WISE Start Project expands developmental support for local child care centers
Young children in Lowndes County will benefit from expanded developmental screening and classroom learning resources through Mississippi University for Women’s WISE Start Project, supported by a $3,500 grant from the Lowndes County Community Foundation.
“We hope to create a coordinated continuum of support, where screening helps identify potential concerns, referrals connect children and families with appropriate services, and classroom education and resources provide ongoing developmental support in the environment where children spend much of their day,” said Penny Mansell, director of the Center for Education Support.
Through partnerships with Mississippi Families for Kids and Help Me Grow Mississippi, WISE Start and The W’s Department of Speech-Language Pathology will provide developmental screenings using the Ages & Stages Questionnaires (ASQ) Third Edition (ASQ-3) while intentionally expanding support beyond identification.
Seven child care centers in Lowndes County will receive classroom activity kits containing materials aligned with developmental activities. During this initial pilot phase, WISE Start aims to provide 30 activity kits to participating early childhood centers. The kits will allow teachers to implement developmentally appropriate strategies during everyday classroom routines without requiring teachers or centers to purchase additional materials. Each kit is designed to support up to 15 students.
Dr. Catherine Cotton, associate professor of speech-language pathology, and undergraduate speech-language pathology students participating in her independent study will develop short instructional videos and companion activity cards. These resources will demonstrate developmentally appropriate activities that strengthen skills assessed through the ASQ-3 and will be included in each kit.
Additionally, speech-language pathology students will select age-appropriate books from Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library and develop companion activity kits for the books. The kits will include instructions and materials to encourage children’s communication development and strengthen communication skills.
“Our goal is to support the early literacy skills preschool children develop at home and in their preschool classrooms. By incorporating communication, fine motor, gross motor, problem-solving and personal-social skills, we hope children have opportunities to learn through fun, intentional and active approaches,” said Cotton.
“Equally important to increasing access to developmental screenings is increasing awareness and understanding of child development among the adults who care for young children every day. Many families and early childhood educators may be unfamiliar with developmental milestones, the purpose of developmental screening or simple activities that can encourage growth in areas such as communication, motor skills, problem-solving and social-emotional development,” said Mansell.
Children identified through screening as potentially needing additional support will continue to be referred through the Help Me Grow Mississippi and Mississippi Families for Kids network for appropriate evaluation and intervention services. At the same time, the project ensures that participating classrooms are equipped to support developmental growth for all children, not only those who demonstrate potential delays during screening.
“We’re excited to help children, families, teachers and childcare directors celebrate developmental milestones and build a shared understanding of how children grow and learn,” said Mansell. “What makes this project special is that we can use screening results to identify developmental areas where classrooms may benefit from additional support and provide targeted kits with activities and materials to help children practice those skills.”
Lowndes Community Foundation (LCF) is a non-profit, charitable, publicly-supported, philanthropic organization operating as an affiliate of CREATE Foundation (Tupelo, Mississippi). Its purpose is to improve the quality of life for people in Lowndes County.