Early Start Tools
Whether you are a parent, caregiver, provider or member of the general public, the links below can help you find child development resources. These have been reviewed by HMG LA staff. Please review carefully to see if they are right for you. Keep checking! We regularly add new resources. Feel free to share with friends, colleagues, and networks.
Learn the Signs. Act Early Materials
Milestones matter! How your child plays, learns, speaks, acts, and moves offers important clues about his or her development. Check the milestones your baby has reached. Download the form below based on your child's age and bring it with you to your next doctor visit and to every well-child visit, to talk about milestones your child has reached and what to expect next.
Additional Materials
For Medical Providers:
CDC's Learn the Signs. Act Early are free resources for learning about child development and tracking developmental milestones. A milestone tracker app is available on App Store and Google Play.
Tips for talking to your health care provider about getting help for your child's development.
Growth chart that includes developmental milestones alongside height markers and space to add a picture! English and Spanish.
An easy-to-understand overview of Early Start services for young children.
Birth to 5: Watch Me Thrive! includes information customized for various sectors including ECE Providers, Early intervention service providers, Primary Care Providers, Child Welfare, Home Visitors, Behavioral Health Providers, and Housing and Homeless Shelter Providers.
This simple flier helps unravel Early Start services including eligibility for services at Regional Centers and school.
Easterseals offers a free, comprehensive and confidential online screening tool to help guide and keep track of your child's growth and development during these first five years. You can also click here for the ASQ screening tool prep sheet.
Learn about positive parenting, milestones, and safety information for your child from infancy through the teen years.
Zero to Three works to ensure that babies and toddlers benefit from early connections that are critical to their well-being and development. Check out their parenting resources for dads, including influence of fathers, why dads matter, and what to expect when she's expecting.
Books to read with your child age 0-3:
Literacy begins with language. And a baby's language skills begin to develop at birth, through observing and listening to those around him or her. Speaking, reading and singing to a child from the day he or she is born dramatically improves language skills and vocabulary, which has impacts learning to read and write. You can help your child's literacy skills grow right from the start.
