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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

  • May 17, 2022

    ​New PCO Webinar - Bridging the Gap: Practical Mental Health Interventions for Pediatric Clinicians 

    Join to learn as Rebecca Baum, MD, FAAP, Cody Hostutler, PhD, and Jeff Shahidullah, PhD, discuss practical strategies to help pediatrician clinicians implement mental health care for their child and adolescent patients.
    Friday, May 27, 2022  12 PM (CT)​

  • May 12, 2022

    ​New Event - Let's Talk about Developmental Surveillance Over Coffee!

    Hosted by Lisa Shulman MD FAAP and Sara Del Campo de Gonzalez MD FAAP, the AAP is holding a (free) virtual coffee talk for pediatric health care professionals focused on how to use and implement Learn the Signs. Act Early. communication tools within your practice. Mark your calendars and register here to attend this 45-minute live event. This coffee talk will answer questions related to developmental surveillance and provide you with support to continue implementation in your practice. 
    Wednesday, May 25, 2022  12:00 PM (CT)​
    Register now! If prompted, Meeting Password: coffee

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  • May 9, 2022

    New Webinar Series: Systems of Care & Healthy Mental Development: Effective Strategies to Support CYSHCN in the Medical Home

    The National Resource Center for Patient/Family-Centered Medical Home (NRC-PFCMH) is hosting a FREE 2-part webinar series examining the behavioral and mental health systems of care for children and youth with special health care needs (CYSHCN) and the role of medical home within that system. Both episodes will include a Q&A opportunity and will highlight family experiences in navigating the system and partnering with their child’s pediatric health care pr​ofessional to support their behavioral and mental health care needs. ​
    • Episode 1 will feature the Nebraska Partnership for Mental Healthcare Access in Pediatrics and the University of Michigan Child Collaborative Consultation Program. Participants will learn how these 2 programs have addressed access to behavioral and mental health care for CYSHCN, in addition to the key partners and collaborators that support their respective programmatic efforts.
    Friday, June 24 @ 11am CT
    Register here
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    • Episode 2 will feature pediatricians Marian Earls, MD, MTS, FAAP and Richard Antonelli, MD, MS, FAAP. Drs Earls and Antonelli will discuss how pediatricians and the medical home can support behavioral and mental health care for CYSHCN. 
    Thursday, June 30 @ 12pm CT
    Register here​



  • May 6, 2022

    ​New Pediatrics On Call Podcast: Integrating Mental Health into the Medical Home - Episode 111

    In this Pediatrics On Call episode​, Rachel Moon, MD, FAAP, associate editor of digital media for the journal Pediatrics, shares a research roundup from the May issue. Hosts David Hill, MD, FAAP, and Joanna Parga-Belinkie, MD, FAAP, also talk with Richard Chung, MD, FAAP, member of the AAP Committee on Adolescence as well as the Bright Futures Steering Committee, about ways to assess mental health of children and teens within the medical home. ​Listen here for all of the podcast episodes. ​​​

  • April 26, 2022

    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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  • April 26, 2022

    ​New Resource: Blueprint for Youth Suicide Prevention​

    Experts have joined forces to create this unique resource. Suicide is the 2nd leading cause of death in youth aged 10 - 24 years. ​This Blueprint​ ​highlights suicide risk-reducing strategies for use in pediatric care and youth community settings. ​

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