Growing developmental monitoring in Wisconsin

Wisconsin chosen as supported state
I am excited to share that Wisconsin has been selected as a supported state for the 2025 Association of State Public Health Nutritionists (ASPHN) “Learn the Signs. Act Early.” Developmental Monitoring in Women, Infants and Children (WIC) Project! This means that Wisconsin will receive ASPHN technical assistance and materials throughout the nine-month project period. Wisconsin is in the third year of growing the partnership between maternal child health (MCH) developmental screening objective and WIC – statewide partners knew that timing was right to apply for further technical assistance and national support to deepen this work.

Cross-sector alignment to improve early identification
Wisconsin is taking a unique approach to this work. It started in 2023 as a pilot project where two local public health departments partnered with their local WIC teams to test new workflows where developmental monitoring is offered at a WIC visit. If a concern is identified, then the child is screened by the health department. This cross-sector partnership increased early identification in those participating communities. The pilot project success was due to strong local leadership, and interest by other agencies to expand this work has grown.

As a result, a new strategy was added to the MCH developmental screening national performance measure that focused specifically on the partnership with WIC. This year, there are five local public health departments and tribal health agencies that are prioritizing these efforts in their community.  Each agency determines the appropriate steps for partnering with WIC and for offering the “Learn the Signs. Act Early.” developmental checklists to families. We are excited to learn what practices are the most effective, and collaborate with the local teams to support the documentation of these workflows.

Each local tribal health department team has received “Learn the Signs. Act Early.” materials from ASPHN in addition to welcome kits filled with books, posters and Milestone Moment booklets from the medical home initiative to distribute and share with their WIC partners and families in order to kick-start this work.

Documenting effective practices
As a supported state, our focus will be on continued expansion and documentation of current local practices so that we are able to disseminate learned lessons in the future. We look forward to learning from the local agencies and national partners to further develop options for integration that fit within our state systems. We are so grateful to the teams that are dedicated to cross-sector partnerships to improve early identification in their communities! It truly takes a village.

Learn more about the ASPHN Developmental Monitoring in WIC Project here.