Prenatal Support and Ongoing Home Visitation

Help Me Grow offers prenatal home visits to provide support and information to expectant parents. A Service Coordinator will partner with your family to give information about your new baby, community resources and to ensure you have a primary care physician.

Help Me Grow also offers ongoing home visits to families with children from birth to age 3, conveniently planned to fit your schedule.  Your Service Coordniator will offer many ideas about parenting and child development, and will give you one-on-one help when you want it, so you and your child can get a good start together.

• Provide in home parent education and support
• Offer developmental screenings for your child
• Make sure your baby reaches important milestones
• Help keep immunizations up-to-date
• Help you locate resources to meet your family's needs
• Help you develop and reach family goals

PROMOTE HEALTHY DEVELOPMENT BY:

• Reading to your child every day
• Playing with your child
• Immunize on Time
• Learn about Developmental Information
• Hug, kiss, and cuddle your child often
• Talk to your child
• Listen to your child

Family Support

At Help Me Grow, our Family Support Specialists offer emotional support and referrals to resources.  We can visit families at home, at work or in the hospital.  We can visit through phone calls or e-mail.  We can attend appointments with you or provide you with resources to make your life feel a little more organized.  We offer support groups and informational sessions for families to learn new ideas and a chance to meet other
families.

Family Support Specialists have been through
Help Me Grow and can offer a better understanding of the system.  We are available to attend your first appointment with your Service Coordinator.  We are
the parent on the other end of the line to listen to your
concerns.

Family Support Specialists work within the Help Me Grow program to be certain parents’ voices are always heard.  We encourage new parents to attend Help Me Grow standing committee meetings as well.  We are constantly searching for new information to share with families.  We meet with professionals in Summit County to figure out the easiest way to get families the services they need.

If you would like more information on family support in the Help Me Grow system or if you would like to speak to a Family Support Specialist, please call:

Shannon Jarvis at (330)376-7273

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Specialized Services for Children with Special Needs (Early Intervention)

Early Intervention provides services that are designed to identify and help a child with a development delay as early as possible. Help Me Grow is a partnership between families and service providers to support and enhance the development of infants and toddlers who need extra help due to premature birth, a diagnosed medical condition, or a developmental delay in vision, hearing, walking or talking.

HELP ME GROW PROFESSIONALS WILL:

• Provide a developmental evaluation at no cost
• Determine if your child is eligible for Specialized Services for Children with Special Needs
• Link you to a Service Coordinator who will
  • Help you explore options and select services
  • Ensure that an Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP) is developed based on your child's unique needs and your family's goals and priorities
  • Offer information about the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and Parent's Rights in Early Intervention
  • Link you to other community resources and information

WHAT IS A DEVELOPMENTAL EVALUATION?
An Evaluation refers to the process used to determine if a child is eligible for Specialized Services. A team of professionals will work with you to evaluate your child's growth in different areas of development.

WHAT IS A SERVICE COORDINATOR?
When a child's needs are assessed and he or she is found eligible for Specialized Services, a Service Coordinator will help coordinate the services across agencies and programs. The Service Coordinator can help you locate other services in the community, and will work with you as long as you are
involved with Help Me Grow. Service coordination is provided at no cost to your family.

WHAT ARE SPECIALIZED SERVICES?
Specialized Services for infants and toddlers are designed to identify and help a child with a delay as early as possible. There is a wide range of services, such as hearing and vision, nutrition, occupational, physical and speech therapy, social work, behavioral, financial, respite, early intervention specialists, and center-based programs.  The Service Coordinators will help you access these services through the IFSP process.

WHAT IS AN IFSP?
The Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP) is a partnership between parents and professionals that represents the family's central role in the child's development. The plan outlines resources and services for the child and the family. It is based on the family's ideas about what is most important in enhancing their ability to help their child.

Call Help Me Grow for more Information about available programs or if you have any concerns about how your infant or toddler is growing.

330.376.7273