You keep your child healthy by getting them their shots. Isn’t that all they need?

While shots are important to protect your child against disease, it is just as important to check your child’s learning and growth. Your health care provider does this at every well child visit by checking your child’s height and weight, temperature and blood pressure and asking all caregivers to answer questions about their child.

Have you ever wondered:

Are your child’s muscles as strong as they should be?
Does your child babble or talk like other children their age?
Will your child be ready for school?
Is your child learning and growing to their best ability?

These questions are hard for your medical provider to answer by just looking at your child. You can help by answering the questions on a Standardized Developmental Screening Tool like the Ages and Stages Questionnaire (ASQ) at every well child check. A Standardized Developmental Screening Tool like the ASQ is just as important to your provider as their stethoscope. By completing a Standardized Developmental Screening Tool like the ASQ you are sharing very important information that will help your provider know if your child is where they should be.

After you answer the questions on a Standardized Developmental Screening Tool like the ASQ, your provider will score it and the results will provide a snapshot of where your child is developmentally. A lower than expected score doesn’t mean that your child has a problem, it simply means that based upon the answers you gave, more information is needed. In that case, your child will be referred for a full evaluation.

All children are unique and each child will grow and learn at a different rate. Some children need a boost to help them be the best they can be.

If your child’s learning and growth needs a boost you are not alone. It doesn’t mean you are a bad parent or have done anything wrong. It is common for children to need some sort of help and the earlier they get this help the better. Research shows us that by doing so you can help your child:

Be ready for school.
Learn to love learning.
Have a higher self-esteem.
Succeed!