HealthySteps at SMC Pediatrics
1201 S. Adams St. Stillwater, OK (405) 743-7385
HealthySteps is a nationally recognized program based in a pediatrician’s office that works with doctors and staff to help families identify, understand and manage parenting challenges like feeding, behavior, sleep, development and adapting to life with a young child.
The HealthySteps visit
The HealthySteps Specialist joins the family in the exam room to discuss typical development and behaviors, common stressors, and explore strategies to address the family’s and child’s needs at that particular age. This team approach empowers parents to use the most helpful information, tools and services during this crucial time in their child’s brain development. HealthySteps promotes health and wellness through parent/child relationships, nutrition, safety, and optimal environments.
“Parents don't normally hear praise or reassurance, and HealthySteps helped make me an even better parent with increased confidence. Later, when my son was slow to speak, my Specialist problem-solved with me. By utilizing speech therapy early on, we are successfully preventing future problems and expense.”
A Healthy Steps Mother
Meet our staff
Traci Hamilton, MS, ccps, Healthsteps specialist
Traci Hamilton is a Child Development Specialist and a Certified Child and Parenting Specialist. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Communication Sciences and Disorders and a Master’s in Human Development and Family Sciences, both from Oklahoma State University. She has served as a Child Development Specialist with the Early Intervention program SoonerStart for 12 years. She currently is a HealthySteps Specialist at Stillwater Pediatrics clinic. Her emphasis includes child development, parenting, behavior issues and developmental assessment of young children. She has been involved in the Early Childhood Coalition since starting with HealthySteps in 2016.
laura Shellhammer, ms, ccps, coordinator
Laura is a Child Development Specialist and Certified Child and Parenting Specialist. She received her BS and MS degrees in Family Relations and Child Development from Oklahoma State University. She has served as a Child Development Specialist in the Payne County Health Department Child Guidance division, taught the Effects of Child Abuse and Neglect course for Child Welfare staff, and worked in the HealthySteps program for 17 years. Laura is currently the Stillwater HealthySteps Coordinator at Stillwater Medical Pediatrics, the Early Childhood Mental Health Consultant with Iowa Tribe Early Childhood Center and Headstart/Early Headstart in Payne, Logan and Noble counties, and is the Executive Director of the Payne County Early Childhood Coalition.
a national model
Healthy Steps operates 231 sites around the country, in 24 states, Washington DC and on 7 military bases. HealthySteps has now been in existence for 28 years.