About Massachusetts Act Early
* Screen early * Screen often * Screen all *
Our Vision
The Massachusetts Act Early Coalition works to strengthen state and community systems for the early identification and intervention for children with signs of developmental disabilities, such as autism spectrum disorders. The coalition envisions a future that uses a family-centered model that overcomes geographic, socioeconomic, cultural, and linguistic barriers to assure equal access to developmental screening for all children in the Commonwealth.
Our Mission
Massachusetts Act Early aims to educate parents and professionals about healthy childhood development, early warning signs of developmental disorders including autism spectrum disorder, the importance of routine developmental screening, and timely early intervention whenever there is a concern.
Our Coalition
MA Act Early has 60+ state team members, with an executive steering committee. State team members represent families and caregivers, university centers of excellence, health care organizations, public health, early education, day care, elementary and secondary education, disability agencies, family support agencies, advocacy groups, and research centers.
Our Goals
The current goals of the MA Act Early state team are:
- Develop an outreach plan to increase public awareness of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and other developmental disorders (DDs);
- Increase training for health care, early childhood and educational professionals;
- Shorten the wait times between screening and diagnosis as well as diagnosis and intervention; and
- Reach out to diverse communities using culturally and linguistically competent resources, such as materials, training and media for families of young children, early childhood educators, early intervention providers, community health centers and pediatric practices across MA.
Last Update: March 21, 2016