A deep dive into how ABCD is elevating families experiences within systems of care.
Early Identification: What Is It and How Can We Understand It?
Families play an essential role in fostering their child’s development, but have you ever wondered how we can reach more families who may qualify for developmental services but are not accessing them? Despite evidence of its effectiveness, research shows that fewer than 25% of children receive developmental services.
Early identification of childhood development involves recognizing potential developmental delays as early as possible and allowing for targeted support to address them. Examples of early identification include a child care teacher monitoring a child’s milestones over time, or a pediatrician using a validated screening tool to assess a child’s skills and then making a referral for a further evaluation. While many organizations engage in activities like developmental monitoring, observation and referrals, ABCD is uniquely focused on defining and illustrating the stages families experience when navigating developmental concerns, delays, or disabilities for their child. By highlighting these critical steps, ABCD has gained insight into the reality of families’ journeys toward receiving developmental support.
The graphic below outlines the Continuum of Early Identification – from developmental monitoring, to referral, to screening, to evaluation, to intervention services. ABCD developed the Continuum of Early Identification to better understand families’ needs as they move through each stage and to help professionals support families along the way. ABCD’s goal is to understand how families experience these systems and to collaborate with providers and local leaders to amplify family perspectives, ensuring Colorado’s early childhood systems align with what families want and need!
Family Involvement, Engagement, and Experience: What Is the Difference?
ABCD supports early childhood professionals and providers in strengthening systems that serve families and our efforts rely on collaboration with the families who are navigating these systems to ensure lasting impact. Before we go any farther, let’s identify the difference between family involvement, family engagement, and family experience.
Family Involvement: Families’ participation and inclusion in their child’s development and learning.
Family Engagement: A collaborative process that fosters two-way communication and partnership with families.
Family Experience: An approach that highlights the voices of families with first-hand experience of social justice issues, representing their unique perspectives and actively participating to share their insights. While Family Engagement and Family Involvement focus on ways to include families, Family Experience centers on how families wish to feel and empowers them to make informed decisions about their child’s growth and learning.
ABCD is committed to amplifying families’ experiences so their voices can help actively shape and influence systemic decision making. Imagine the possible shift in outcomes when families have a say in how the systems they engage with truly operate!
2023 Physician Screening & Referral Survey
ABCD’s focus on family experiences began when a partner physician shared her own challenges in accessing developmental services for her children, despite her role supporting other families with developmental referrals. This prompted us to ask: are other families facing similar barriers?
To explore this question, we developed a survey for physicians to better understand the screening and referral process in primary care practices across Colorado. Survey results revealed that while most practices offer routine screening services, many encounter obstacles such as limited service availability, ensuring materials are language accessible, and timely follow up with families.
The survey insights inspired us to convene a family experience workgroup, bringing together seven diverse families, primary care providers, and early intervention care navigators. Together, we explored how providers refer families, how intake specialists support them, and how we can collectively improve families’ experiences throughout this process.
What Families Have to Say
In our discussions, we gained valuable insights into families’ experiences with screening and referrals, as well as the perspectives of the professionals who support them. Families and providers shared many of the same values, particularly the importance of:
Family Paced Services - Providing options and letting families take the lead.
Culturally Responsive Services - Inquiring and learning about families’ cultural beliefs and needs.
Clear Communication - Equipping families with enough information to make informed decisions and conducting regular check-ins.
Above all, families expressed a desire to feel empowered as advocates for their children, with professionals supporting them, championing their choices, and guiding their decisions about their children’s development.
The Path Forward
Could we see more families and children connected to developmental services if early childhood organizations and primary care providers adopt family-paced early identification activities and expand family involvement in decision making? Organizations and providers who support families through each stage of the early identification may enhance family experiences by:
Active Listening: Prioritizing families’ unique concerns, even if they differ from professional observations.
Guiding Advocacy: Empowering families with the language to express their concerns confidently.
Respecting Family Choices: Sharing clear information on each stage of the process and how different services may benefit their child.
There will undoubtedly be challenges in advancing equity for families within early childhood systems, but uplifting their voices is the first step toward transformative change! Moving forward, ABCD aims to build a network of family leaders whose experiences will help reimagine how families with young children navigate and access developmental services, creating a more inclusive and responsive system for all.