Watching a child grow and develop is very exciting for a parent. A child’s development is important for parents to follow and sometimes knowing what is or isn’t a concern can be difficult.

Developmental screenings can help measure a child’s development, specifically how he/she learns, speaks, moves, behaves and relates. Regular screenings can identify children at-risk for developmental problems. problems.

Who should be screened?

All children birth through age five should be screened regularly prior to entering school.

What are the benefits of regular developmental screenings? 

• Tracks progress on important milestones throughout childhood like smiling, waving, talking, walking; 
• Promotes healthy behavior and development by educating parents and caregivers;
• Increases early identification and treatment of developmental and behavioral problems; and 
• Creates a relationship between families and their child’s health care provider.

What is the Ages and Stages Questionnaire–3?

Help Me Grow offers a developmental questionnaire called the Ages and Stages Questionnaire-3 (ASQ-3)^TM . The ASQ-3^TM is a valid and reliable developmental screening tool, endorsed by the West Virginia Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics and used by many doctor’s offices. It helps parents learn about how they can support normal development with proper interaction with their children. It assesses the five major areas of development: Gross Motor, Fine Motor, Communication, Problem Solving and Social and Emotional Development.

How can I get a screening?

It’s simple! We provide the questionnaire in one of two ways:

Option 1:
Contact your child’s medical provider.

Option 2:
Call Help Me Grow and we will mail one to you. Just send the completed questionnaire back to us.

Call to request the Ages and Stages Questionnaire at
Help Me Grow
1-800-642-8522

A screening is not meant to replace a health check-up with your child’s doctor. Physical exams, vision and hearing tests and developmental screenings are all important ways to monitor how a child is growing.

What happens after I’ve completed the ASQ-3^TM?

After you have completed the questionnaire, a member of the Help Me Grow team will contact you with your results.

• If the screening shows your child has no developmental concern, it is still important to continue to monitor development with regular surveillance and screenings. 
• If the screening identifies a concern, a primary care provider will lead qualified individuals to address said concern.  A Care Coordinator will direct you to the appropriate community resource, and then follow-up a few days later to see if you were connected to that service. In some cases, we may also suggest further evaluation. 
• With parental permission, we can send the summary results to the child’s health care provider so that they are informed of the child’s progress and follow-up regarding referrals made. 

We also have fun activities that you can do in the home to enhance your child’s development. The Help Me Grow team can provide information on programs knowledgeable in child development, parenting and local community resources.

Call to learn more about developmental screenings. To learn more about developmental warning signs click here.