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  • Materials & Tools
    ​Bright Futures Guidelines provides a common framework for well-child care from birth to age 21.​
  • Clinical Practice
    With Bright Futures, health care professionals can accomplish 4 tasks in 18 minutes!
  • States & Communities
    Put Bright Futures into practice to promote health at the state and community levels.
  • Families
    Families use Bright Futures as a framework to partner with professionals about children’s health.
Bright Futures


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Bright Futures is a national health promotion and prevention initiative, led by the American Academy of Pediatrics and supported, in part, by the US Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA)​, Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB). The Bright Futures Guidelines provide theory-based and evidence-driven guidance for all preventive care screenings and well-child visits. Bright Futures content can be incorporated into many public health programs such as home visiting, child care, school-based health clinics, and many others. Materials developed especially for families are also available.​​​

About Bright Futures

  • For Professionals

    • Bright Futures/AAP Periodicity Schedule

      Updated March 2021 Recommendations for preventive pediatric health care in practice.Download PDF

    • Pediatric Residency Resource Library

      This resource library features a diverse set of resources to help to strengthen clinical practice, stay current with the latest practice trends, build clinical and leadership skills, and connect with other areas around the AAP. Learn more

    • Bright Futures Implementation Tip Sheets

      These NEW and UPDATED tip sheets offer practical advice to help you integrate the Bright Futures approach, tools and resources into your daily practice.Learn more

    • Bright Futures Tool and Resource Kit, 2nd Edition

      Completely updated Toolkit corresponding with the Bright Futures Guidelines, 4th Edition, with key documents that work as an integrated system to assist a health care professional carry out an efficient Bright Futures health supervision visit.Learn more

    • Bright Futures Guidelines, 4th Edition

      At your fingertips, this manual provides the most respected recommendations for the top 12 areas of child development in 1 volume, along with the most up-to-date well-child supervision standards by visit. PDF versions are now available for reference.Learn more

    • Medical Screening Reference Tables

      The tables provide an easy-to-use reference table for each Bright Futures well-child visit. Each table compiles the relevant history, risk assessment questions, and action to take if the risk assessment shows a positive result.Learn more

    • Bright Futures Webinars

      Learn about the revised and updated Bright Futures Guidelines, 4th Edition from the editors themselves as well as other relevant topics. Learn more

    • Implementing Bright Futures in Public Health

      Professionals can hear recorded audio stories of Bright Futures implementations and read highlights of how Bright Futures is being used by state agencies as the standard for well-child care and as essential content throughout many public health programs. Learn more
  • For Families

    • Well-Child Visits: Parent and Patient Education

      The parent-focused education is available for each well-child visit. The child-focused education is available from the 7 Year through the 21 Year visit. All of the information is written to be easy to read and understand, in both English and Spanish.Learn more

    • The Well-Child Visit: Why Go and What to Expect

      This NEW handout, The Well-Child Visit: Why Go and What to Expect, helps families prepare for their regular check-ups. This tip sheet is available in English and Spanish.Learn more

    • Bright Futures Activity Book, 2nd Edition

      To encourage parent-child interaction, the Bright Futures Activity Book provides a fun, informative, and interactive overview of the 12 themes from the Bright Futures: Guidelines for Health Supervision of Infants, Children, and Adolescents, 4th Edition.Learn more

 Highlights and Announcements

  • October 21, 2021

    AAP Food Insecurity ECHO

    AAP will host a Project ECHO learning collaborative on food insecurity. The goal of this ECHO is to enhance practice capacity to identify, refer, and follow-up with families experiencing or nearing food insecurity. This ECHO 9-session learning collaborative will leverage a quality improvement component. For more information, click here. 

    There will be an onboarding meeting Thursday, October 28, 2021 at 12pm ET/11am CT. 
    The program will launch in November 2021 and will meet monthly.

    To register, click here.
    Contact Briana Lemon, Program Manager, ECHO Initiatives blemon@aap.org.

    *No Kid Hungry is a public-private coalition working to end childhood hunger. The partnership between Share Our Strength and the American Academy of Pediatrics is ending childhood hunger by ensuring kids get the food they need.




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  • October 20, 2021

    New PediaLink Course: Bright Futures - Building Positive Parenting Skills Across Ages

    The Bright Futures National Center is excited to announce the launch of a new PediaLink course titled, Bright Futures - Building Positive Parenting Skills Across Ages​. The purpose of this course is to provide residents, nursing trainees, and other pediatric health care professionals the knowledge and skills to provide parental support and advice. Pediatric health care professionals play a vital role in reinforcing parenting skills by providing developmentally appropriate parenting advice and support as well as modeling parenting skills during the health supervision visit. This course includes scenarios to apply key concepts to address common behavioral concerns and ameliorate parental stress. The course is free to the general public, including non-AAP members. Learners who will only be required to create an AAP login (if they don't already) to obtain access to the course.

    Register Now!​


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  • October 20, 2021

    Join Addressing Social Health and Early Childhood Wellness (ASHEW) RoundTable on the first and third Friday of each month at 1p-2p CT (2p ET and 11a PT)

    ​ ASHEW RoundTable will serve as an opportunity for peer-to-peer learning and innovation by promoting open discussion and collaboration. Attendees are encouraged to engage with the ASHEW Technical Assistance and Quality Improvement Project Advisory Committees and Family Advisors about innovative approaches​, best practices and lessons learned when integrating early childhood screening, counseling, referral, and follow-up for developmental milestones, perinatal depression, and social determinants of health. To access the meeting or to submit questions or topics for discussion during a RoundTable session click here​. ​


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  • October 8, 2021

    ​Safer Disinfectant Use During the COVID-19 Pandemic​

    The Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Units (PEHSU) program has created resources for families to safely reduce the spread of COVID-19, including a fact sheet and infographic on Safer Disinfectant Use During the COVID-19 Pandemic​. Co-branded by the AAP​, the resources can be used by health care professionals, families, schools, and/or early care and education professionals and offer guidance on cleaning surfaces safely, properly disinfecting to kill germs, and how to make safer, effective disinfection choices. They are both available in English, ​Spanish, and 6 additional languages. Visit the PEHSU website to learn more!​


  • October 6, 2021

    Addressing Social Health and Early Childhood Wellness (ASHEW) Presents: Implementation and Change at the Practice Level: “Engaging Leadership to Support Practice Transformation”

    Learning Objectives

    • Identify strategies for determining organizational level and leadership team to approach for support, as well as where in the structure or practice flow the change needs to be made.
    • Outline components of a practice change proposal to present to leadership, including steps for preparation of practice environment and comprehensive implementation plan.
    • ​Outline a plan for keeping leadership updated regarding progress on practice change goals, as well as sustainability needs. 

    Wednesday, October 20, 2021 11am - 1pm CT 
    Register     here.

    ​​They anticipate for participants at this event to be eligible to receive 2.0 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™. 

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  • October 6, 2021

    Webinar: Influenza Prevention and Strategies at Early Child Care Settings 

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    The AAP will host its annual webinar on influenza prevention and strategies in early child care settings. The webinar will cover practical strategies to protect children against the flu by promoting vaccination and implementing infection control policies in early child care settings.
    ​Participation is free, registration is required, and space is limited. 
    October 7, 2021 4pm CT
    Register here.

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