UMC issued the following press release authored by Annie Oeth.
More
than half of Mississippi’s youngest children may need developmental
health care services, research by Mississippi Thrive! shows.
The
Mississippi Thrive! Child Health Development Project, an innovative
partnership between Mississippi State University’s Social Science
Research Center and the University of Mississippi Medical Center, has
been working with families, child care centers and health clinics across
the state to gauge the health and development of children ages 5 and
younger and to link those in need to services.
About
52 percent of the 322 children whose families participated in
developmental questionnaires through the Mississippi Thrive! pilot
project required follow-up developmental care or monitoring, the project
found.
Now entering its third year, Mississippi Thrive! is funded through a $10.5 million grant from the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration.
Dr.
Susan Buttross, professor of child development and principal
investigator of the project at UMMC, said the skills young children
learn are called developmental milestones, and they usually happen
around certain ages. Tracking the progress of children and linking them
to needed services are the major goals of this project, she said.
“We
like to think of screenings as marking milestones that children pass as
they grow up,” Buttross said. “As we mark those milestones, sometimes
we find that a child is developing differently than expected.”
Making
these discoveries early in a child’s life and getting that child and
family the help needed can make a big difference in a child’s future
relationships and performance in school, Buttross said.
“The
sooner we identify and begin addressing a developmental or behavioral
need, the better,” she said. “Early support can mean children start
school ready to learn, play and share with others and can reach their
full potential.”
Early
childhood is key to later success, Buttross said. She explained that
the brain’s weight triples in the first three years of life, and by age
four, a child’s brain is almost the size of an adult’s. The architecture
of the brain is then refined through learning and life experiences.
For that reason, boosting a child’s brain development during these early years is key.
“Talking
and singing to your baby are the best things a parent can do to boost
development,” Buttross said, “and it doesn’t cost a thing.”
Research
has shown that children who have access to early learning
opportunities—such as being read and sung to by their families—are
better prepared for school, have increased vocabularies and have more
positive relationships with classmates.
“No
two children are the same,” said Lauren Elliott, a nurse practitioner
with the Mississippi Thrive! team. “Each child develops at their own
rate, but there are milestones that if not reached, could indicate a
concern.”
While
there is a clear need for marking the developmental milestones of the
state’s young children, often those screenings do not occur.
In
Mississippi, seven out of 10 young children have not received a
professional assessment on their development, according to the 2018
Mississippi Child Health and Development Survey, conducted by
Mississippi Thrive!
Nationally,
one child out of five is diagnosed with some type of developmental
delay, whereas the rate in Mississippi is one out of every 20.
“This
lower number of children diagnosed doesn’t mean that we have lower
numbers of children with developmental problems but likely that the
developmental progress of many of our young children is not being
regularly checked,” Buttross said.
To
check for progress toward developmental milestones, professionals with
expertise in child development, such as pediatricians, nurses or child
care providers, can have discussions with families about their
children’s development. This works best when professionals ask parents a
structured set of questions focused on children’s developmental
milestones, such as when a 1-year-old has said his first word or when a
2-year-old has said her first two-word phrases. Mississippi Thrive!
project members are working to provide early childhood professionals
with the tools and materials needed to mark children's milestones as a
routine part of their practices — and to communicate the importance of
developmental milestones to families.
“Mississippi
Thrive! focuses on community outreach by sharing information directly
with individuals and professionals,” said Callie Poole, an SSRC research
associate. “We also look at the sustainability of who in the state is
already sharing our message and how can we support them and share our
resources.”
“By
increasing the health literacy of families and early childhood
professionals around the state, Mississippi Thrive! is working to ensure
all children develop to their fullest potential,” said Dr. Heather
Hanna, assistant research professor and principal investigator of the
project at the SSRC.
Resources to check your child’s progress are available on the Mississippi Thrive! website,
which includes brain-building tips from Vroom; specialized information
for parents, teachers and caregivers; and developmental milestones
checklists.
####
Please
forward this message to colleagues who might be interested. If you wish
to be removed from this list or know of a colleague to add, send an
e-mail message to mrolph@umc.edu.
For more information, visit www.umc.edu and click here to view news and features stories produced by UMMC Communications and Marketing.
About Children’s of Mississippi
Children’s
of Mississippi, part of the University of Mississippi Medical Center,
encompasses all of the pediatric services available at UMMC and at
clinical sites throughout Mississippi. At the heart of these services is
Batson Children’s Hospital, the state’s only hospital devoted
exclusively to the care and treatment of sick and injured children. The
Children’s of Mississippi network brings specialized clinical care for
children to communities across the state, making it easier for families
to get the treatment they need closer to home.
About the University of Mississippi Medical Center
UMMC
is the state’s only academic medical center. Its education, research
and health care missions share the objectives of improving the health of
the state’s population and eliminating health disparities.
Located
in Jackson, UMMC encompasses seven health science schools, including
medicine, nursing, health related professions, dentistry, pharmacy,
graduate studies and population health. The Medical Center’s health care
enterprise includes the state’s only Level I trauma center, only
children’s hospital, and only organ and bone marrow transplant program.
The Medical Center also is home to a Telehealth Center of Excellence,
one of two in the nation.
About the Social Science Research Center
The
Social Science Research Center (SSRC) was established at Mississippi
State University in 1950 to promote, enhance and facilitate social
science research and related scholarly activities. The center offers a
superior research environment with an impressive array of research
opportunities and options, state-of-the-art facilities, laboratories and
support units that enhance and expand both the scope and quality of
social science research. The center is online at www.ssrc.msstate.edu. MSU is Mississippi’s leading university, available online at www.msstate.edu.
12 comments:
Is there a breakdown by locations, socioeconomic background, race, parental status, etc,? If so, I overlooked it.
So, to steal from Garrison Keillor, most of the children are below average.
@9:08
No. That would be racist. Race is just a colonialist social construct. We are all one race, the human race.
That sounds pretty racist @9:08 AM. Maybe you should think of them as fellow humans and not some label or statistic. I don't remember Jesus Christ ever asking those questions before he helped someone.
None of it matters unless the state is determined to do something about it. Mississippi will not because obviously the children of the people who count in this state don't have these issues. It's the children of people who don't count that have always been at risk, so who cares? The study shows that unless there is a change their environment determines their future. So who will change their environment? Tell us something else we already know.
The people who can make a difference is the parents. People need to think before they decide to have a child. Some people think their check will go up if they have another child. Those are the children who need the help. It is very hard for the government to take over when parents do not care for the child.
Does this program AT ANY POINT address the REASON(S) for increased developmental delays? Will our society EVER hold parents responsible for their selfishness? I GUARANTEE YOU there are particular demographics where this issue is prevalent. These men/women need to stop laying down with all these men/women and focus on raising the children they’ve already selfishly created. I know of an unwed mother who recently stated she hoped she didn’t get pregnant again because she didn’t know who was going to “be the mother.” This woman already has children suffering. And, no joke, she’s now pregnant! And, the system will congratulate her with more money and benefits. And, guess whose existing children have developmental delays? When will her family, pastor, and community begin to hold her accountable?
Then, of course, there are the issues with foods we consume, side-effects from medications, and electronics. I have no doubt that almost every single developmental delay is man-made... yet, it’s some crisis that requires government intervention?! How about PARENTS intervene and act like PARENTS should act! If parents were truly invested in their children’s health, well-being, and learning during the formidable years, these stats would be minimal or virtually non-existent.
@10:09 I take it you've never filled out a questionnaire in a Doctor's office? and if you have perhaps you didn't question what those questions have to do with the purpose of your visit? and once you turned it in did they refuse to help you?...it helps to understand the bigger picture when you want to address the smaller one...sort of like recognizing the beam in your eye before you start trying to dig imagined splinters out of @9:08's eye...if we can't even discuss the problem without our faith being questioned or being tagged a racist...how do we ever find a solution?
This is another of those many situations where we could have fashioned remedies years ago when the problems first became apparent but because of the toxic political situation especially in Mississippi back then we didn't care. Now that the leak has become a flood we want to criticize everybody else. If our hearts were in the right place we could have put this state on the right path but we CHOSE not to work together on solutions. We CHOSE to maintain inequities and ignorance as our status quo. Now we are faced with the consequences. Pay now or pay later. We are now paying. Get used to it.
An organization gets a $10.5 million grant. You'd better believe they're going to find that plenty of those children surveyed need "services" - paid for through insurance and Medicaid, no doubt. Most of the children don't need anything more than discipline and a functional family.
All we need to know about this bull shit suggestion is to consider the multi million dollar ripoff associated recently with Welfare funds fraud. Fund this bullshit and watch the money scatter off in the various directions of fraudulent responders to RFPs. Will we be bricking up the entire entrance to USM now?
@11:31 My husband and I thought very long and hard before we had a child. We graduated college, got jobs, and bought a house. Then we had a child. BUT how were we to know that our child would be born premature and the hospital bill would be over $700,000? After insurance we still owed over $200,000, and we had years of doctors' visits to ahead of us. When we finally thought the worse was over, our child was diagnosed with autism. There is no way to prepare for having a child, and I get tired of people with healthy children acting as if people like my husband and I did something wrong. And just for the record, our incomes were just lower middle income enough to not qualify for help. Stop putting everybody into a pile.
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