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Engaging Families to Support Early Childhood Development in the Health Center Exam Room and Beyond: CDC’s FREE “Learn the Signs. Act Early.” Resources Can Help
- Registration Closed
Join the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Early Childhood Developmental Health Systems (ECDHS): Evidence to Impact Center on Thursday, August 8, 2024, 4-5:30 PM EDT, for the webinar, Engaging Families to Support Early Childhood Development in the Health Center Exam Room and Beyond: CDC’s FREE “Learn the Signs. Act Early.” Resources Can Help.
Families play an essential role in their children’s development. When health centers share information with families through engaged developmental monitoring, it can enhance their efforts to improve screenings, identify delays and disabilities, and encourage families to follow up when referred to services. To support these efforts, this webinar will spotlight CDC’s “Learn the Signs. Act Early.” program and its free resources to help providers and staff engage and empower families as critical partners in developmental monitoring. Presenters include:
- Katie Green, MPH, CHES, Senior Health Communication Specialist and Team Lead, “Learn the Signs. Act Early.” Program, CDC
- Jill Sells, MD, FAAP, Physician and Partnerships Lead, “Learn the Signs. Act Early.” Program, CDC; Clinical Professor of Pediatrics, University of Washington School of Medicine
- Toni Whitaker, MD, FAAP, Division Chief, Developmental Pediatrics, University of Tennessee Health Science Center Department of Pediatrics; Consultant and Ambassador to Tennessee, CDC’s “Learn the Signs. Act Early.” Program
Partners from the Health Resources and Services Administration’s Maternal and Child Health Bureau and Bureau of Primary Health Care will also join for introductory remarks.
This event is tailored for federally qualified health centers, focusing on resources and strategies to engage families and support a continuum of services to support child development. It is also beneficial for a broad array of professionals, including clinicians, support staff, administrators, leadership, and anyone who interacts with, or supports programs for, young children and their families. By the end of the webinar, attendees will be able to:
- Recognize the critical role that families play in monitoring and supporting their child’s development.
- Recall how engaging families in monitoring as part of ongoing developmental surveillance complements developmental screening.
- List CDC’s free Learn the Signs. Act Early. resources that can help engage families in developmental monitoring in a simple and effective way.
- Identify strategies health centers can implement to engage families and build early childhood development expertise into care teams.
CEU credits will be available to those who attend the live webinar.
How to register for this event:
- Click on the REGISTER button near the top right of this page.
- If you already have an account with ZERO TO THREE’s Learn platform, select Log In. If don't have an account, please select Create Account. (Please save your account information to access future events from the Early Childhood Developmental Health Systems: Evidence to Impact Center.)
- Once you log in to or create your ZERO TO THREE Learn platform account, you are registered for the event and will see “You are registered” on the top right of your screen.
- You will receive a confirmation email with additional instructions on how to best access your ZERO TO THREE Learn platform account. You will also receive email reminders in the weeks and days leading up to the event.
- To join the webinar on the day of the event, navigate to the Contents tab on the event page and click on the “Join Live Event” button. The event link will open 10 minutes prior to the webinar.
- If you need support, please contact ECDHSCenter@zerotothree.org.
Note: Registration will close 15 minutes after the webinar start time.
![Speaker image](https://edd7a5243b34af7605d8-b8043178b2a243312d0713ebe0b9a50c.ssl.cf2.rackcdn.com/zerotothree_3cb62751ce6ba8fc4b313baed7faf0e2.jpg)
Katie Green, MPH, CHES
Senior Health Communication Specialist and the Team Lead
“Learn the Signs. Act Early.” Program, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
Katie Green, MPH, CHES, is a Senior Health Communication Specialist and the Team Lead for the “Learn the Signs. Act Early.” program at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). She has served as a public health educator and communication specialist within CDC’s National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities since 2002. She has expertise in developing messaging, tools, resources, and programs to empower individuals and families to take action to prevent birth defects (2002-2007) and to educate and empower families to monitor and promote children’s early development (2007-present). She leads a small but award-winning team of communicators, evaluators, physicians, and partner strategists in the planning, implementation, and evaluation of CDC’s “Learn the Signs. Act Early.” program, overseeing all of its efforts to support families and other caregivers of young children and improve the systems and programs that serve them.
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Jill M. Sells, MD
Physician and Partnerships Lead
“Learn the Signs. Act Early.” Program, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
Jill M. Sells, MD, is the Physician and Partnerships Lead for the “Learn the Signs. Act Early.” program at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). She previously served as the Medical Advisor for the National Center on Health, Behavioral Health, and Safety, part of the National Head Start program's Training and Technical Assistance system. A pediatrician with over 20 years of focused work in early childhood development, she has supported multiple national, state, and local early childhood initiatives, with an emphasis on family engagement and health care connections. She was the founding Executive Director of Reach Out and Read in Washington state, a family-centered early childhood literacy program based in the medical home. As an executive leader and consultant, she gained extensive experience supporting policy and programs related to early childhood and health care, encouraging an integrated early childhood systems approach that meets families’ needs within communities. She is a Clinical Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Washington School of Medicine and past chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics’ Council on Early Childhood.
![Speaker image](https://edd7a5243b34af7605d8-b8043178b2a243312d0713ebe0b9a50c.ssl.cf2.rackcdn.com/zerotothree_91081731aad99c1c5edc4c00f53ddd6e.jpg)
Toni M. Whitaker, MD
Professor and Division Chief in Developmental Pediatrics
University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC) and Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital
Toni M. Whitaker, MD, is a Professor and Division Chief in Developmental Pediatrics at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC) and Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital in Memphis. She currently serves as a Consultant to the CDC’s “Learn the Signs. Act Early.” program and has been the Ambassador to Tennessee for the program for more than a decade. In these roles and as Medical Director of a statewide training program of the TN Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, she has been active in promoting family-engaged developmental monitoring and developmental screening to a wide variety of audiences. She is the Director of the UTHSC Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Related Disabilities (LEND) program funded by the Maternal and Child Health Bureau to improve the health of individuals who have, or are at a higher likelihood for developing, autism or related developmental disabilities by providing interdisciplinary graduate and professional training in neurodevelopmental disabilities.
![Speaker image](https://edd7a5243b34af7605d8-b8043178b2a243312d0713ebe0b9a50c.ssl.cf2.rackcdn.com/zerotothree_4ccfe2ad6e30383659b4bbdd17492f3b.jpg)
Dina Lieser, MD, FAAP
Senior Advisor for Early Childhood Systems Strategy
Division of Home Visiting and Early Childhood Systems, Maternal and Child Health Bureau, Health Resources and Services Administration
Dina is Senior Advisor for Early Childhood Systems and Strategy at the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB) in the Division of Home Visiting and Early Childhood Systems. In that role she informs program development and policy around early childhood systems. She participates actively in federal partnership development aimed at improving the coordination and collective impact of programs at the federal level to catalyze state systems development and improve early developmental health and family well-being. She contributes to building strategic partnerships in the field and providing subject matter expertise in support of MCHB’s vision of an America where all mothers, children, and families are thriving and reach their full potential.
Prior to joining HRSA, Dr. Lieser served as Chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics’ National Council on Early Childhood. Dr. Lieser held clinical and pediatric academic leadership positions as well as nonprofit state systems leadership positions focused on practice and policy change to build bridges between the health and broader early childhood system to achieve population impact in health, well-being, and education outcomes.
![Speaker image](https://edd7a5243b34af7605d8-b8043178b2a243312d0713ebe0b9a50c.ssl.cf2.rackcdn.com/zerotothree_f6acb82fa10388fecda1905327502e65.png)
Jaewon Hong, PharmD, MPS, RAC
Team Lead
Early Childhood Development Award Program, Bureau of Primary Health Care, Health Resources and Services Administration
Jaewon Hong is the Team Lead for the Early Childhood Development (ECD) award program at the Health Resources and Services Administration's Bureau of Primary Health Care. This program addresses developmental and behavioral disabilities and delays, learning disorders, and language impairments. His background includes senior roles at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH), where he contributed to regulatory and enforcement activities, managed significant public health programs, and led initiatives to enhance innovation and compliance.He holds a Doctor of Pharmacy from Shenandoah University and a Masters in Professional Studies in Health Information Technology from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. He is a licensed pharmacist in New Jersey and holds a Regulatory Affairs Certification.
**Live Attendance Required** (complete within 30 days of event). All registrants will have 30-day access to the session recording.
ZERO TO THREE is pleased to offer Continuing Education Units for a wide range of learning events, both in person and on line.
Contact hours and CEUs are automatically added to your registration for no additional charge. Registrants can earn up to 0.15 CEUs or 1.5 Contact hours for attending this event. Continuing Education Units are awarded with live attendance, completed session evaluation, and a passing quiz score of 75% or greater.
Learner Objectives:
- Recognize the critical role that families play in monitoring and supporting their child’s development.
- Recall how engaging families in monitoring as part of ongoing developmental surveillance complements developmental screening.
- List CDC’s free “Learn the Signs. Act Early.” resources that can help engage families in developmental monitoring in a simple and effective way.
- Identify strategies health centers can implement to engage families and build early childhood development expertise into care teams.
Contact hours offered may vary per discipline. For more information regarding ZERO TO THREE CEUs, please visit: https://www.zerotothree.org/resources/1657-earn-ceus-from-zero-to-three. Please note: A computer or electronic device with internet connection is required for successful completion. This session will be hosted for one hour and includes a brief introduction, 45 mins of content based teaching, and 10 to 15 minutes of Q and A. Questions can be posted throughout the session, and the presenter will address as many as possible.
Additional Details:
ZERO TO THREE is accredited as an Authorized Provider of Continuing Education and Training by the International Association for Continuing Education and Training (IACET). In obtaining this accreditation, we have demonstrated compliance with the ANSI/IACET Standard, which is recognized internationally as a standard of excellence in instructional practices. As the official standard for continuing education and training, IACET Continuing Education Units (CEUs) are recognized by a wide range of organizations, including professional associations, regulatory boards, corporations, and universities.
Though IACET CEUs are widely accepted, it is up to each organization to choose whether or not it will accept them. For this reason, we strongly advise that you confirm in advance if a particular body accepts IACET CEUs. To view a list of companies, regulatory boards, and organizations that have reported to accept the IACET CEU credit, please click here. This list is not exhaustive, nor does it guarantee that an IACET CEU will automatically be accepted.
*Presenters have affirmed that they do not have proprietary interest in products, instruments, devices, services or materials discussed in this course, and have confirmed that they have not been compensated in relation to this presentation.
ZERO TO THREE leads the ECDHS: Evidence to Impact Center in partnership with several of the nation’s top early childhood and health system organizations — the American Academy of Pediatrics, Help Me Grow National Center, Center for the Study of Social Policy, Family Voices, Georgetown University Center for Child and Human Development, and Institute for Child Success.
Visit earlychildhoodimpact.org for to access more resources and events, and sign up to receive updates directly in your inbox.
This program was made possible through the support of the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of an award totaling $5,300,000 with 0% financed from non-governmental sources. The contents are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement by, HRSA, HHS, or the U.S. Government. For more information, please visit HRSA.gov.
CDC’s “Learn the Signs. Act Early.” program aims to improve early identification of developmental delays and disabilities, including autism, by facilitating parent-engaged developmental monitoring and promoting developmental screening so children and their families can get the early services and support they may need. Learn more at https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/act....
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