Development is a Journey

A Conversation Roadmap for Talking with Families about Their Child’s Development

Conversations about developmental screening results and concerns can be time-consuming and anxiety-provoking for families and pediatric primary care providers, early educators, and home visitors. Yet the benefits are clear: when families and their child’s providers have productive conversations about a child’s development, they are better equipped to work as a team to co-create and follow through on a collaborative plan that supports the best outcomes for the child.

To simplify, support, and strengthen these important and often challenging conversations, the Brazelton Touchpoints Center (BTC), in partnership with and funded by Ariadne Labs, has created the Development is a Journey Conversation Roadmap for family-facing providers. The Roadmap is designed to facilitate these conversations with seven short and simple steps to actively engage parents and other caregivers in planning for their child’s developmental needs, and enhance the provider-parent partnership.

There are four versions of the Conversation Roadmap: one for pediatric primary care providers, another for home visitors, and a third for early care and education providers; as well as a version for staff who utilize Developmental Monitoring checklists. Each version is accompanied by an Implementation Guide that describes how to use the Roadmap in your conversations with parents and other caregivers. Review the Roadmap and Implementation Guide relevant to your professional role. The Roadmaps are fillable PDFs that can be completed electronically or printed and filled out by hand.

Interested in a training about the Roadmap for yourself or your team?

BTC offers a 3-hour workshop on how to use the Roadmap. Read about our Professional Development to learn more. Our next offering of the workshop is on Thursday, June 22, 2023, 1–4 pm ET /10 am – 1 pm PT. Learn more and register here.

We can also bring our workshop to your organization or program. Contact us to schedule a training.

For Pediatric Primary Care Providers

For Home Visitors

For Early Care and Education Providers

For Early Interventionists

• Development is a Journey Conversation Roadmap
  • Download in full color (PDF)
  • Download in blue (PDF, printer-friendly)
  • Download in gray (PDF, printer-friendly)
• Implementation Guide (PDF)

For staff who utilize Developmental Monitoring checklists

For more information about developmental screening, review these resources for providers and parents:

Contact us to learn more!