The Developmental Screening Project

The Collaboration for Early Childhood has spent the last decade designing and implementing a coordinated system of vision, hearing and developmental screening and referral for children 0-5 in our community. Since launching this program, we have partnered with local providers (23 currently) to deliver 1,500-2,000 screenings to children of families in our community each year. The expansion of the Collaboration for Early Childhood’s vision and hearing screenings to include developmental screenings began with support from a CATCH grant from the American Academy of Pediatrics. The work is called the Developmental Screening Project. 

The goal of the Developmental Screening Project was to establish a sustainable, community-wide way to ensure that all young children receive developmental screenings and receive any follow up supports and/or referrals as a result of those screenings. 

Today, community partners who participate in this project are early childhood, pediatric, and community sites. They learn to administer developmental screenings, facilitate meaningful discussions with parents and families about screening results, and support families to follow up on meeting children’s needs arising from those screenings. You can see a full list of the local partners who are a currently part of the Developmental Screening Project below:

• ABC Toon Town, Inc.
• Concordia University Early Childhood Education Center
• The Day Nursery
• Easterseals Partnering with Parents
• Elmhurst Clinic, Oak Park Office
• First Baptist Church Preschool & Kindergarten
• First United Church Nursery School
• Future Leaders Learning Center
• Glasser Preschool at Oak Park Temple
• Goedert Center for Early Childhood Education
• Har Zion Early Childhood Center
• Lake Street Family Physicians
• Learning Oak Early Childhood Development Center
• Oak Leaf Academy
• Oak Park Building Blocks
• Oak Park Friends School
• Oak Park Pediatrics
• Park District of Oak Park
• Pilgrim Community Nursery School
• Prairie Home Kids
• River Forest Community Center Early Learning Center
• River Forest Community Center at Oak Park River Forest High School
• River Forest Public Library

The Developmental Referral and Services Directory is another way to create a more cohesive referral and follow-up process for physicians to use when they believe a child may have developmental delays and need additional evaluations and or services. The Directory contains listings for Child Family Connection Offices, school districts, and developmental services.

If you are a doctor or child care professional who would like to learn more about participating in the Collaboration’s developmental screening project, please contact us.