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TopicEarly Childhood
ContentOklahoma has received national recognition for early childhood initiatives including Reaching for the Stars tiered reimbursement for quality child care and the broad availability of Pre-Kindergarten programs. We should build on these efforts by increasing the focus on social and emotional development in early childhood and broader access to health and mental health services for licensed child care and Pre-K programs. More than half of Oklahoma's young children pass through one or both of these programs before entering kindergarten. There are more than 156,107 Oklahoma children age birth to 5 years with one or both parents in the workforce. From both a public health perspective and an education perspective we should take advantage of the time these children spend in licensed child care and Pre-K programs to intervene early in families and support at risk children. Study after study has demonstrated that early intervention is cost effective.
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