Health organization

The New Reading Rainbow: Great Books About Race, Diversity, and Inclusion

For young kids, books are an experience, a cooperative reading lessons with pointing, musing, and discussions about the content built into the comfort of bonding. While there are many excellent book lists for young readers that challenge representation and celebrate diversity, this list includes reading recommendations derived from a variety of organizations and experts leading the charge. It was created with the idea in mind that parents would be reading these books with their kids and, when questions arise, breaking down the content in a way that their child can understand. The reading list is also part of the series From The Start: A Parent’s Guide to Talking About Racial Bias, a rich source of guidance into the challenging task of talking about race. Connect with both of these resources here.

Building Responsive Relationships Remotely

In the Spring and Fall of 2020, the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University hosted a series of conversations with members of its Frontiers of Innovation community. Through these conversations, members shared their stories of innovation and resilience as they sought to maintain services for families during the pandemic.

Building Responsive Relationships Remotely is a compilation of the ideas and wisdom that experts from the field shared during those conversations to help others navigate remote interactions. Read more about (and access) the resource here.

How Right Now Partner Toolkit

How Right Now is an initiative to address people’s feelings of grief, loss, and worry during the COVID-19 pandemic. It aims to increase people’s ability to adapt and be resilient during this time.

The initiative’s Partner Toolkit provides materials tailored for use with specific audiences and communities (people ages 65 and over; caregivers; people with pre-existing mental health or physical conditions; those experiencing violence; and those experiencing economic distress). Among the materials you’ll find in the toolkit are sharable graphics to promote the How Right Now initiative and website; graphics that illustrate simple ways to support emotional well-being; and a launch video featuring how people are coping during the pandemic. A Spanish version of the toolkit is available, too! Find out more here.

Self-Care A-Z: Think Self-Care Always Feels Good?

(2019) | Useful to Parent Center staff, families, and others exploring the importance of self-care. This brief article in the New Social Worker Magazine takes a wry and unflinching look at self-care. While it readily acknowledges the importance of taking care of yourself physically, spiritually, and emotionally, the article actually focuses on another aspect that’s […]

Helping Students Recover from a Concussion: Classroom Tips for Teachers

Teachers can play an important role in helping students recover from a concussion as they return to school. Making short-term changes to students’ school work load and schedule—and giving them the time to help their brain heal—can help them get back to their regular school routine. CDC’s “Heads Up to Schools: Know Your Concussion ABCs” […]

Developmental Disabilities | Discapacidades del Desarrollo

When a baby or preschooler lags far behind, doesn’t reach key developmental milestones, or loses a previously acquired skill, it’s reasonable to suspect a mental or physical problem serious enough to be considered a developmental disability. These pages in English and Spanish appearing on the HealthyChildren.org website provide authoritative guidance on developmental disabilities, developmental milestones at various ages, and what parents and professionals need to know or do. Each page is actually a suite of articles in both languages about specific disabilities that are considered as developmental disabilities. Perfect for sharing with the English and Spanish-speaking families and communities you serve!

See the full list of articles and find links to both the English and Spanish suites.

The Science of Motivation and Its Implications

What’s the best way to motivate children? The motivation to learn about the world around us begins in infancy. This motivation can either be encouraged or suppressed by the experiences adults provide for children. Psychological research points to a set of promising approaches that parents and practitioners can use to promote positive motivation and learning during development.

The Center on the Developing Child offers several resources on the science of motivation that parents, schools, and policy makers will find both interesting and useful. You may want to start with Five Facts About Motivation That Are Often Misunderstood, then move on to How to Motivate Children: Science-Based Approaches for Parents, Caregivers, and Teachers. There’s even an interactive graphic that will show you the brain regions involved in motivation and how they work together.

Access these (and additional) resources here.

Leadership is a Journey: A Series for Youth Self-Advocates | Webinars

(2018) | Useful to youth with disabilities and to Parent Centers and others working with youth self-advocates The National Center for Family/Professional Partnerships (NCFPP), in collaboration with the Autistic Self-Advocacy Network, Kids As Self-Advocates, and Youth MOVE, offers a webinar series that supports the identification of leadership as a journey and supports understanding and learning […]

Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS)

Heard of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome or Myalgic Encephalomyelitis? This long-term illness causes extreme fatigue and sleep programs but is often called an “invisible” disease because usually the only thing noticeable is the person’s “pallor.” ME/CFS affects an estimated 836,000 to 2.5 million individuals in the United States (including children), although most have not been officially diagnosed. On “bad” days, those with the illness may feel so weak and exhausted that they can’t go to doctor appointments, for example, or go to or function at school.

Find out more about ME/CFS in this new fact sheet from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Three versions are available: one for parents and guardians, another for healthcare professionals, and a third for education professionals.

Health Care and the Medical Home

A medical home is the kind of primary health care we all want and deserve. A medical home is not a place—it is the way care is provided to children/youth and their families. If you have a child with health care needs, or you work with families that do, visiting the National Center for Medical Home Implementation will lead you to a great many resources, including: 1-page fact sheets, pages and forms you can use to “build your care” notebook, and interactive maps where you can find out more about medical home initiatives going on in your state and points of contact.

Want to connect with all this and more? Let us tell you more about the National Center here.