upSTART
Texas Children’s Hospital and Baylor College of Medicine are proud to bring programs into the community to help expectant parents and families with young children. Our programs are designed to support children’s early brain and language development, perinatal maternal mental health health, social drivers of health, and maternal-child health and wellness.
upWORDS is a group-based, early language development program for families with children from birth to 36 months of age. The program consists of 14 one-hour sessions over four months in which caregivers learn how to improve their child’s early language skills. Participants receive a developmental snapshot of their child’s language skills as well as a weekly report which details the amount of conversational turn-taking between an adult and the child and the number of adult words and electronic sounds (e.g., television) the child hears in a block of time. To enroll in a class or to learn more, click here.
upWORDS2 is offered to parents who have participated in upWORDS and are seeking additional sessions on early brain development and positive parenting.
upWORDS Bridges is offered to upWORDS families who express concerns about a language or developmental delay. Our speech language pathologists and health educators support families in enrolling them in a timely developmental evaluation and provide individual and group support to address language delays.
upLIFT is a home visitation program for women experiencing symptoms of depression and anxiety during pregnancy and in the year after giving birth. A licensed social worker meets with the participant in her home or virtually and provides up to eight sessions to support her in learning new tools and strategies to help ease symptoms of depression and anxiety. Pregnant women or women who have delivered a baby in the past year and are experiencing symptoms of depression or anxiety, can contact us at upliftformoms@bcm.edu or 832-826-0440.
upREACH+ is a short-term perinatal home visitation program to help families prepare to bring home their newborn, support maternal health and well-being during pregnancy and the early postpartum period, and help ensure families have the information, resources, and connections to community resources to promote family wellbeing. In this program, a nurse and a community health worker team meet with the family in the home and/or virtually to provide support and resources. This program is currently being offered to patients at Ben Taub Hospital who receive care in the High-Risk Obstetrics Clinic, lacked prenatal care, or develop high-risk conditions such as hypertension around the time of delivery.
For more information, please contact us at upreachplus@bcm.edu or 346-453-9523.
