Join us for the 2026 ZERO TO THREE LEARN Conference & HealthySteps Symposium

LEARN Conference 2026

The following agenda represents all HealthySteps-specific sessions and events at LEARN 2026. For the full conference schedule, please visit the main LEARN Conference page.

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Tuesday, October 27, 2026

2026 HealthySteps Symposium

Showing Up in Challenging Times: Trust, Boundaries, and Compassion in Integrated Pediatric Care 

Being a caregiver of a baby or toddler has always been demanding, and right now, many caregivers are experiencing increased, compounding pressures. Providing care for families in this environment is exceedingly stressful for professionals, whose work is under threat as trust in systems and health care is being challenged. What can practice staff do to support families and communities? What falls beyond that scope? How can health care professionals care for themselves? How can HealthySteps Specialists both partner with caregivers and support their pediatric teams without overwhelming themselves? 

This session seeks to empower pediatric teams with strategies for meeting today’s unique challenges. 

Presenters will address:  

• Providing high-quality care to families living in fear of deportation and partnering with community resources to share the burden and strengthen support.  
• Addressing trust with caregivers during current challenges to science and vaccine hesitancy. 
• Supporting medical teams struggling with exceptional stress and mental load.  
• Practicing fierce compassion to accept what you can control and set limits for what you cannot.       

Speakers

Dr. Omolara Thomas, Strong Children Wellness

Dr. David Higgins, Children’s Hospital Colorado

Cherie Craft, Smart from the Start

Wednesday, October 28, 2026

Bridging the Gap: Level 2 Autism Screening for Timely Diagnosis and Family-Centered Support

October 28 | 10:30 – 11:30 AM PST

Vista Community Clinic implemented the RITA-T (Rapid Interactive Screening Test for Autism in Toddlers), a validated Level 2 ASD screener, to provide direct-observation results that yield actionable information for families. This session will describe how using RITA-T accelerated referrals by accelerating diagnosis and enabling earlier intervention and informed support for parents and children.

Speakers:

• Erika Carter, Vista Community Clinic, Program Manager
• Alyson Kaye, Vista Community Clinic, Assistant Director of Pediatrics, Nurse Practitioner, Float Supervisor
• Mendy Rayford, Vista Community Clinic, Licensed Clinical Social Worker, HealthySteps Specialist

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Harmony in our Helping Systems: Reflective & Relational Practices to Promote Health Equity

October 28 | 10:30 – 11:30 AM PST

This 60-minute lecture presents an ecological model for strengthening helping systems in rural communities. Participants will explore the NE TN GROWSS initiative, integrating HealthySteps, Strong Roots, and FAN into pediatric settings and engage in interactive activities to apply reflective, equity-centered strategies for cross-system coordination and family engagement.

Speakers:

• Diana Morelen, East Tennessee State University/ Allied Behavioral Health Solutions, Associate Professor and Psychologist
• Rachel Adams, Allied Behavioral Health Solutions, Director of East TN Services

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Developmental and Behavioral Health Screening with Medically Complex Infants and Toddlers: When, Why, and How?

October 28 | 1:00 – 2:00 PM PST

This presentation describes the use of the Ages and Stages Questionnaire (ASQ) with young children in a pediatric primary care clinic serving medically complex patients with conditions often associated with developmental differences. The clinic’s integrated behavioral health team will share factors considered when implementing developmental screening with this unique population.

Speakers:

• Alyson Hatten, Children’s Hospital Colorado – Special Care Clinic; University of Colorado School of Medicine, department of Psychiatry
• Verenea Serrano, Children’s Hospital Colorado – Special Care Clinic; University of Colorado School of Medicine, department of Psychiatry, Associate Professor, Clinical Psychologist
• Brigitte McClellan, Children’s Hospital Colorado – Special Care Clinic; University of Colorado School of Medicine, department of Psychiatry

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Prioritizing Family Voice Through Attunement: Applying ERH concepts and FAN for HealthySteps and Pediatric Providers

October 28 | Part 1 – 1:00 – 2:00 PM PST, Part 2 – 2:30- 3:30 PM PST

This session highlights how prioritizing family voice through attunement can advance Early Relational Health across pediatric and HealthySteps settings. Drawing on parent-led initiatives, FAN-informed attuned communication, and reflective practice, presenters will illustrate concrete strategies providers can use to partner with families in ways that honor parents’ expertise and lived experience. Through examples from pediatric residency education and HealthySteps/FAN training, participants will see how building provider capacity for attunement strengthens relationships, supports shared decision-making, and enhances provider well-being.

Speakers:

• Andrea Minor, Erikson Institute
• Sarah Eastburg, Erikson Institute
• Diane Halberg, UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland
• Hope Williams-Burt, UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland
• Barbara Ivins, UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland, Clinical Director EIS

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Stronger Systems, Stronger Starts: Building Collaborative Partnerships for HealthySteps Implementation and Integration

October 28 | 2:30- 3:30 PM PST

This session highlights strategies to strengthen stakeholder collaboration and alignment to successfully integrate HealthySteps into pediatric primary care and beyond. We will discuss overcoming fragmented systems, leveraging cross-departmental partnerships, and applying Quality Improvement efforts, and illustrate how coordinated behavioral health approaches can enhance access, equity, and outcomes for children and families.

• Diane Lee, Weill Cornell Medicine, Psychologist
• Nancy Lee, Weill Cornell Medicine, Assistant Professor of Clinical Pediatrics
• Rachel Wirtshafter, Weill Cornell Medicine, Program Coordinator

Thursday, October 29

Measurement of Early Relational Health (ERH): Implications for Clinicians and Researchers

October 29 | 10:30- 11:30 AM PST

This session will describe Early Relational Health (ERH) and its critical role in development. Multiple ways to measure ERH will be presented in the context of research findings from two studies with diverse caregivers and their infants and toddlers. The value of parent-report and observations of ERH will be discussed with learners.

Speakers:

• Alissa Huth-Bocks, Merrill Palmer Skillman Institute, Wayne State University, Director
• Shannon Franz, HealthySteps, a program of ZERO TO THREE
• Katherine Rosenblum, Zero to Thrive, University of Michigan/Michigan Medicine

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How to Share What’s Happening: Assessing and Communicating with Families About Child Development

October 29 | 10:30- 11:30 AM PST

This session will offer an overview of ways to assess and share children’s developmental progress and milestones with caregivers, in the exam room, through meaningful interactions that support children as they play, learn, and grow.

Speakers:

• Sarah MacLaughlin, Senior Editor, ZERO TO THREE
• Shannon Ayers, Director – Custom Solutions Division, Lakeshore Learning Materials

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Elevating the Voices of HealthySteps Families through Co-Creation and Innovation

October 29 | Part 1 – 1:00- 2:00 PM PST, Part 2 – 2:30 – 3:30 PM PST

Children’s National Hospital and Colorado’s HealthySteps State Intermediary (ABCD) share how each elevates family voice to strengthen and sustain HealthySteps. Learn about a statewide family experience survey and co-creation of a Parent Advisory Council, plus lessons learned and early outcomes showing how family feedback drives meaningful, measurable improvements across sites.

Speakers:

• Melissa Buchholz, Assuring Better Child Health and Development, HealthySteps State Director
• Rakia Ranney, Colorado ABCD, HealthySteps Program Manager
• Lael Coleman, Children’s National Hospital, Program Lead
• Shardé Pettis, Children’s National Hospital, HealthySteps Clinical Supervisor
• Kara Van de Grift, Assuring Better Child Health and Development
• Marta Genovez, Children’s National Hospital, HealthySteps Specialist

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Scaling Dyadic and Dynamic Models of Care: Expanding HealthySteps Across a Large Public Health System

October 29 | 1:00- 2:00 PM PST

NYC Health + Hospitals scaled HealthySteps across 17 sites, cumulatively providing well-care services to 41,000+ children (0-3) annually by building a centralized operational infrastructure that remained flexible enough for site-level adaptation. This session examines the three pillars driving that expansion — integration, data systems, and financial sustainability — with particular focus on EMR tools and data systems that enabled fidelity at scale while adapting to meet each clinic’s resources, workflows and community.

Speakers:

• Carlotta Low-Sanchez
• Natalie Cohen
• Ariel Charney

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Large Health System Innovations: THREE Models, ONE Integrated Care Team, ONE Shared Goal = a High FIVE for Prenatal-5

October 29 | 2:30- 3:30 PM PST

This session explores how HealthySteps (HS), Mothers and Babies, and the Chicago Parent program are implemented together across pediatric primary care clinics. Presenters share practical strategies, HS specialist perspectives, and sustainability insights to help participants apply approaches to screening, brief intervention, family support, and long-term financing in their own settings.

Speakers:

• Claire Kingsbury, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
• LaToya Montgomery, LCSW-C, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Lead Behavioral Health Specialist
• Savannah Martinez, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, HealthySteps Specialist

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2026 Posters

• Building Bridges for Dyadic Care: A Case Study on Scaling Collaborative Efforts in California’s Primary Care Public Health Systems 
• Addressing Caregiver Mental Health in Pediatric Settings: Implementation Gaps and Opportunities Through Dyadic Services 
• Provider Burnout and Wellbeing Over Time: A Longitudinal Comparison of Pediatric Clinics With and Without HealthySteps 
• Making Connections Alongside Community Health Centers: Impacts of Early Childhood Development-Focused Technical Assistance and Peer Learning 
• Documenting Protected Health Information of Caregivers in Dyadic Care Visits: Summary of Current State, Needs, and Opportunities From the Field
• Maternal Mental Health and Child Development in a HealthySteps Program at an Urban Mobile Clinic
• Utilizing Upstream Effective Teams of Care and Co-Creation with Families to Promote Early Relational Health in Pediatric Primary Care
• Works-in-Progress: Two Practices Share Their Post-Implementation Journeys, to Empower Parents and Families 
• HealthySteps: Prioritizing Maternal Mental Health to Support Healthy Child Development
• Pathways for supporting early relational health within Medicaid: Case study of PlayReadVIP delivery and billing by Community Health Workers
• Building Synergy Beyond Silos: An Integrated Framework for Early Childhood Well-Being through Shared Systems, Strong Referral Pathways, and Integrated Care 
• In the Gap: Polling for Clinic Staff Priorities During HealthySteps Specialist Turnover

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