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Pathways.org, national non-profit organization, has enhanced its web site with more than 25 free videos in multiple languages to help parents and health care professionals visualize the subtle differences between typical and atypical development in infants and young children.

With 600,000 children at risk each year for early motor, sensory, and communication delays, the Pathways.org web site offers essential resources for parents and health professionals to help recognize early warning signs. Through stories about children with different types of developmental delays, parents can understand physical and behavioral activities that signal the need for intervention. They also can see how various therapies work and their beneficial impact.

The advantages of video are just as applicable to medical professionals, clinicians and other health professionals. With early
motor delays on the rise and occurring in 1 of every 40 children, these videos demonstrate are able to show developmental delays in infants as young as two months old.

“To actually see these differences in the actual movement has a much greater impact,” noted Dr. Garry Gardner, MD, FAAP Professor of Clinical Pediatrics at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and co-chair of Pathways.org Medical Round Table. “It would be as if you were reading about how somebody dances and picturing that from the written word as opposed to actually seeing them dance and see what the movement actually looks like.”

Each video was developed in collaboration with the expertise of the Pathways.org Medical Round Table. Founded in 1988, the Round Table includes 15 leading physicians, therapists, clinicians, nurse practitioners, and lay advisors — all of whom are sensitive to the medical and emotional needs of infants and children and their families.

In addition to the videos, the enhanced Pathways.org web site has numerous educational resources, links, checklists and tools for both health professionals and parents, including information on each state’s early intervention offices and advice to parents on preparing for a doctor’s visit.