Strengthening the Developmental Surveillance and Referral Practices of Child Health Care Providers

Award Amount: $239,868
Approval Date: July 8, 2003
Start Date: October 1, 2003
End Date: September 30, 2005
Connecticut Children's Medical Center
282 Washington Street
Hartford, Connecticut 06106
Principal Investigator: Paul H. Dworkin, M.D.

Young children with developmental problems, and children at significant risk for those problems, are not being identified and referred as early as possible to intervention programs by their health care providers. Consequently, many children begin school with problems that could have been prevented or ameliorated. This project will develop a training program for child health care providers in developmental surveillance and in the use of a new centralized referral and case management system for children in need of services. The system will be in effect throughout Connecticut and accessible by a toll-free number. A national training model and materials for replication are expected to be a result of this work.