1st Five Healthy Mental Development

In the first five years of life, children rapidly develop the social and emotional capabilities that prepare them to be self confident, trusting, empathetic, intellectually inquisitive, competent in using language to communicate, and capable of relating well to others.

Even very young children can develop skills that allow them to soothe themselves, share and play, and listen and follow directions.  These developments, sometimes called infant mental health, social and emotional development, or healthy mental development, include the child’s ability to:

·   Appropriately regulate and express emotions

·   Form close interpersonal relationships with other children and adults; and

·   Explore and learn from the environments

Lee County’s 1^st Five Healthy Mental Development Initiative builds partnerships between physician practices and public service providers to enhance high quality well-child care.  1^st Five promotes the use of standardized developmental surveillance tools that support healthy mental development for young children during the first five years.

By using a standardized surveillance tool for all children, that includes social/emotional development and family risk factors, providers are able to identify children at risk for developmental concerns that would otherwise play out later in life if left untreated.

1^st Five collaborates with local medical practices to enhance patient care by: 

·   Promoting primary care provider use of validated screening tools to assess social and emotional development and family risk factors

·   Helping providers integrate these tools into their practices

·   Linking children and families to community resources to improve access to appropriate follow-up care.

For more information contact:

1^st Five Coordinator

Lee County Health Department

(319) 372-5225  (800) 458-6672

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