Building an Accessible Platform for Early Movement Delays
By Michelle Fiscus, Senior VP & Chief Communications Officer
At three months old, most parents are still learning their baby—what each cry means, how they move, and how they settle. At times, something feels off. Not enough to name. Not enough to act on. Just enough to sit quietly in the back of a parent’s mind.
And then time passes.
For families whose children have early movement delays, that quiet uncertainty can turn into something heavier—missed milestones, long waitlists, disrupted childcare, and a growing realization that help isn’t coming fast enough.
“Families often miss a very important developmental window,” said Dr. Gavin Colquitt of Appalachian State University. “These delays can be detected as early as 3–4 months… and early motor delays can have lasting effects throughout the lifetime.”
Colquitt has spent his career at the intersection of movement, disability, and rural health. A Fellow of the American Academy of Cerebral Palsy and Developmental Medicine and founder of Appalachian State’s Growing Well Developmental Clinic, his work is grounded in what happens when systems don’t move as quickly as the children they’re meant to support.
“A parent may know something feels off,” he said, “but they are trying to make sense of it while also dealing with waitlists, childcare pressures, transportation issues, or simply not knowing where to turn.”
In North Carolina, one in six children faces developmental delays. For many families—especially in rural parts of the state—getting help means navigating a system that wasn’t built for speed or access. By the time support arrives, the most critical window for intervention may already be closing.
The consequences show up quickly. The average age of diagnosis for some conditions stretches well beyond the first year of life, even though concerns can be identified much earlier. Children slip through the cracks—not because no one is paying attention, but because the pathway to answers is fragmented, slow, and often unclear.
Colquitt’s work is focused on changing that—not by replacing clinical care, but by meeting families earlier, at home, with something they can actually use.
His platform translates clinical motor development research into a parent-facing tool: personalized activities, progress tracking, and clear guidance on what to do next. It is designed to help parents act in real time—before delays compound, before referrals stall out, before uncertainty turns into stress.
“I would say it very simply,” he explained. “This is a tool designed to help parents know what to look for, what to do next, and how to support their child at home in a way that is evidence-based and understandable.”
What makes the approach different is not just the content, but how it is built. The underlying curriculum is already grounded in clinical evidence and has been implemented internationally. The challenge now is delivery—turning something proven into something accessible, usable, and scalable.
At Emory University, Colquitt’s team is producing a library of video content—capturing real interactions between parents and children rather than staged demonstrations. In North Carolina, partners are building the platform infrastructure, translating that content into a system families can actually navigate. At the same time, the team is working directly with families and early intervention providers to test how the tool fits into existing care pathways.
That last piece matters.
Early intervention providers are already stretched thin, and Colquitt is clear about the role this work should play.
The goal is not to replace them—it’s to fill in the gaps.
In many parts of the state, families wait months for services. Others never enter the system at all. Nearly half of children with delays do not come through traditional high-risk pathways like neonatal intensive care follow-up programs. By the time they are identified, the window for early support has narrowed.
“We want to make sure our entry into the system is seen as a partner,” Colquitt said. “Once people hear about it, they’re like—this is wonderful.”
That partnership extends beyond clinicians.
Families themselves are part of the design process—through surveys, feedback loops, and potential focus groups that shape how the platform delivers information and support. The goal is not just clinical accuracy, but usability in real life: low bandwidth, clear guidance, and tools that fit into a parent’s day.
The concept is already proven. What has been missing is the ability to build it into something that can reach families at scale.
That’s where NCInnovation comes in.
With non-dilutive funding and commercialization support, the project is moving from early-stage research into a functional, scalable platform. Over the next two years, Colquitt and his team will pilot the tool with families in Western North Carolina, expand to a 500-family beta test, and work toward integration with healthcare systems—including Medicaid pilots.
“This funding gives us the ability to move from a proven concept to a scalable platform,” he said. “In other words, we can do the work required to take something promising and make it usable statewide.”
Without that bridge, the outcome would look very different.
“The project could remain a strong idea with encouraging research behind it,” Colquitt said, “rather than becoming a tool families across North Carolina can actually use.”
If the platform works the way his team expects, the shift for families is immediate—and tangible: earlier support, at home, with less waiting and less stress.
But the impact doesn’t stop there.
When families get answers sooner, they stay in the workforce. When children receive support earlier, outcomes improve before challenges compound. And when systems are easier to navigate, fewer people fall through them.
Statewide success, in Colquitt’s view, isn’t defined by downloads or adoption metrics.
“It means every family with a child with a motor delay ages 0–3 has access to the support they need.”
Because the difference between a child falling behind and a child catching up often comes down to timing. And right now, too many families are waiting longer than they should.