Integrating WIC With Early Childhood Systems of Developmental Care

Disparities exist in early identification of developmental disabilities, particularly for families from low-income and/or racial ethnic minority backgrounds. As WIC has frequent contact with children and families in the first five years of life, it is optimally positioned to play a unique role in early identification of developmental disabilities. However, WIC staff are not formally trained in child development outside of program's primary focus on nutrition and supporting the feeding relationship nor is formal screening for potential developmental delays an allowable WIC expense. In our prior research Oregon WIC staff reported being frequently asked by parents about potential concerns yet they also reported not being well connected to pediatric primary care, Part C Early Intervention (EI), or other resources who could further assess these concerns. In this study the investigators propose to design and pilot test a 2-part intervention to enhance the link between WIC and early childhood resources. The 2-part intervention includes: (1) WIC staff training delivered at the Local Agency which will: build staff confidence in discussing developmental concerns with families, familiarize staff with the CDC Learn the Signs Act Early (LTSAE) material which may be used to support those conversations, provide easy tips for encouraging early language and literacy development with parents, and study procedures (2) the creation of a standardized, direct, closed-loop referral process from WIC to EI for families with an identified concern who agree to the referral. EI will notify the child's primary care provider of the referral as per usual EI protocol. A referral form has been approved by the Oregon Department of Education (ODE) to support the direct referral from WIC to EI, meeting all ODE FERPA requirements. In addition, a data use agreement has been approved by ODE to allow the study team to access data on referred children to determine if they completed further assessment and the given diagnosis (if any). While our primary quantitative outcomes of interest are the number of children with a potential developmental concern who are referred directly from WIC to EI, the timing of follow-up assessment by EI from that referral, services plan & start of services; the project really centers on improving processes between organizations who are key stakeholders in referral, assessment, and treatment. Therefore, secondary outcomes include feasibility and acceptability of the intervention amongst WIC staff, EI staff and primary care providers Upon completion of the study the investigators hope to apply our findings to scale up the WIC staff training and closed-loop referral process to take it Statewide. If successful the investigators will disseminate findings through the National WIC Association to encourage other State and Tribal WIC Authorities to adopt our procedures as best practices.