Is Your Child’s Development on Track?
Take a FREE online developmental screening for your child.
What is Help Me Grow?
The goal of Help Me Grow Florida is to promote healthy development for every child in our state. Help Me Grow (HMG) is a unique, comprehensive, and integrated statewide system designed to address the need for early identification of developmental and/or behavioral concerns, and then to link children and their families to community-based developmental and behavioral services and supports.
Early detection and intervention are critical for optimal outcomes for children, but too often children miss this opportunity. Help Me Grow addresses this by building collaboration among community programs, providing a centralized access point for information and referral, promoting surveillance and screenings, as well as educating and informing the community.
Help Me Grow supports families, child health care, early care and education, and human service providers. The community can use Help Me Grow to identify early signs of developmental or behavioral concerns and the available community resources to address their needs. Without Help Me Grow, this sensitive period of opportunity may be missed due to untimely assessments or difficulty in finding and navigating appropriate resources.
Help Me Grow offers support, answers and hope; helping your children reach their full potential.
We offer:
- Information on general child development and parenting topics
- Referrals to community resources, such as early intervention agencies, family therapy organizations, literacy support organizations, mentoring and tutoring programs, parenting classes and support groups, recreational opportunities and much more!
- Developmental screening questionnaires, the Ages and Stages Questionnaire (ASQ), for children ages 0-65 months (approx. 5 years) and the Pediatric Symptoms Checklist for children 5-8 years
- Parent Tip Sheets with several topics that can be used at home
- Care coordination to ensure you are successfully connected with appropriate community resources
- Follow-Up to confirm you have received the best service possible
2023 – 2024 HMG Leadership
Alexandria Vaughn, Healthy Start
Buff Moring, Guardian Ad Litem
Cara Meeks, Wellcare Health Plans, Inc.
Chris Bonds, TATS Servicing School District
Derek Dunn, UWMC Heart of Florida 2-1-1
Doris Tellado, Early Steps
Fay Davis, Healthy Start
Jadira Irizarry-Padilla, MD, Heart of Florida Health Center
Jennifer McBride, FDLRS
Jenny Matusko, Episcopal Children’s Services
Jenny Ransone, Marion County Public Library
Joelle Aboytes, Dept. of Children and Families
Julie Moderie, Healthy Start
Maria O’Donnell, Episcopal Children’s Services
Mark Lander, Marion County Department of Health
Mary A. Jackson, Marion County Department of Health
Mary Spivey, BASS (Behavioral Analysis Support Services)
Renae Santillo, Episcopal Children’s Services
Sharon Hennessy, North Central Early Steps
Shahab Eunus, MD, Premier Pediatrics
Sondra Smith, ARNP, Community Family Healthcare
Tamelia Malcom, North Central Early Steps
Victoria Neveils, Early Learning Turnaround School
You know your child best. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the way your children act, play, move, or speak, call us today or fill out the form below.
In This Section
