The theme of prevention pervades all Healthy Steps^SM strategies to provide families with information, suggestions, and reassurance. When mothers and fathers know what to expect from their young children as they develop and where and how to obtain information to help them meet the next developmental or behavioral challenge, then they are likely to perceive changes in their child's behavior as exciting and interesting rather than overwhelming and confusing.

These materials, all available in both English and Spanish, include:

• LINKletters
• Parent Prompt Sheets
• Parent Handouts
• Quick Check Sheets
• Child Health and Development Record

LINKletters

The LINKletter is sent to mothers and fathers two weeks before their scheduled well child office visit. It contains a description of typical development for children at the age of the scheduled visit, a description of what will happen during the visit, and self-help mechanisms (e.g., sleep diary). The LINKletters are designed to encourage mothers and fathers to participate actively in the well child office visit by asking for the information they want and need to help them successfully rear and care for their children.

Parent Prompt Sheets

The parent prompt sheets are given to mothers and fathers at the time of a well child office visit. The prompt sheets encourage mothers and fathers to ask questions from a list, appropriate to their child's age at the scheduled visit, of common parental questions and concerns in the areas of health, safety, child development and nutrition.

Parent Handouts

At both home and office visits, Healthy Steps team members offer mothers and fathers handouts on a variety of medical, developmental, and practical topics. Handouts include helpful suggestions for mothers and fathers, guidelines about when to contact the physician/pediatric nurse practitioner, references to recommended child care books, and, where appropriate, places to record the details of their own child's development.

These resources are designed to help physicians/pediatric nurse practitioners and Healthy Steps Specialists structure each well child visit to cover key behavioral-developmental issues.

The Healthy Steps Child Health and Development Record serves as a permanent record of growth and development, immunizations, childhood ailments, serious illnesses, and accidents through age 18, and as a vehicle for regular communication between mothers and fathers and the Healthy Steps team. Mothers and fathers are asked to maintain the Record, bring it to each office and home visit, and regularly write responses to questions in the Record about their child's specific attributes, milestones and activities. The Record is an innovation. It goes beyond the immunization and weight record that practices have traditionally offered to mothers and fathers. The Record also provides safety tips and child-rearing insights.