Early Childhood Development Program

Harbor Community Health Centers supports your child's development from the moment they raise their hand to their face, to saying their first words. Early childhood development, or ECD, refers to how a child grows and develops physically, emotionally and socially in the first five years of their life.

Our Early Childhood Developmental Program is here to help you keep your child on track with all their milestones and address any concerns you may have about your child.

During the first five years of your child’s life, every well child visit to HarborCHC is important. These visits affect your child’s outcomes for long-term social, cognitive, emotional and physical development. At HarborCHC we provide screening tools such as the ASQ-3 and MCHAT, which can help identify if your child needs additional support in their milestone goals.

Our Childhood Development Pediatric Care Coordinator can support you and your child.

Call for an appointment 310-547-0202.

Our Early Childhood Developmental Program services:

• Ensure all babies and toddlers have a strong start in life.
• Support patients from birth to 5 years in reaching their full potential.
• Take a unique approach to child development by connecting families to resources and early intervention.
• Identify developmental delays or disabilities early on and promote family competence and well-being.
• Referral follow up and linkage to additional specialty care.
• Scheduling appointments to the referred specialists.
• Scheduling transportation and interpreter services for your specialty appointments.

HarborCHC pediatricians not only care for your child when they are sick or have an illness but also help support your child's development.

Why is Early Childhood Development important in the first 5 years of life?

From birth to age 5 a child’s brain develops more, and more rapidly, than at any other time in life. While genetics play a significant role, scientific research has made clear that the quality of a child’s experiences in the first few years of life – positive or negative – helps shape how their brain develops. These experiences have a lasting impact on their health and ability to learn and succeed in school and in life. All children develop differently, some will walk or talk earlier than usual, while others may take more time, but it is clear that the early years are the best opportunity for a child’s brain to develop the connections they need to be healthy, capable, successful adults.

What are Developmental Milestones?

Developmental milestones are markers that a child is expected to achieve during the years 0-5 in these five categories:

• Gross motor
• Fine motor
• Language
• Cognitive
• Social-emotional and behavioral

HarborCHC can help identify if your child has any developmental delays by answering questions about your child’s progress in these areas. We can offer you services and resources to help your child succeed at each milestone.

What are some common specialty referrals to assist children with ECD needs?

One of HarborCHC’s dedicated pediatricians will assess your child and let you know if your child could benefit from a referral to one of the following specialty services for additional support and resources:

• Speech therapy
• Occupational therapy
• ABA therapy for autism
• Motor delay therapy
• Developmental delay therapy
• Dyslexia support
• Behavioral health services

What are the most important ages to screen for milestones?

It’s important to attend your well child appointments so your pediatrician can assess your child plays, moves, speaks, acts and learns at certain ages. You can click on the list below to learn more about each stage of development:

• 2 months
• 4 months
• 6 months
• 9 months
• 1 year
• 15 months
• 18 months
• 2 years
• 30 months
• 3 years
• 4 years
• 5 years

Make sure to schedule a well child appointment for each of these age markers to check on their development.

Call HarborCHC today to make an appointment for Early Childhood Development screening and services. Our ECD coordinator, Cynthia, is available to assist you with any questions you may have. You can reach Cynthia by calling 310-547-0202 extension 250.