Early Intervention
Getting the supports and services one needs to live a full life in the community starts with getting the right diagnosis – and the earlier, the better. So much development happens in the first few years of life – and for children with developmental disabilities, these years are critical for getting the habilitative services they need – the interventions that build the skills of living that will allow them to have the best possible life in their communities.
At MDDC, we know that the science shows that the earlier services begin, the better outcomes will be. We are proud to be involved with initiatives like the CDC’s “Learn the Signs, Act Early”, which helps to raise awareness about tracking developmental milestones and give parents and practitioners information about what to do if a child is falling behind their peers.
Learn more about these projects here:
Learn the Signs, Act Early
The Maine Developmental Disabilities Council has been collaborating with the Center for Disease Control’s “Learn the Signs, Act Early” campaign since 2013 – our executive director, Nancy Cronin is the Act Early Ambassador for Maine.
Through this program, we are helping to improve early identification of autism and other developmental disabilities by collaborating with educators, medical professionals, and early childhood advocates to educate parents, teachers and doctors about the importance of screening for developmental milestones, and providing easy-to-understand materials to help them do so.
MDDC has done outreach through libraries, YMCA facilities and Children’s Discovery Museums across the state to distribute information. In the past two years, we have collaborated with Head Start programs and the Maine WIC program to widen our reach to underserved populations.
In 2018, in collaboration with the Department of Education, MDDC created and printed a sleeve publication that goes along with the CDC’s Milestones Moments booklet – that has Maine-focused information on accessing early intervention services through our state systems.
Traning Opportunity
Are you an early care and education provider? You have an important role to play in helping to identify children who might need help in their development!
Watch Me! Celebrating Milestones and Sharing Concerns: As an early care and education provider, you play a critical role in the health and wellbeing of children. You are also very well positioned to help identify children who might need some extra help in their development. This FREE online training course, Watch Me! Celebrating Milestones and Sharing Concerns, helps you fulfill this role by providing tools and best practices for monitoring the development of children in your care and talking about it with their parents. Click here for more information.
Continuing Education (CE) is available. You must complete all four modules, each quiz, and a final evaluation to qualify. Click here for more instructions.
Nancy Cronin Featured in Act Early Video
Our executive director, Nancy Cronin, is also Maine's ambassador to the CDC's Act Early Campaign, which is an initiative that helps to educate about the importance of tracking young children's developmental milestones and strives to get information about those milestones into the hands of parents, doctors, and early education professionals. Watch Nancy and her fellow ambassadors talk about their work in this video:
Downloadable Act Early Materials
Developmental Milestones Checklists
How your child plays, speaks, and acts offers important clues about your child's development. Developmental milestones are things most children can do by a certain age. Take the age-appropriate developmental milestone sheet with you and talk with your child's doctor at every visit about the milestones your child has reached and what to expect next.
Download the Milestones Checklists for each age by clicking below:
- 2 Months
- 4 Months
- 6 Months
- 9 Months
- 1 Year
- 15 Months
- 18 Months
- 2 Years
- 30 Months
- 3 Years
- 4 Years
- 5 Years
You can follow your child's development by watching how he or she plays, learns, speaks, and acts. Look inside for milestones to watch for in your child and how you can help your child learn and grow.
Developmental Monitoring and Screening English or Spanish
Concerned About Development? How to Help Your Child
Other Materials
Birth to 5: WATCH ME THRIVE!
This Developmental Screening Passport is a way to check your child's development. This pamphlet is your child's screening record. It is a way to keep track of your child's screening history and see results. Fill out this passport whenever your child has a developmental screen, or ask the doctor or other providers to fill it out for you.
For Healthcare Providers and Early Educators:
Watch Me! Online Training Course
Watch Me! Celebrating Milestones and Sharing Concerns is a free, 1-hour online CEU course. This training offers tools and best practices to support professionals and help children reach their full potential.
CDC's Learn the Signs, Act Early. For Early Care and Education Providers
Free research-based, parent-friendly resources on child development.
CDC's Learn the Signs, Act Early. For Child Care Development Fund (CCDF) Grantees
Free research-based, parent-friendly resources on child development.
Free web-based CE course designed for Healthcare professionals to gain knowledge and skills to improve early identification, diagnosis, and care of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).
Tips for Talking with Parents About Developmental Concerns
