Algoma Public Health has new program to track young children's development

Algoma Public Health in the Sault Ste. Marie area is partnering with researchers at Queen's University and SickKids Hospital to screen pre-school children's developmental milestones and track their progress.

"We know now through an abundance of research that tells us how important those first 1,000 days are, those first few years of a child's development," said Lillie Mills, a public health nurse in the Healthy Growth and Development program at Algoma Public Health.

"Yet in Canada, there was no national database, no streamlined approach to collecting information about how the kids were doing prior to their school entry."

Mills and her colleague,Taylor Labadie, built a program called Nurturing Algoma that helps parents and caregivers track how their young children are progressing with different milestones related to language, social development and physical development.

Parents can get questionnaires at a number of organizations around the city, including at the health unit itself and the THRIVE Child Development Centre.  

The questions are meant to track a child's development.

"Does your baby calm down within half an hour of having an outburst in crying? Are they easily soothed when you pick them up? Does your baby tap two blocks together? Does your baby bring food to their mouth when you put down something on their tray?" Mills said.

The health unit then shares those results with the Canadian Database of Development, Infancy to Six, which is a collaborative effort between Queen's University and SickKids Hospital in Toronto.

"There are benefits to understanding early childhood development and infant/early mental health. Yet, there is no current comprehensive Canadian database of developmental screening scores," says the website for the new database.

"With Queen's University, Infant and Early Mental Health Promotion is building the first Canadian database of under-6 development and mental health."

Mills said that data can help organizations and heath-care providers in the community intervene if young children are falling behind on their developmental milestones.

And that early intervention, she said, could improve those children's lives as they become adults.

"We could be preventing outcomes down the road, such as low employment. We're looking at preventing things like substance use, we're looking at reducing adolescent pregnancy," she said.