Hitting developmental milestones

Children’s Learning Center screens 800 a year for hearing, vision, motor skills.

By Tibby Plasse

There are hundreds of developmental milestones that your child should be achieving from birth to age 5.

From muscle tone to eye contact t o motor skills, a lot is expected of a growing child. Luckily for Teton and Sublette counties the Children’s Learning Center has been an ally for nearly 50 years for families who need more sup port on the way to meeting those milestones.

“I talk about it like it’s magic,” said Cyndi Fischer, who is the head of the special education program at CLC and whos e own son participated in the program.

“The impact that you can have when their brain is still in such a plastic stage is pretty profound,” she said.

Children’s Learning Center staff pr ovides routine screenings in day cares and preschools. Not everything is diagnosable in those quick checks, but CLC’s relationship with the local programs ensures that if there is a way to support a child to learn and explore better, it will be found.

The rule is three screen - ings before 5 years old, if not yearly.

“But I would recommend for any kid that they have their vision and their hearing screening done annually,” Fischer said. “At least no longer than every year-and- a-half, when they’re zero to 5 years old, before they go to kindergarten.”

Often children seem bor- derline, according to Fischer, so the CLC will assign daily activities and focus points for the child. If it’s fine motor skills that children are struggling with, they will be given scissors and cutting activities to practice.

“If they’re not hitting their developmental milestones, and if they’re borderline, there are a lot of simple interventions for parents to do at home,” Fischer said.

After six months, if the growth goals haven’t been met, “then [the CLC] would evaluate them and provide service.”

The center does not work with the public school district, except when students are transitioning, and usually that’s in kindergarten. In the state of Wyoming programs for 5 and under are directed by the Wyoming Department of Health.

According to Fischer, developmental milestones can look completely different depending on the child.

Children could be meeting every milestone, except for something as subtle as holding a pencil with the wrong grip, and be recommended for a CLC screening. Tools include a vision camera, hearing screenings and an overall developmental evaluation with a therapist.

“If this is a child we’re really worried about, we make the call to do a full-on eval and see if they qualify,” Fischer said.

Fischer is confident that in Teton County the Children’s Learning Center is catching most of the students who need support. The organization works with pediatricians, too.

“We saw close to 800 students last year between [Teton and Sublette] counties,” Fischer said. “For students that are not in a preschool, we usually connect with that family through pediatricians and doctors. And outside of that, the second a parent starts speaking with other families, we come up as the first resource.”

Early intervention in addressing the developmental needs of children has been effective in preventing an exacerbation of learning challenges, according to Fischer, who is backed by stacks of academic journals.

“If children get the support they need ... and they are borderline, they will then catch up,” Fischer said. “They will likely meet their milestone, because after all, they are developing so fast.” than 26 can still get the vaccine, however. Vaccines can be administered for kids as young as 9. Over 26? You can still get the shot, but you’ll need to talk with your doctor first.

Contact Miranda de Moraes at 7327063 or mdm@jhnewsandguide.com.

That’s because the older you are, the more likely you are to have been sexually active for longer — and more likely to have been exposed to HPV. That diminishes how effective the vaccine is, Kepka said.

People’s sexual histories can help determine whether getting the shot later on is worth it.

In states like Utah, where people are conservative and tend to have fewer sexual partners, Kepka said it may be more beneficial to get the HPV vaccine at an older age. The same may be true for people who have been married for years, have had only a few partners throughout their life and get divorced.

“Maybe they were too old when the vaccine came out, but now at this new stage in their life they think it might benefit them,” Kepka said.

Whatever the situation, Kepka said that people who are between 26 and 45 years old should talk with their doctors about whether the shot is worth getting. The conversation, she said, “is worth having.”

Where can you get the shot?

French, the Teton County Health Department nurse, said her employer offers free vaccines for kids who are uninsured and up to 18 years old.

The department can vaccinate children as young as 9 years old but typically waits until kids turn 11.

“We give a ton of HPV vaccine between that age of 11 and 18,” French said.

For people who are uninsured the Health Department offers a few ways to get the vaccination.

Generally, assistance is available

Dispelling myths about the HPV vaccine

Myth: Getting vaccinated promotes sexual activity

Studies of thousands of people have shown that people vaccinated against HPV aren’t any more likely to be exposed to sexually transmitted infections than other people, said Deanna Lee Kepka, director of the Intermountain West HPV Prevention Coalition.

“Those with a vaccine don’t have more cases of chlamydia than those without the vaccine, which is telling us that their sexual behaviors are not any different.”

Myth: Getting vaccinated against HPV primarily protects women

About 47,000 new HPV-associated cancers occur in the United States every year, with about 26,000 in women and 21,000 in men, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Oropharyngeal cancer (cancer in the back of the throat) is one of the most common types of those cancers.

“The incidence of that cancer is like 85% in men to 15% women,” Kepka said. “It’s a cancer that men have.” for uninsured patients through Merck, the pharmaceutical company that manufactures the vaccine. Getting that assistance if you’re between 19 and 26 years old is “pretty straightforward,” French said. But when you’re 27 or older, things get a little more complicated.

The CDC estimates that 70% of oropharyngeal cancers diagnosed in the U.S. are “probably” caused by a strain of HPV, which can also cause anal and penile cancer and genital warts.

At that point getting the vaccine at all typically requires a visit with both a nurse practitioner and a midlevel health care provider who can recommend the patient get the vaccine, French said.

If someone who’s uninsured and between 27 and 45 years old sees a

Men should want the vaccine “for their own benefit too,” Kepka said.

Myth: It’s better to wait to get your kids vaccinated against HPV until they’re engaged in sexual behavior Kepka said getting vaccinated early is key to preventing kids from getting HPV — and especially effective before any kind of sexual activity begins. That’s because the virus is transmitted through sexual activity.

A 2017 report from the CDC estimated that 55% of male and female teens had sex before they turned 18</a>.

“You want it long before sexual activity,” Kepka said. “You want it to be protective.” But there’s another benefit to getting vaccinated early: If people are vaccinated against before they’re 15, they have to get only two doses of the vaccine for it to be effective. Afterward, that goes up to three.

Myth: The HPV vaccine is ‘new’

An HPV vaccine has been approved for women and girls since 2006 and men and boys since 2009. The original vaccine, however, protected against only four strains of HPV. A newer version of the vaccine that’s called Gardasil 9 and manufactured by Merck protects against nine strains of the virus and provider, and gets a recommendation, Merck’s assistance program is typically available. It just requires more paperwork.

With insurance it’s a similar story, French said: The vaccine is typically covered until someone turns 26. From 27 to 45, getting coverage typically requires a visit with a health care provider.

The Health Department doesn’t take all forms of insurance, so if patients’ providers don’t cover the jab, nurses will typically send them elsewhere in the county to get vaccinated.

French, like Kepka, recommended the cancers and diseases it causes. Guardasil 9 was first approved in 2014 for men age 9 to 15 and women age 9 through 26.

A year later the U.S. Food and Drug Administration expanded its approval to include men up to 26 years old. In 2018 it expanded its approval to cover men and women from 9 to 45 years old.

Myth: The HPV vaccine is ‘not safe’ Kepka said the HPV vaccine has a “really strong safety profile.”

“We have hundreds of millions of doses that have been given and monitored by the CDC,” Kepka said.

“More than 135 million doses of HPV vaccines have been distributed since they were licensed,” the CDC says on its website. “Data continue to show the vaccines are safe and effective.”

Myth: The HPV vaccine causes fertility problems people get the shot early.

To the contrary, the CDC says that contracting an HPV-related cancer can require women to get treatments — hysterectomies, chemotherapy, or radiation — that can limit their ability to have children.

Treating precancerous lesions in the cervix can lead to complications that can cause preterm delivery, the CDC says.

“Get in here and get it before you turn 19 because it is free at that point and more effective,” she said.

Kepka said the best way to ensure you or your kid gets the vaccine is to ask for it.

Given the county’s vaccination statistics, French said she knows more people are eligible for it.

“We’re slightly higher than average,” she said. “But certainly lots of room for improvement.”

Contact Billy Arnold at 732-7063 or barnold@jhnewsandguide.com.