Milestone Tracker App

The Center for Disease Control collects and provides statistic on many health and medical conditions. Over the past year or more, professional information I have read consistently cited an increase in the incidence of developmental disabilities. In a recent CDC data brief dated November 2017 ,  statistics again reflect an increase in the incidence of developmental delay from 5.76 to 6.99 percent in children ages 3 to 17 years of age. While I find this alarming, our expanding (exploding!) caseload of students qualifying for OT school based services seem to reflect this increase.

Positive steps taken by the CDC involve providing information on developmental milestones to parents of young children, ages 0-5 years. Their campaign, called Learn the Signs. Act Early. provides information on developmental milestones for 0-5 year olds included an app, Milestone Tracker app, and numerous other resources to help parents identify developmental milestones and what to do if concerns arise.

The CDC Milestone Tracker app , available for iOS and Android devices for free provides milestone checklists, ability to track multiple users/children, photos and videos on development, tips and activities related to milestones and ability to track appointments and schedules for children. The CDC also provides a wide range of other free developmental resources for parents, including developmental charts, videos, activity suggestions and other tools to support educating parents on childhood developments.

While you may have your own OT resources for parents, the Milestone Tracker app and other CDC developmental resources may be supplemental information for parents of your 0-5 year old clients. I encourage you to check out and pass on these resources in an effort to intervene in the growing incidence of developmental delay.

Are you familiar or trial the app? What has been your experience with the app?

More for your OT mTool Kit!

Carol from OT’s with Apps

References:

Zablotsky B, Black LI, Blumberg SJ. Estimated prevalence of children with diagnosed developmental disabilities in the United States, 2014–2016. NCHS Data Brief, no 291. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics. 2017