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What is Help Me Grow?

The goal of Help Me Grow Florida is to promote healthy development for every child in our state. Help Me Grow (HMG) is a unique, comprehensive, and integrated statewide system designed to address the need for early identification of developmental and/or behavioral concerns, and then to link children and their families to community-based developmental and behavioral services and supports.

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Early detection and intervention are critical for optimal outcomes for children, but too often children miss this opportunity. Help Me Grow addresses this by building collaboration among community programs, providing a centralized access point for information and referral, promoting surveillance and screenings, as well as educating and informing the community. Help Me Grow supports families, child health care, early care and education, and human service providers. The community can use Help Me Grow to identify early signs of developmental or behavioral concerns and the available community resources to address their needs. Without Help Me Grow, this sensitive period of opportunity may be missed due to untimely assessments or difficulty in finding and navigating appropriate resources. Help Me Grow offers support, answers and hope; helping your children reach their full potential.

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Help Me Grow Provides:

  • Information on general child development and parenting topics

  • Referrals to community resources, such as early intervention agencies, family therapy organizations, literacy support organizations, mentoring and tutoring programs, parenting classes and support groups, recreational opportunities, and much more!

  • Developmental screening questionnaires, the Ages and Stages Questionnaire (ASQ), for children ages 0-65 months (approx. 5 years) and the Pediatric Symptoms Checklist for children 5-8 years

  • Parent Tip Sheets with several topics that can be used at home

  • Care coordination to ensure that you are successfully connected with appropriate community resources

  • Follow-Up to confirm that you have received the best service possible

 If you have any questions or concerns regarding the way your child acts, plays, moves, or speaks, please contact:

​

Haley Cook

352-673-5185

hcook@elc-naturecoast.org

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