Expert Q&A: Get ready for school with child health screenings

Philip Heavner, MD, Pediatrics

As parents, we do everything we can to help our children grow up healthy and happy. But staying ahead of potential health concerns involves more than treating illnesses when they arise. Regular child health screenings play a critical role in monitoring your child's physical, emotional and developmental well-being at every stage of growth.

From infancy through adolescence, these preventive visits help identify concerns early, track important milestones and ensure children receive the care they need to thrive. To better understand the value of child health screenings, we spoke with Dr. Heavner at Guthrie Cortland Pediatrics about what these appointments involve, when they should begin and how they help support healthy development from birth through young adulthood.

Q: What are child health screenings?

A: “Child health screenings" is one phrase for specific appointments that focus on age-specific topics and concerns. The goal is to identify concerns and help prevent health issues by using preventive practices including, but not limited to, immunizations, developmental questionnaires, depression screening, lead screening, and more. Different ages have different screening needs.

Q: At what age should a child start receiving regular health screenings?

A: Scheduled screenings begin in the newborn period and are an integrated part of well visits that occur every few weeks or months at first. Once a child approaches school age, health screenings occur yearly.

Q: How often should a child undergo health screenings?

A: In the first year of life, visits begin with a newborn follow-up. Then appointments occur every few months into the second year of life. After that, we recommend visits every six months until age 3, and then at least annually until early adulthood.

Q: What should I expect during my child's health screening visit?

A: During your child’s health screening, we will discuss age-appropriate vaccinations, developmental milestones, safety topics, school-related issues, and other age-appropriate topics.

Q: Can child health screenings detect mental health issues, such as anxiety or depression?

A: Yes. Specific screenings begin in early adolescence, and discussions occur earlier based on the interview at the time of the visit.

Q: Why are child health screenings so important?

A: Any opportunity to identify and prevent disease or health issues is better than treating an illness or injury that could have been avoided. By screening for numerous health risks, providers can help children and their families avoid unnecessary illness, injury, and suffering. The old saying is "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure," and this is especially true in kids.

You can schedule your child’s health screening today at Guthrie.org/Pediatrics or by calling 866-GUTHRIE (866-488-4743).