Help Me Grow

Feb. 11, 2012

A.J. Mullins, 4, was born with a genetic disorder. His father, Mike, said the family endured "countless phone calls and misfires" finding what A.J. needed. A new service called Help Me Grow is a central place where similar families could easily connect to resources on health and developmental needs of children from birth through age 8. www.helpmegrownational.org.; www.dhss.delaware.gov.; www.im40.org.

Fortunately, Delaware recognized that need and Thursday, state officials announced the launch of a new early-childhood development initiative called Help Me Grow. A program born in Connecticut in the 1990s -- the "decade of the brain," according to national Help Me Grow director Dr. Paul Dworkin -- it has spread throughout the U.S., and Delaware joins 12 other states in adopting it.

Dworkin, also professor and chair of the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine, cited decades of study stemming from the "decade of the brain" and later, during which there was an "extraordinary explosion in our knowledge of the brain and early child development."

http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20120211/NEWS/202110331/Medical-facts-fast?odyssey=tab%7Cmostpopular%7Ctext%7CFRONTPAGE