Using the Bright Futures Family Pocket Guide

What’s Special about the Bright Futures Family Pocket Guide?

• Content based on AAP’s Bright Futures Guidelines for Health Supervision of Infants, Children, and Adolescents, 3rd Ed. (“BF3”).

• Takes hundreds of health & wellness recommendations and condenses/translates them into language families can understand—and act on.

• Includes 4 Age/Stage sections: Infancy, Early Childhood, Middle Childhood, Adolescence, and identifies health guidance around the 10 Bright Futures health promotion themes.

What’s Special about the Bright Futures Family Pocket Guide?

• Includes 24 pages of more than 100 resources grouped by BF themes and other relevant family resource topics

• AAP websites and resources• FV websites and resources• Bright Futures Family Network organizations• Government websites• Other highly respected health and wellness

websites and resources

What’s Special about the Bright Futures Family Pocket Guide?

• Includes information specifically for children and youth with special health care needs (CYSHCN), while also acknowledging that CYSHCN have the same health and wellness needs as other children.

• Pictures and graphics are culturally diverse, colorful, and engaging.

• Most graphics courtesy of Bright Futures at Georgetown

Now Available in Spanish!

For more information or to order, go to: http://www.fv-impact.org//

What’s Special about the Spanish Bright Futures Family Pocket Guide?

• Includes the same helpful information as the English guide

• Includes the same resources, in Spanish where available

• The translation was done by a family leader and is in “universal” Spanish, designed to be understood by a wide range of Spanish-speaking people

• Special thanks to all who helped with this beautiful booklet!

Using the Family Pocket Guide:Suggestions for Families

• The Bright Futures Family Pocket Guide (BFFPG) has a wealth of family-friendly health and wellness tips for all ages and stages of children from birth through age 21, including children and youth with special health care needs.

• The developmental stage information (“At this age your child may be able to…”) can be used to help track a child’s progress and note where potential problems might be.

• In addition to age-specific information, the BFFPG also has over 100 resources, grouped by topic and Bright Futures themes.

Using the Family Pocket Guide:Suggestions for Families, cont.

Preparing for Well-Child Visits•The well-child visit sections can be used to help prepare for the next visit—what are the priorities that the health care provider is likely to bring up? •The family or child may have different or additional questions or concerns—these are the highest priority!•The BFFPG also lists typical tests and procedures done at a given well-child visit. These can be used to help prepare the child for the visit.•Encourage families to make notes of any questions or concerns, as well as any changes in the family situation, visits with health care specialists, etc.•A well-child visit is a perfect opportunity for families to share good news about the child, and note special achievements!

Using the Family Pocket Guide:Suggestions for Health Care Providers

• Share the BFFPG with families in your practice. Show them how to use it.

• Encourage families to bring their BFFPG with them to visits and make notes in them.

• Ask the family what they would like to discuss at the visit.• Ask the family if there are any changes in the family situation (new

job, new family member, loss of a job, etc.).• Ask the family what is working well for them and the child? What

new achievements has the child accomplished?• Direct the family to specific pages and resources they might find

especially useful.

Prevention Works

Families Matter

Health Promotion is Everybody’s Business

—Judith S. Palfrey, MD, mother of three children; Co-author, Bright Futures Editions 1 and 2; Former President, American Academy of Pediatrics; Former Executive

Director of Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move” Initiative