CDC - Learn the Signs. Act Early - Partners Home

Information for Partners

People holding hands around world Educating the public about childhood development issues is no small task. To help raise awareness, we need organizations, professionals, parents, and other individuals around the country to partner with CDC in these efforts.

Get Involved

There are a lot of ways to get involved in the “Learn the Signs. Act Early.” campaign. If you would like to become a campaign partner and receive the newsletter, email updates, and other information, let us know by contacting CDC Info.

Even if you don’t want to become an “official” partner, there are other ways you can get involved. You don’t have to testify in front of Congress or start a radio talk show. Simply talk to your child’s pediatrician or childcare provider, and you, too, can make a difference.

Share the “Go Out and Play!” Kit

The “Go Out and Play!” Kit for child care and early education providers is rich in developmentally appropriate games and activities for children 3 through 5 years of age. This FREE kit also contains information about monitoring developmental milestones during outdoor play, ideas for making outdoor activities successful, and tips for talking to parents when a developmental delay is suspected. In addition, the kit includes a special pullout section with activities to share with parents for at-home play.

We need your help to make sure that child care providers and early educators across the country are aware of and use this FREE resource. Simply download the kit and e-mail it to an early educator or local daycare, camp, or school for young children in your area. You can copy and paste the sample letter into the e-mail to early educators. You can also make copies of the kit to distribute to local schools and share with interested friends and family.

As always, we thank you for your help and appreciate your feedback. Please share updates and success stories with us by emailing actearly@cdc.gov.

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Sample e-mail:

Subject: Calling All Teachers! CDC’s ”Learn the Signs. Act Early.” Launches “Go Out and Play!” Kit

Greetings!
As an early educator, you know the importance of play and that, for a child, to play is to learn. But did you know that play also offers a perfect opportunity for you to observe a child’s development? It’s true! Encouraging developmentally appropriate indoor and outdoor play is a great way to observe social, emotional, and cognitive milestones that mark a child’s development. Watching for the developmental milestones that are appropriate for a child’s age provides clues to a child’s development and can help you identify a child who might be at risk for a developmental delay or disability. As a trusted caregiver and educator, you can play a vital role in helping that child reach his or her full potential by sharing what you observe, and any concerns you might have, with that child’s parents and encouraging them to talk with their child’s doctor.
To help, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) “Learn the Signs. Act Early.” campaign offers the “Go Out and Play!” Kit, a FREE resource for fun and interactive activities designed for children 3 through 5 years of age, as well as other important information about child development and sharing concerns with parents.
In this free kit, you’ll find:

Sample activities for children 3 through 5 years of age.
Information about monitoring developmental milestones.
Suggestions for how to make your activity day successful (and fun!).
Tips about talking to parents if you suspect a child has a developmental delay.
A special pullout section with activities to share with parents for at-home play.

The “Go Out and Play!” Kit is available on the campaign website"http://www.cdc.gov/actearly, where you can find a variety of other free tools and resources to help you monitor the development of young children, including fact sheets about key developmental milestones and a complete Child Care Provider Resource Kit.
Now, “Go out and Play!”

Here are 5 more ideas to get you started:

Be a Campaign Spokesperson in Your Community
To help raise awareness, CDC counts on campaign partners and champions to be local spokespersons. We encourage you to speak to your local PTAs, civic organizations, child care groups, and others to spread the campaign messages.

CDC has developed a presentation for partners to use when speaking to groups that covers campaign messages and activities in addition to encouraging people to get involved.
- Click here to download the presentation. (3.1Mb)

Promote "Learn the Signs. Act Early." in Your Neighborhood
Help us spread the word among parents and health care professionals in your area. We have developed a flyer for each of these important groups with all the information they need. We have developed Outreach Kits to help you easily share information about the campaign with others. To order materials, please click here.
Localize Campaign Materials
Draw attention to our organization as you help promote the “Learn the Signs. Act Early.” campaign! As campaign champions and partners, you can now localize the campaign flyer and poster by adding your own organization’s contact information directly to the printed piece. It’s easy…
- Download these Word documents:
  Campaign flyer (2Mb)
  Campaign poster (13MB)
- Insert your organization’s JPEG format logo and contact information
  in text box in the bottom right corner of the document(s)
- Print and distribute them!
  Click the links below to see examples.
  CARE Alliance PDF flyer
  CARE Alliance PDF poster
In addition to the flyer and poster there are other campaign materials that you can localize. Please contact us at CDC Info.

Distribute the Television, Radio and Print PSAs
Check out our easy-to-use PSA distribution kit that can help you reach local media outlets to encourage them to spread the word about developmental milestones and the importance of early intervention. Get started now to preview the PSAs and download the distribution kit!
Link Your Website to Ours -- and Encourage Others to Do So as Well!
The best way to help people in your community learn more about your organization and the campaign is to link the two together – literally – on the website. We have developed a "website linking kit" that provides an icon, Web address, and description to help you put a link on your site.