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AUGUSTA

Schools need to improve mental health screening, report says

Many children with problems could be detected — and helped, officials say

By Susan M. Cover scover@mainetoday.com
State House Bureau

AUGUSTA -- More Maine children should be screened before they enter school to determine whether they need help with mental or behavioral problems, a report released Monday concluded.

"We still have a very significant number of children we are not finding early enough," said Dean Crocker, president of Maine Children's Alliance.

The alliance report found data that shows 78 percent of Maine parents said their children were not screened for developmental or behavioral problems. That meant 812 children entering kindergarten last year needed additional help, the report said.

"They had substantial disability," he said. "Substantial enough to require special education."

By not identifying those children by age 2, the state spends more money to try to help them later in life, Crocker said.

The Maine Children's Alliance released a report called Children's Mental Health 2010 that also calls for better evaluation of programs designed to help children with mental health problems.

Crocker said the state and schools need to be able to track children by Social Security number -- which has drawn fire from privacy advocates -- to ensure that they are getting the help they need.

"While our concern about our privacy is certainly a real one, the fact is, this really isn't anything new," he said. "We've been doing it for a long time."

The report suggested indicators that should be tracked over time to make sure programs are working.

"Maine needs a common set of indicators of children's mental health so we can know what we do well and where we may need to do things better," said Barbara Leonard, vice president for programs at the Maine Health Access Foundation, which funded the report.

Department of Health and Human Services Commissioner Brenda Harvey and first lady Karen Baldacci -- who has worked on children's issues for the last seven years -- also spoke at the news conference, which was held in the governor's Cabinet Room in the State House.

Baldacci said pre-kindergarten programs are expanding across the state, and cited the new Educare facility in Waterville as an example of expanded service.

"Not only will the center serve the needs of more than 200 pre-kindergarten children in Waterville, it will be a magnet for research and assessment of the many different approaches in this challenging new field we call early childhood," she said.

Susan Cover -- 620-7015

scover@mainetoday.com