Health Determinants

We know that learning begins at birth and that healthy development dramatically impacts children’s ability to learn. Children who are on track in their physical, social, emotional, cognitive, and verbal development are more successful learners from their earliest years, and they are more likely to become proficient readers. In Florida, affordable health and dental insurance are available for children ages 5–18 through Florida Healthy Kids. For children under the age of five, there’s the Florida Kidcare program, Medikids.

 The Healthy Readers Initiative of the Campaign for Grade-Level Reading focuses on strategies to ensure that children from asset-limited families are in good health and developing on track at four key milestones in their development from birth through third grade:

• Born Healthy
• Thriving at Three
• Ready at Five
• Present and Engaged in the Early Grades