FIT program aids NM kids with developmental delays

Mom/advocate says early diagnosis makes world of difference in outcomes

No parent wants to hear their child isn’t developing as expected. But even scarier than learning your child may be developmentally delayed is feeling lost and alone when searching for the right treatments and supports.

I serve as the parent co-chair on the N.M. Interagency Coordinating Council, a federally mandated council that advises and assists the Early Childhood Education and Care Department’s Family Infant Toddler (FIT) program in implementing a statewide, coordinated and family-centered system of early intervention. Under the leadership of Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, New Mexico has continued to improve families’ access to high quality, no-cost early intervention services for children experiencing or at risk for developmental delays.

In fiscal 2021, despite the challenges posed by pivoting to telehealth during the pandemic, FIT served 13,261 children in New Mexico. A family survey from the same year found 95% of families say FIT services helped them know their rights; 99% say FIT services helped them effectively communicate their children’s needs; and 99.7% say FIT services empowered their family to help their children develop and learn. New Mexico is a national leader, ranking third in the nation in identifying infants and toddlers who could benefit from early intervention.

I know firsthand how critical these services are. Soon after my second child was born, we learned she failed the hearing screening test. The next 18 months were a blur of hearing specialist appointments, incomplete diagnoses and second opinions. During that period, my husband and I were so overwhelmed trying to navigate the system that we didn’t follow up when one of our post-care coordinators tried to connect us with FIT services.

After a long and frustrating journey, we finally had the right diagnosis of bilateral hearing loss. We got our daughter bilateral hearing aids — but she needed more than that. Hearing loss during her most important developmental years meant she never fully learned how to engage in the world or communicate with others. As parents, it was heartbreaking for us to see only glimpses of her personality shining through the barriers created by her disability. But a chance meeting with another parent changed everything.

After striking up a conversation with the mother of a child wearing a cochlear implant, she urged us to reach out to the FIT program and seek services for our daughter. An early intervention specialist came to our family’s home and worked with us to develop an Individualized Family Service Plan that helped equip us with strategies and skills to support our child’s development. The change in our daughter was miraculous — like a light suddenly turned on inside of her. Her cognitive, speech and socialemotional skills rapidly improved, and she eventually caught up to her developmental milestones. Today, she is an amazing, self-advocating seventh-grader who is thriving in school.

Empowering families is central to FIT’s mission, and no family better illustrates the transformational power of this program than ours. Our third child was also diagnosed with hearing loss at birth, but he never experienced developmental delays because we knew to seek support at the outset. The earlier developmental delays are identified, the better the outcomes, and ECECD’s FIT program is here to help equip your family with the tools it needs to thrive — just as it did with mine.

Carmen Armenta is a Rio Rancho mother of three and parent co-chair of the Interagency Coordinating Council, which advises and assists ECECD’s Family Infant Toddler Program. FIT provides high-quality, family-centered early intervention services to families with children experiencing or at risk for developmental delays.