HealthySteps is an evidence-based, interdisciplinary pediatric primary care program that promotes the health, well-being and school readiness of babies and toddlers, with an emphasis on families living in low-income communities.
HealthySteps specialists collaborate with pediatric practitioners by joining well-child visits. This allows the pediatrician to focus on medical care while HealthySteps Specialist addresses additional concerns parents may have, such as child development, behavior or family challenges. This dyadic approach serves the needs of the whole family — both parents and children.
Babies’ brains grow faster from ages 0-3 than at any point in life. Parents rely on pediatric primary care as a trusted source of guidance during these crucial early years. However, pediatric primary care physicians have an impossibly long list of services to provide during a well-child visit, which can last just 15 minutes.
HealthySteps’ goal is to continue providing tailored support for common and complex concerns that physicians often lack time to address, including behavior, sleep, feeding, attachment, parental depression, social determinants of health and adapting to life with a baby or toddler.
(HealthySteps is) the glue needed in communities so that families have connections in safe places. It is a port of entry to redesign how we think about health care.
Our HealthySteps program has reached over 470,000 children. Our national network of sites aims to reach more than 1 million young children by 2032.
Support ZERO TO THREE’s HealthySteps to help us achieve this goal.
With multiple sites across states and in Germany, our reach is expanding. We will continue our mission to contribute meaningfully to early childhood health training and pediatric care, benefiting as many families and children as possible. To learn more, check out our many available resources about HealthySteps, including:
Dyadic services, also called two-generation approaches, support the child, caregiver(s) and caregiver(s)-child relationship. Multiple generations and multiple caregivers can also be involved, i.e., triadic care and multi-generational care.
The dispositions, knowledge and skills of the HealthySteps Specialist are defined and described, in The HealthySteps Specialist Competencies.
In a major article published by USA Today exploring how the pandemic has impacted the growth and learning of babies and toddlers, ZERO TO THREE’s HealthySteps experts explain what can be done to help our children and their families.
The evidence-based HealthySteps model has a long history and is designed to be widely beneficial and accessible. It focuses on the power of relationships, pediatric care support and ensuring families and young children receive support aligned with their unique needs.
Our HealthySteps program is just one way we successfully serve young children and their families. To receive news and more from ZERO TO THREE, sign up for updates, or dig into our annual report for more information.
If you would like to help build better futures for babies, support our work at HealthySteps or contact us to learn more. Help us and all early childhood development experts in pediatrics transform the promise of pediatric care.
