Tapestry Resilience Initiative Partners With Southern Tier Pediatrics On Childhood Development

JAMESTOWN – The Tapestry Resilience Initiative is working with a local pediatric care provider to create awareness of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s Learn the Signs. Act Early and HealthySteps Programs.

Thanks to a grant from the Chautauqua County Department of Mental Hygiene Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services, the Tapestry team was able to supply Southern Tier Pediatrics with tools and outreach materials for patients and their parents, including growth charts that complement the Milestone Tracker App.

The Milestones Tracker App is a free app from the CDC that helps parents track development milestones of their children between 2 and 5 years old in areas such as chronological gross motor, fine motor and writing skills, self-help, cognitive and academic skills, and social and emotional skills. The app provides easy access to a child’s developmental progress to share with providers during routine checkups.

Southern Tier Pediatrics Practice Manager Patty D’Angelo said they have received a positive response regarding the Milestones Tracker App.

“The app is a great tool for families and for providers as well. Our hope is that families can use the 24/7/365 resource to track each child’s progress and monitor developmental milestones” said D’Angelo.

Rachel Mesmer-Ludwig, Tapestry Resilience Initiative Program Director, echoed that statement, saying it is important to support young children during their developmental stages.

“By collaborating with Southern Tier Pediatrics, we are able to bring focus to the key social, emotional, and cognitive skills important to healthy development” said Mesmer-Ludwig.

The Tapestry has also collaborated with the team at Southern Tier Pediatrics to fund cross-system training on universal screening tools that are now embedded into their workflow.

“Our practice has always provided developmental screening to all our patients,” said Dr. Tariq Khan, Southern Tier Pediatrics care provider. Dr. Khan further stated the additional tracking tools help the providers focus on the early identification, intervention, and referral of developmental skills.