As part of the basic School Health services mandated by Florida Statute, the Florida Department of Health in Seminole County, in collaboration with SCPS offers growth and development screenings to students in 1st, 3rdand 6th grades. The screening is conducted by trained health technicians and nurses and it involves measuring the youth height and weight to calculated the Body Mass Index (BMI). For children and teens, BMI is age and gender specific and is often expressed as a percentile. BMI is not a diagnostic tool, instead it is used to screen for potential weight and health-related issues. For children who have a high BMI or a low BMI for their age and sex, a health care provider may perform further assessments to evaluate the child's health status and risks.
For more information, please visit the CDC's Body Mass Index information.
In conjunction with the growth and development screenings, the department of health in collaboration with SCPS also offers oral health screenings for students in 1st, 3rd and 6th grades. The oral health screenings is a simple non-invasive assessment, where the screening technician uses a penlight or small flashlight to look inside the child's mouth for obvious sign of diseases such as large cavities or abscesses. For more information, please visit: CDC's Children's Oral Health and Oral Health and Learning fact sheet.
For both health screenings, when results are out of range or signs of disease are identified, the screening team sends the screening results via mail to the parent/guardian to inform them of the findings, and to support any follow up with the health care providers. The screening team is also able to assist with additional resources, if needed.