Early Childhood Utah
Office of Early Childhood
The Mission:
To promote and support a strong foundation of health and wellbeing such that all Utah children enter school ready to learn and go on to lead healthy, happy and productive lives. We accomplish this aim by:
- Helping families and early childhood programs understand child developmental milestones and how to use the Ages and Stages Questionnaires®, third edition (ASQ®-3) and the Ages and Stages Questionnaires®: Social-Emotional, second edition (ASQ®:SE-2) to support optimal child development.
- Developing data systems and data infrastructure in order to effectively collect, analyze and use data to drive smart and effective policy, funding and programmatic decisions.
- Coordinating and facilitating the work of the Early Childhood Utah advisory council which brings statewide early childhood partners together to improve system wide collaboration and coordination to ensure young children enter school healthy and ready to learn.
We accomplish this aim by:
- Helping families and early childhood programs understand child developmental milestones and how to use the Ages and Stages Questionnaires®, third edition (ASQ®-3) and the Ages and Stages Questionnaires®: Social-Emotional, second edition (ASQ®:SE-2) to support optimal child development.
- Developing data systems and data infrastructure in order to effectively collect, analyze and use data to drive smart and effective policy, funding and programmatic decisions.
- Coordinating and facilitating the work of the Early Childhood Utah advisory council which brings statewide early childhood partners together to improve system wide collaboration and coordination to ensure young children enter school healthy and ready to learn.
Early Childhood Utah Advisory Council
In September 2011, Governor Herbert designated the existing Early Childhood Comprehensive Systems State Team to also function as the State Advisory Council on Early Care and Education, resulting in the creation of Early Childhood Utah. The purpose of the Council is to promote broad statewide coordination and collaboration among a wide range of early childhood programs and services in the state to ensure that Utah children enter school healthy and ready to learn.
Leaders from the fields of children's health and mental health, early care and education, and parent resource programs as well as parent leaders collaborate on the Early Childhood Utah Advisory Council. The Council currently has 25 voting members and meets four times annually. It is staffed by the Early Childhood Utah program within the Office of Early Childhood.
The work of the ECU Advisory Council occurs through subcommittees. Each subcommittee may have many members and subject matter experts attending regular meetings. The five current subcommittees include:
- Promoting Health and Access to Medical Homes
- Early Care and Education
- Social, Emotional and Mental Health
- Parent Engagement, Support, and Education
- Data, Research and Policy
Early Childhood Utah Outreach
It is important for all children to be screened for developmental milestones. Earlier detection of developmental concerns brings better results for children and families. Early identification of potential concerns through developmental screening saves money, time and resources and helps children get back on track for learning and development so that they are happy, healthy and enter school ready to learn! Early Childhood Utah is working with Community Partners to build capacity and align services to positively impact parents with young children.
Are you a parent interested in using the ASQ?
Speak first to your pediatrician or other Early Childhood Provider. If they don’t use a developmental screening tool you can contact Help Me Grow Utah opens in a new tab
Are you a Child Care Provider, Medical Provider or other Early Childhood Professional interested in using the ASQ?
Early Childhood Utah (ECU) is currently partnering with early childhood programs throughout the state to offer them:
- access to the Ages & Stages Questionnaire- 3 (ASQ-3) and ASQ: Social-Emotional- 2 (ASQ:SE-2);
- access to an online ASQ account for electronic access to the ASQ tools and ease of timely results; and,
- technical assistance and support to ensure successful integration and sustainability of the tools into program practice.
- Free training is available through Help Me Grow Utah. Live virtual options can be found here opens in a new tab, or take a self-paced webinar here opens in a new tab.
Find more information on the Utah Statewide ASQ Screening Initiative opens in a new tab
Utah Department of Health and Human Services ASQ Privacy Policy and Consent to Use of Data English opens in a new tab | Spanish opens in a new tab
Early Childhood Integrated Data System
States have many early childhood programs, services and data systems. Systems that bring together these multiple data sources through collection, integration, maintenance, storage, and reporting are called Early Childhood Integrated Data System (ECIDS, pronounced E-Kids). Integrated data systems have become increasingly important as states look to better understand how to best support young children and their families to yield lifelong success in the areas of health, well-being, learning, relationships and employment.
The mission of the Utah's ECIDS is to better coordinate policy, programming, and funding among all participating programs in Utah through data-driven decision making. To accomplish this aim, the Utah ECIDS works with early childhood programs across Utah to secure data use agreements and to align and strengthen data systems in order to integrate early childhood services data. Once the data is integrated, it's easier to study and understand.
The goals of ECIDS are:
- provide data that is timely, relevant, accessible, and easy to use in order to answer key policy questions regarding early childhood programs and services;
- promote data-driven decision making related to funding, programming and policy;
- improve programmatic and system-wide coordination and collaboration;
- evaluate long term outcomes for children; and
- improve child outcomes and the quality of early childhood programs.
The data integration project will facilitate the use of data to address five broad policy questions:
- Are children birth to age 5 on track to succeed when they enter school?
- Which children and families are and are not being served by which programs and services?
- What characteristics of programs are associated with positive outcomes for which children?
- What are the education and economic returns on early childhood investments?
- How is data being used now and how will data be used in the future to inform policy and resource decisions?
All personally identifiable information is removed from ECIDS reports and research publications. Comprehensive measures have been taken to ensure the privacy and security of ECIDS data.
For more information on Utah's ECIDS program please contact email ECIDS Project Coordinator.
Early Childhood Utah Program Resources
- Baby Your Baby video on Developmental Milestones opens in a new tab
- Children’s Services Society opens in a new tab
- The Children’s Center opens in a new tab
- Utah’s Head Start Program opens in a new tab
- Office of Child Care Program (located in Department of Workforce Services) opens in a new tab
- Help Me Grow Utah opens in a new tab
- Special Education Preschool opens in a new tab
- CDC's Milestone Tracker (PDF) opens in a new tab
- CDC’s Milestone Tracker App opens in a new tab
Contact us
Address:
Utah Department of HealthEarly Childhood Utah
PO Box 142002
Salt Lake City, Utah 84114-2002