Frederick County Developmental Center

This morning Bethany Dunahugh, Speech Therapist and Andrea Williams, Family Support Coordinator with Infants and Toddlers Program spoke to a wonderful group of caregivers at the Tuscarora Elementary Judy Center about the benefits of limited screen time usage for young children. We asked participants to help us create a list of activities that families can do with young children other than giving them a phone or tablet. Some of these activities can be done while going grocery shopping, sitting at a doctor's office or at a restaurant or while at home.

Ideas included: Play-dough, playing simple board games at home, looking for birds on a walk, creating a sensory bin, water play outside, cooking together, playing with Legos or building blocks, dancing, making music or listening to music, painting, sensory sand, magnet games, setting up a dramatic play center like the doctor's office at home, make a pretend picnic, playing I/Eye Spy anywhere, bringing a drawing pad with you to the doctors or restaurant, help with shopping by finding items, help put groceries in the cart, counting items, identifying letter or words in the store, and of course reading together!

This was a fantastic group and while we talked with the caregivers, all the children were engaged in age-appropriate play in the dramatic play area, block center and as you can see one toddler even wrote her own ideas on a piece of paper.

Do you have anything to add to our list? We'd love to hear!

Yesterday, the Frederick County Developmental Center (FCDC), a division of the Frederick County Health Department, gathered for their Spring Staff Meeting.

FCDC offers a comprehensive range of services for children in Frederick County, including:
The Infants and Toddlers Program, serving eligible children from birth to 3 years old;
A Dental Clinic for children under 18 years of age, accepting Medical Assistance cards and uninsured/underinsured patients;
School-Based Occupational Therapy and Physical Therapy for eligible children enrolled in Frederick County Public Schools (FCPS);
Audiology services for uninsured and underinsured children in Frederick County.

For questions about our services, please do not hesitate to reach out or visit Health.FrederickCountyMD.gov/DevelopmentalCenter