Members of the Early and Middle Childhood (EMC) Workgroup have expertise in areas related to child health and optimal child development. They created the objectives related to early and middle childhood, and they’ll provide data to track progress toward achieving these objectives throughout the decade.
This workgroup has been part of the Healthy People initiative since 2010 and was formed to address key topics relating to healthy child development.
Objective Status
0 Target met or exceeded
0 Improving
2 Little or no detectable change
2 Getting worse
0 Baseline only
7 Developmental
1 Research
Early and Middle Childhood Workgroup Objectives (12)
Little or no detectable change
Little or no detectable change
About the Workgroup
Approach and Rationale
We know that experiences in early childhood (usually defined as birth to 8 years) and middle childhood (usually defined as ages 6 to 12 years) are extremely important for a child’s healthy development and lifelong health and well-being.1 How young children play, learn, grow, and form relationships during early and middle childhood influences school readiness and success later in life.2,3,4,5 Research on physical and mental health in adults shows that having good health over the lifetime starts with healthy development in early and middle childhood.3,6
Supporting children’s development and preventing risks in early and middle childhood can have lasting benefits.6,7 For healthy development, children need:
- Knowledgeable and nurturing parents, families, and caregivers
- Supportive and safe environments in home, schools, and communities
- Access to high-quality care and education
The objectives selected by the EMC Workgroup include those that track overall healthy development and key factors that help children learn and grow, like positive communication with parents or having parents read to them. Developmental and research objectives include tracking developmental readiness for school and high-quality early childhood education. The EMC objectives also cover topics related to healthy child development not yet covered by other workgroups — like childhood sleep and prevention of childhood mental, behavioral, and emotional disorders.
Learn More
Citations
Education Encyclopedia. (n.d.) Stages of Growth in Child Development. Retrieved from: http://education.stateuniversity.com/pages/1826/Child-Development-Stages-Growth.html#ixzz0j0jMHgRB
Halfon, N. (2009). Life Course Health Development: A New Approach for Addressing Upstream Determinants of Health and Spending. [PDF file]. Retrieved from: http://www.nihcm.org/pdf/ExpertVoices_Halfon_FINAL.pdf
Shonkoff, J.P., Boyce, W.T., McEwen, B.S. (June 2009). Neuroscience, Molecular Biology, and the Childhood Roots of Health Disparities. JAMA, 301(21), 2252-2259. DOI: 10.1001/jama.2009.754 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19491187
Liew, J. (July 2012). Effortful Control, Executive Functions, and Education: Bringing Self‐Regulatory and Social‐Emotional Competencies to the Table. Child Development Perspectives, 6(2), 105-111. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1750-8606.2011.00196.x
Yogman, M., et al. (Sept. 2018). The Power of Play: A Pediatric Role in Enhancing Development in Young Children. Pediatrics, 142(3). https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2018-2058
Moffitt, T.E., et al. (Feb. 2011). A Gradient of Childhood Self-Control Predicts Health, Wealth, and Public Safety. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 108(7), 2693-2698. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1010076108
The National Academies. (March 2009). Preventing Mental, Emotional, and Behavioral Disorders Among Young People [PDF file]. Retrieved from https://www.nap.edu/resource/12480/Preventing-Mental-Emotional-and-Behavioral-Disorders-2009--Report-Brief-for-Researchers.pdf
