About 16 percent of children have developmental delays, but of these the vast majority (70 percent) are not diagnosed until they enter school. This means, by the time kindergarten begins, these children are already behind their peers.
The sooner challenges such as speech delays, learning disabilities, social/emotional problems, and autism are properly diagnosed; the sooner children can receive therapeutic interventions. When children get the interventions they need at a young age, they are more likely to graduate high school, hold a job, and avoid delinquency as adults.
Today, there are several screening tools available to help identify children who might have developmental delays—including very young children. Smart Start has piloted the Assuring Better Child Health and Development (ABCD) program to ensure that more children are screened for developmental delays and referred to services for help before they start school.