Given Mississippi kids’ patchy access to pediatricians, child care providers can play an especially important role in screenings. And for decades, Head Start has shown how this can work.
The federally funded child care centers serve infants and toddlers from low-income families, and their operating rules require them to provide developmental screenings. Though Head Start centers comprise only about 10% of the state’s childcare centers, they completed 30% of all developmental screenings by child care providers, according to a 2021 study by the Children’s Foundation of Mississippi.
More than half of all childcare centers in the state did no screenings.
Nita Norphlet-Thompson, executive director of the Mississippi Head Start Association, called developmental screenings “a cornerstone” of Head Start programming. With centers in all 82 counties, Head Start serves 23,000 pregnant moms, infants, and toddlers. Every child enrolled gets a physical, a dental exam, and screenings for speech, vision, and overall development.
If a child fails his hearing screening, for example, the center will refer the family to an audiologist who can start treatment. If a family can’t afford the costs, Head Start steps in to cover the expenses.
The results guide the center’s instruction and goals for each child.
“How do you know where to go with a child if you don’t know where the child is?” Norphlet-Thompson said.
Cathy Gaston, executive director of Friends of Children of Mississippi, which runs Early Head Start programs serving about 3,500 children across 20 counties, said that when a child leaves Head Start and begins kindergarten or first grade, the program coordinates with their school to make sure they get services right away.
“[The screenings] also give you an opportunity to start really early,” she said. “Many times, you find by the time they reach school age you’ve kind of worked through those things.”
Tricycles are in place for students at Franklin Head Start in Bude, Miss., Thursday, March 31, 2022. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today
What will it take to continue increasing developmental screenings in Mississippi?
Head Start leaders suggest screenings could be mandatory for all child care providers. But Buttross said conversations with child care directors suggested that mandated developmental screenings could be burdensome for the centers, potentially affecting their ability to operate.
“If child care is needed, the worst thing we could do is set up a barrier,” she said.
One possibility could be to create a “gold star” to reward child care centers that do provide developmental screenings.
Gaston said Head Start and other programs can partner with local organizations in underserved communities to set up free screening events. Incentive programs for parents and more mobile services could help, too.
“You’ve got to be really willing to go to those rural areas where you know there’s a challenge,” she said.
Buttross’ team has also documented another problem: When a developmental delay is discovered, parents aren’t always able to find specialists who can treat the issue. Some private health insurance plans don’t cover key services like speech therapy.
Families of kids with developmental delays are supposed to be able to access free developmental services through the state’s Early Intervention Program. But families often face delays in accessing services because of staffing and funding issues, Head Start leaders said.
Norphlet-Thompson, who has worked for Head Start since 1988, said she and her colleagues have always seen the importance of developmental screenings. In recent years, she’s seen more discussion of the topic across the board in Mississippi.
“We’re so glad that everybody else is catching up,” she said.
Mary Harrington, Early Head Start director; Katina Spaulding, family health service specialist; and Margaret Crawford, education specialist stand outside their office at the Moore Community House Early Head Start program in Biloxi.
-- Article credit to Isabelle Taft of Mississippi Today --
