Health screening program for kids gets $77.5K boost

More than 1,000 Beaufort County children are expected to receive developmental screenings and needed educational intervention to prepare them for kindergarten, thanks to $77,500 in additional funding from The Learning Center Fund of Coastal Community Foundation.

The screenings will be conducted by the Beaufort County School District’s Child Find Expansion Program, which offers comprehensive vision, hearing, speech and developmental screenings each month at Beaufort Elementary, Michael C. Riley Early Childhood Center and Hilton Head Island Early Childhood Center, for children ages 2 and a half to 6.

The Child Find team consists of a registered nurse, a speech therapist and early childhood professionals. Additional funding from The Learning Center has allowed the program to hire an additional part-time early childhood professional to work directly with families in need of follow-up services and formal education for their children. Follow-up services include additional referrals, home visits and parenting and child advocacy.

Since 2013, the team has been able to screen an additional 852 children and identified 226 children with suspected developmental delays, according to Ashley Hutchison, district coordinator of early childhood education.

“The Learning Center’s support makes it possible to get more children on track for early success in school,” she said.

During the past four years, the Child Find Expansion Program has received a total of $247,000 from the Learning Center Fund of Coastal Community Foundation.

For more information about the Child Find Expansion Program, contact Hutchison at 843-521-2399.

This story was originally published November 29, 2016 at 10:53 AM with the headline "Health screening program for kids gets $77.5K boost."