up a reality for families across the socio-economic spectrum;

• How smart investments in early identification and intervention could dramatically improve the lives of children and their families; and,

•  The role of philanthropy in leveraging change.

Learn more about early intervention from these pre-conference institute reading materials:

• Investing in Children: Success in School and Life, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation       

• Hartford Blueprint for Young Children, Delivering the Promise of Success

• Screening for Behavioral Developmental Problems: Issues, Obstacles, and Opportunities for Change National Academy for State Health Policy, funded by The Commonwealth Fund

Download Pre-Conference Institute presentations and speaker information:

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