Topic Areas
Children are more at risk than adults to the effects of lead because their brains are still growing. Lead exposure can cause problems with the brain. This may lead to learning difficulties and behavior problems. There is no safe level of lead exposure for children. Sources of lead can include old paint, contaminated dust and soil, and water in lead pipes. The most important step is to prevent lead exposure before it occurs.
Children are especially at risk of lead exposure if they:
• live in the inner city or in poverty
• live in a home built before 1978
• have poor nutrition
Early care and education programs can help prevent and reduce lead exposure in the following ways:
The American Academy of Pediatrics released an updated literacy toolkit in the fall of 2014. It will help families, other caregivers and pediatricians foster literacy for young children. The toolkit has brief tip sheets and handouts. You can download and use them as PDF documents. The AAP urges pediatric professionals to use these. They are good tools for early education and child care professionals too.
For Families: Helping Your Child Learn to Read Sharing Books With Your Baby Up to 11 Months Sharing Books With Your 1-Year Old Sharing Books With Your 2-Year Old Sharing Books With Your Preschooler Sharing Books With Your School-Age Child The Secret to a Smarter Baby Why It Is Never Too Early to Read With Your Baby
For Professionals: What Every Pediatric Professional Can Do To Promote Early Literacy and Early Learning Evidence Supporting Early Literacy and Early Learning Finding the Right Book For Every Child Selecting Books for Your Program
For the tip sheets and handouts, go to www.aap.org/literacy
The PA Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Academy of Pediatrics published the 5th edition of Model Child Care Health Policies in October 2013. Significantly revised and updated, the new edition is a practical tool for adoption and implementation of best practices for health and safety in group care settings for young children. This edition replaces the previously published version and updates of individual policies that were posted on the ECELS website. ECELS encourages early education and child care professionals to adapt the model policies as site-specific documents that fit their programs. Two formats are available: one replicates the hard copy publication. The other format, posted 12-12-2014, has form fields that allow users to insert their site-specific details directly into the PDF document.
Using the new, 5th Edition of Model Child Care Health Policies, develop customized health and safety policies for your center or home-based program. Complete self-assessment questions and review selected policies. Submit one policy of your choice to ECELS for review. PA child care practitioners may submit completed work for review for credit by scanning the pages and attaching them to an e-mail, sending them by fax or by surface mail to ECELS. Be sure to follow the instructions in the “Important Reminders” box next to the list of self-learning modules on this webpage. K7-C3-76 or K8-C3-92. 6/2017
In partnership with the national American Academy of Pediatrics, Healthy Child Care America program, ECELS presented a webinar with a simultaneous audio conference, “Using Model Child Care Health Policies to Improve Quality” on February 12, 2014. This event was for early education and child care teachers/caregivers, health professionals, child care health consultants, child care health advocates, technical assistance consultants & child care agency/organization staff members. Handouts are posted below to download. They include the PowerPoint slides, the evaluation form to submit for CME/CEU, PA Key and Act 48 credit, a cross-walk of the Model Child Care Health Policies, 5th edition with the high priority national health and safety standards in Stepping Stones 3rd edition, and a list of Environmental Rating Scale items with health and safety content. The recording of this audio conference and webinar is with the archived webinars on the Healthy Child Care America website.
In partnership with the national American Academy of Pediatrics, Healthy Child Care America program, ECELS presented a webinar with a simultaneous audio conference, “Using Model Child Care Health Policies to Improve Quality” on February 12, 2014. This event was for early education and child care teachers/caregivers, health professionals, child care health consultants, child care health advocates, technical assistance consultants & child care agency/organization staff members. Handouts are posted below to download. They include the PowerPoint slides, the evaluation form that Pennsylvania users may submit for PA Key and Act 48 credit, a cross-walk of the Model Child Care Health Policies, 5th edition with the high priority national health and safety standards in Stepping Stones 3rd edition, and a list of Environmental Rating Scale items with health and safety content. The recording of this webinar is with the archived webinars on the Healthy Child Care America website.
The National Child Traumatic Stress Network seks to improve the quality of care and access to services for traumatized children, their families and communities in the
The National Center on Health offers visually attractive, simply stated resources for infant, toddler and preschool care. Anyone can down-load the electronic copies from the Internet. Head Start programs can order hard copy from the National Center at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. These materials have excellent content for teachers/caregivers to use in their programs and to share with families:
Growing Healthy Flipcharts http://eclkc.ohs.acf.hhs.gov/hslc/tta-system/health/healthy-active-living/HAL_Resources/NCHEnglishFlipChartF011514_7-7final508.pdf
Take a look at the National Center’s Health Tips (Fact Sheets) for Families* (and teachers): Download an individual one page fact sheets when you need a handout on one of the topics or download the complete series in English [PDF, 1.2MB] and Spanish (español) [PDF, 309KB]* The following topic are available as handouts:
Active Play includes tips to help infants, toddlers and preschoolers develop positive active play behaviors.
Health Literacy provides information about how to understand and use health information that doctors and other health professionals give.
Healthy Breathing provides information about eliminating first-hand, second-hand and third-hand exposure to tobacco smoke.
Healthy Eating offers easy tips to help infants, toddlers and preschool-age children learn healthy eating.
Mental Health provides information about how to help infants, toddlers and preschoolers develop positive mental health behaviors.
Oral Health offers tips to promote oral health in infancy through preschool age.
Safety and Injury Prevention: Tips for Families (2 pages) provides easy tips families can use to ensure their children's health and safety at home, outside, in the water, and in a car or truck.
Dealing with Stress is a 4 page guide with simply stated, clear tips to help cope with stress in a healthy way.
Teach how to manage aggressive behavior with "Play Nicely." Pediatrician Dr. Seth Scholer developed this 40 minute free instructional multi-media program. It is available at www.playnicely.org. The Multimedia Program: Smartphone and Tablet Version runs on a computer. The program is Research done at the Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt University shows the instructional video lessens physical punishment. Many studies show physical punishment of young children is harmful. It fosters aggression, later mental health problems such as depression and an increased incidence of spouse and child abuse as physically punished children grow into adults.
State regulations require documentation that the child has received vaccines and screening tests according to the recommendations of the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. Any document (including an electronic printout from the child's medical record) that provides this information is acceptable. The Office of Child Development and Early Learning (OCDEL) offers a form that allows health care providers to say whether the child is up to date, the CD 51. This Child Health Report form was last revised in 2008. It does not require the dates and results of the recommended screening tests. It has a check box to indicate "yes" or "no" that the child has received all the recommended screenings. The only screening information it requests is the results of any abnormal vision, hearing or lead screening. These are important, but not all the screenings that assess whether a child is healthy and ready to learn.