Early Education and Child Care in Action

E-News for Health Professionals

An electronic newsletter for members of the AAP Section on Early Education and
Child Care and their child care partners

Click here to view past and current issues of E-News

Current Issue #8, May 2008

1. Message from the Chairperson Elaine Donoghue, MD, FAAP

2. New Reports

• Nurses Help Child Care Centers Stay Safe
• Creating a State Strategic Plan for Integrating Services for Children using Multiple Qualitative Methods
• How States Use NAEYC Early Childhood Program Accreditation in State Policies
• Charting Progress for Babies in Child Care Policy Framework Summary
• The Timing and Quality of Early Experiences Combine to Shape Brain Architecture
• Critical Services for Our Children: Integrating Mental and Oral Health into Primary Care
• Implementing Policies to Reduce the Likelihood of Preschool Expulsion
• Improving the Delivery of Health Care that Supports Young Children's Healthy Mental Development: Update on Accomplishments and Lessons from a Five-State Consortium

3. New Resources

• August E-News for Caregivers and Teachers Focuses on Asthma
• Parent’s Checklist for Good Dental Health Practices in Child Care
• Pediatric Education in Community and Office Settings
• Webinar: Collaborating for Success
• List of Federal Programs that Serve Children
• Providing Early Childhood Mental Health Services that Meet the Needs of Young Children and Their Caregivers: Building the Evidence Base
• Tool Kit: Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation
• Toolkit for Integrating Healthy Physical and Mental Development in Early Learning Guidelines
• New AAP Mental Health Web site
• New AAP Bright Futures Web site

4. Upcoming Events

• Sun Safety Week
• NAFCC
• AAP NCE

5. Funding Opportunity

• Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
• CATCH Resident Funds
• Women Helping Others Foundation

1. Message from the Chairperson Elaine Donoghue, MD, FAAP:

Dear Members of the Provisional Section on Early Education and Child Care:

A lot has happened since our last newsletter last summer! We have had a change in staff, reconfirmed our chapter child care contacts, and applied for full section status. With all of the changes, we were behind on sending out this newsletter, but we should be back on track now.   

Jeanne Anderson, MEd, started at the AAP on January 28, 2008, as the new Manager of the Early Education and Child Care Initiatives. Ms Anderson has more than 20 years of experience in the child care and early childhood field. In addition, Stephanie Nelson, MS, CHES, started on February 25th, as the new Program Manager. Prior to moving to this position, Ms Nelson worked on the Mental Health Initiatives at the AAP. A warm welcome to Jeanne and Stephanie. Many thanks to our former manager, Laura Aird, who helped staff the section while learning her new job at the AAP in Emergency Preparedness. Laura will continue to collaborate with us on our CDC project which is described below and on other projects. We’re glad that she’s not far away!  Trisha Calabrese is working in the AAP Practice Management Online, so we continue to have EECC friends around the Academy.

The Provisional Section on Early Education and Child Care applied for permanent Section status in December 2007. We received preliminary approval and are awaiting final approval from the Board of Directors. If approved, we will become a full Section in July of 2008. You may see us listed on your AAP membership renewal, but there will be no dues charged this year. Thanks to everyone who helped with the process. We look forward to great things coming from the SOEECC in the future.

Get involved in child care research! We would like to invite Section members to participate on conference calls led by the AAP Child Care, Health, Early Education, and Child Care (CHEER) Research Consortium. This group of health professionals meets quarterly to discuss conducting health research in child care settings. The group's mission is to facilitate and encourage health professionals, caregivers/teachers, and researchers to collaborate on research projects and utilize results to improve the quality of care for young children in early education and child care settings across the country. Section members interested in participating on these conference calls can e-mail Stephanie Nelson at snelson@aap.org for more information.

Sincerely,

Elaine Donoghue, MD, FAAP, Chairperson
AAP Provisional Section on Early Education and Child Care

PediaLink Scholarships

In the December 2006 issue of the Early Education and Child Care in Action E-News, Theresa Flynn, MD, FAAP, shared her comments regarding the PediaLink module, and mentioned that she presented a talk on "How to Partner With Your Pediatrician" to a group of child care health consultants. In this issue, Dr Flynn shares a summary of her presentation:

I spoke to the child care health consultants (CCHCs) about the benefits of 2-way communication between pediatricians and child health consultants.

(1)  If the CCHC thinks a child has unmet medical or developmental needs, a detailed note for families to bring to the pediatrician can be invaluable. The child may need referrals, evaluations, or medicine that the pediatrician can provide. The pediatrician may also be able to reinforce recommendations that the child care provider has already made.

(2)  If the pediatrician finds that a child is not responding to treatments as predicted (such as a chronic cough), the CCHC may be asked to observe the child care environment and provide additional information to the pediatrician. It may be the pet guinea pig that is triggering asthma symptoms. Also, the CCHC may be able to provide superior developmental information, as with a child who speaks fluently in the comfortable child care environment but is mute at the doctor's office.

(3)  CCHCs can play an important role in training child care providers to deliver necessary medications, maintain current prescriptions and medicine administration forms for children with chronic conditions.

2. New Reports:

Nurses Help Child Care Centers Stay Safe
This article discusses the concept and role of Child Care Health Consultants (CCHCs). Pennsylvania is highlighted with remarks from Section Executive member Sue Aronson, MD, FAAP.

Creating a State Strategic Plan for Integrating Services for Children using Multiple Qualitative Methods
California’s State Early Childhood Comprehensive System’s grant conducted a comprehensive needs assessment which led to the state’s strategic plan. The Project Coordinator and colleagues wrote an article to document the process involved in the data collection for the needs assessment and how the data were used to develop the state's goals. Many states are working on their ECCS plans and the California experience may be helpful to the process. Do you know what is going on with ECCS in your state? Click here for state plans.

How States Use NAEYC Early Childhood Program Accreditation in State Policies
The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) has released a new report entitled "Elevating the Field: Using NAEYC Early Childhood Program Accreditation to Support and Reach Higher Quality in Early Childhood Programs". The report highlights strategies that states are using to improve the quality of early childhood programs and, in turn, their early care and education systems, with linkages to NAEYC accreditation of early childhood education programs.

Charting Progress for Babies in Child Care Policy Framework Summary
The Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) worked with ZERO TO THREE to develop a Policy Framework that sets forth four key principles that establish the foundation of supports that all babies and toddlers in child care need, as well as 15 recommendations that state child care licensing, quality, and subsidy policies should address.

The Timing and Quality of Early Experiences Combine to Shape Brain Architecture
This new addition to the National Scientific Council's signature Working Paper series looks at the early opportunities -- and hazards -- of the developmental stages in brain development referred to as sensitive periods. The quality of a child's early environment and the availability of appropriate experiences at the right stages of development are crucial in determining the strength or weakness of the brain's architecture, which, in turn, determines how well he or she will be able to think and to regulate emotions. This report summarizes in clear language the most recent scientific advances in understanding the importance of sensitive periods and the implications of those findings for policy.

Critical Services for Our Children: Integrating Mental and Oral Health into Primary Care
The latest Issue Brief Critical Services for Our Children: Integrating Mental and Oral Health into Primary Care from Grantmakers In Health (GIH) explores how the fragmentation of mental and oral health services, which are critical to children's healthy growth and development, contributes to access barriers and compromises the quality of pediatric care. The report also examines how growing awareness has led to innovative efforts to integrate these important services into children’s care.

Implementing Policies to Reduce the Likelihood of Preschool Expulsion
This policy brief examines factors associated with expulsion from Prekindergarten (PK). Recent research has explored issues regarding the rate at which preschoolers (children ages three to four) are expelled from PK programs, as well as some of the factors associated with expulsion and the effectiveness of mental health consultation to reduce the classroom behavior problems that may lead to expulsion. Although several factors that predict an increased likelihood of expulsion have been described, this brief addresses those factors that may inform changes in policy that can be both implemented and regulated.

This policy brief is a follow-up to the 2005 study "Prekindergartners Left Behind: Expulsion Rates in State Prekindergarten Programs" which reports on expulsion rates by program setting, gender, race/ethnicity, and state. 

Improving the Delivery of Health Care that Supports Young Children's Healthy Mental Development: Update on Accomplishments and Lessons from a Five-State Consortium
Services that support young children's healthy mental development can reduce the prevalence of developmental and behavioral disorders. Unchecked, social, emotional, and behavioral development delays have high costs and long-term consequences for health, education, child welfare, and juvenile justice systems—and for children's futures.

The important role that Medicaid and other state agencies can play in improving the delivery of services that support young children’s social and emotional development is confirmed by the experiences of the five states that participated in the ABCD II Consortium. This report examines these states’ experiences.

3. New Resources:

August E-News for Caregivers and Teachers Focuses on Asthma
The August 2007 Health and Safety E-News for Caregivers and Teachers focused on asthma. Share this newsletter, which is published by our section, with your child care colleagues to help them learn about managing asthma, asthma triggers, and how to respond to an asthma attack.

Parent’s Checklist for Good Dental Health Practices in Child Care
The National Resource Center for Health and Safety in Child Care and Early Education (NRC) has created a one-page Parent’s Checklist for Good Dental Health Practices in Child Care that you can use in your work to help influence the quality of dental practices in child care. The checklist encourages parents to look at the dental practices their young children are experiencing in child care/early education settings. The ADA Harris Foundation supported NRC’s development of the handout.

Pediatric Education in Community and Office Settings
Starter Kit for Community Preceptors is offered to the practicing pediatrician who wants to provide a hands-on experience in an office setting for a medical student or resident. The Starter Kit provides practical tips, information, resources, and activities for pediatricians, residency program directors, and clerkship directors to use at every stage of community-based training for students and residents. Click here to view the chapter on Early Education and Child Care by Section member Mae Kyono, MD, FAAP.

If you are interested in educating residents or medical students on EECC topics, join the Resident Education group conference calls.  The Resident Education subgroup is exploring ways to educate residents by developing an EECC curriculum, highlighting creative ways to incorporate EECC education into a residency program and providing presentations and other resource materials on our Web site. 

Webinar: Collaborating for Success
This Healthy Child Care Consultant Network Support Center (NSC) webinar provided ideas and resources for engaging with state and local partners in the “three Cs”—cooperation, coordination and collaboration—to promote child care health consultation, with examples from Idaho and Virginia.

List of Federal Programs that Serve Children
There are a variety of federal programs which address the needs of young children and their families. Government programs can be complex, however, and it can be difficult to keep track of how the programs are organized, funded and operated. In addition, states and communities often play an important role in implementing services created through the federal programs. To help you in your advocacy for infants and toddlers, Zero to Three developed this chart which summarizes the primary federal programs currently focusing on very young children and the roles of federal, state and local governments in those programs.

Providing Early Childhood Mental Health Services that Meet the Needs of Young Children and Their Caregivers: Building the Evidence Base
The National Technical Assistance Center for Children's Mental Health offers a range of training and technical assistance activities. This presentation was held on April 17, 2008. The recording, PowerPoint presentations, and reading materials for this call are available on their Web site.

Tool Kit: Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation
This Web-based resource combines a brief review of the literature and current research addressing the effectiveness of early childhood mental health consultation with guidance for designing and implementing program evaluation. It will help states, communities, and programs increase their capacity for high-quality evaluation of early childhood mental health consultation in community-based settings.

Toolkit for Integrating Healthy Physical and Mental Development in Early Learning Guidelines
The Toolkit was developed to help state/territorial teams evaluate and supplement their early learning guideline (ELG) content related to children’s healthy physical and mental development. An individualized Overall Health and Safety Profile is provided to summarize state’s findings and note potential action steps. The toolkit can be used to educate teachers and families on important health and safety skills that young children should know. The Toolkit is based on Caring for Our Children: National Health and Safety Performance Standards: Guidelines for Out-of-Home Child Care, 2nd Edition (CFOC). 

New AAP Mental Health Web site
The AAP mental health Web site has a new look! The new and improved site provides enhanced access to information and resources. A clearer structure, simplified navigation, and improved search functions make finding information on mental health easier than before. 

New AAP Bright Futures Web site
The new site features:

1. 3rd edition of the Guidelines posted by chapter and hyperlinked references
   
   
2. New videos that explain: the history and implementation of Bright Futures, what's new in the 3rd edition, and the nurse practitioners view of Bright Futures
   
   
3. Bright Futures fact sheets by 10 health promotion themes
   
   
4. Presentations that individuals can modify to talk about Bright Futures
   

4. Upcoming Events:

	Sun Safety Week is June 1-7, 2008 Check out this newsletter from The Sun Safety Alliance (SSA) for information about the Sun-Safe Childcare Project.
	National Association for Family Child Care (NAFCC) 18th Annual National Conference July 17 – 19, 2008, Schaumburg, Illinois
	AAP 2008 National Conference and Exhibition October 11 – 14, 2008, Boston, Massachusetts

5. Funding Opportunity:

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
Deadline: July 8, 2008

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Local Funding Partnerships program is designed to forge relationships between the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and local grantmakers to fund promising, original projects that can significantly improve the health of vulnerable people in their communities. Up to $6 million in total funding is available for the 2009 grant cycle. Up to 14 matching grants between $200,000 and $500,000 per project will be awarded.

CATCH Resident Funds
Deadline: July 31, 2008

Grants of up to $3,000 are available for pediatric residents to work with local communities to ensure that all children, especially underserved children, have medical homes and access to any needed health care services.

Women Helping Others Foundation
Deadline: Sept. 9, 2008

The WHO Foundation (Women Helping Others) supports nonprofits serving the overlooked needs of women and children. Grants are provided to organizations serving women and/or children in the United States and Puerto Rico. The WHO Foundation is interested in funding specific projects and programs addressing health and social service needs.

Did you know that the AAP has a Health and Safety E-News for caregivers and teachers?

• See the current issue here.
• Sign up to receive these quarterly newsletters here.