New Mexico State University

New Mexico State University will offer free developmental screening for children ages 0-5 years from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, October 12. The screening will be held at the Anthony Head Start Center located on 606 Church St. in Anthony, N.M.

"We want to help parents identify children who may have developmental delays as early as possible," said Zhen Chai, assistant professor in the College of Education's Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders. "We want to provide them resources such as where they should go for the next step if there is a concern and how they could interact with their child at home to promote development."

The screening will help identify any potential delays in five developmental areas including cognitive, motor, language/communication, social/emotional and adaptive behaviors. The NMSU team also will provide suggestions on how parents can interact with the child at home to address the area of concern. Screenings will be free and open to the general public.

The screenings first began in the spring semester and Chai said that they hope to continue providing community-based developmental screening to children in New Mexico.

The screening is a joint effort between the NMSU Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders and the Anthony Head Start Center, and will be conducted by undergraduate students from the Assessment of Young Children Birth-Eight class.

For more information, contact Zhen Chai at 575-646-5971.