New Data from Clay Indicates that 40% of Children Ages 3-5 Who Are Flagged with Behavioral Issues Show Signs of Anxiety

“ In order to better support children and set them up for success, early education centers need tools to identify potential risk factors such as behavioral and developmental delays. ”

– Lee Rotenberg

CEO and cofounder of Clay

Clay, the behavioral health solution for early childhood education centers, released new data from its early screening and identification platform, indicating that 40% of children ages 3-5 who were flagged with behavioral issues also showed signs of anxiety.
Clay is an early identification platform that provides a comprehensive suite of behavioral and developmental tools for school communities that serve children ages 0-5. For this particular data effort, Clay considered more than 250,000 anonymized data points on 2,726 children ages 3-5, collected via well-validated standardized screening tools recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). Of this sample of participants, nearly one third (778 children, or 30.8%) showed some indication of a behavioral concern. Within this subset, 40% showed an indicator for anxiety. Clay’s data also indicates that there may be a strong correlation between parental anxiety and child anxiety, with up to 65% of the children flagged for behavioral issues displaying signs of anxiety when a parent also showed signs of anxiety. It also signals a strong correlation between behavioral issues and developmental issues, with 51% of the children who were flagged for behavioral issues showing indications of developmental delays.
“ Early education centers are increasingly on the front lines of the mental health crisis. ”
– said Lee Rotenberg, Cofounder and CEO, Clay.
“ In order to better support children and set them up for success, early education centers need tools to identify potential risk factors such as behavioral and developmental delays. As this data indicates, behavioral issues often correlate with other types of mental health concerns that can and should be addressed as early as possible. ”
With a comprehensive suite of best-in-class tools, Clay empowers early education centers to create a better classroom environment by identifying potential behavioral and developmental health concerns, and provides training and strategic support to help teachers address them more effectively. Clay also provides personalized information for families, with the goal of aligning parents and educators on how best to support the child and ensure they are on the same page.

The Clay platform includes:

  • Ongoing developmental and behavioral screening and monitoring tools to support children and educators in the classroom
  • AI-powered assistant for teachers to get instant answers and support for behavioral health
  • Peer support chat groups for educators on behavioral topics and knowledge exchange
  • Interactive professional development and support for teachers around behavioral and developmental health
  • Evidenced-based, personalized interventions and strategies for parents and educators
  • Psychoeducational content for families and educators
According to a recent study published by The U.S. Surgeon General’s Advisory (2021), one in three high school students and more than half of female students reported persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness, an overall increase of 40% from 2009. “The typical delay between the first onset of a mental health issue or disorder and the first treatment contact is 11 years,” said Robin Maddox, LMFT and Director of Behavioral Health, Clay. “For children, this means that issues such as anxiety aren’t being addressed until their teenage years, even though they may have first surfaced in early childhood as behavioral concerns. This highlights the critical need for early identification and intervention, and reinforces the role of tools like Clay in supporting educators and parents.”

What Early Education Centers are Saying About Clay

“In our current climate we have seen more children struggling with mental health and anxiety than before,”

said Sasha Vinson, Chief Operating Officer, Kids ‘R’ Kids Corporate.

“As early educators we are constantly looking for innovative ways of connecting with our children and helping families cope with challenging behaviors. This is why we are so excited to be partnering with Clay. Early intervention in the preschool setting is key to helping families and teachers form a support system to help children build confidence, curb challenging behaviors, and develop a lifelong love of learning. ”

“Our partnership with CLAY is particularly advantageous for our parents and teachers – however, the winners in this efficient yet thorough process are the children,”

said Kate Sherrard, Creative Director, O2B Kids.

“CLAY offers us a window into the world of each student from the perspective of both the teacher and the parent. Early identification of areas where a student excels or may need help will benefit that child dramatically in their future success. We feel that CLAY will give each student and family a leg up on their academic and developmental success.”

“We’ve seen firsthand the impact that early identification can have on our classrooms,”

said Spencer Kushner, Founder of Otter Learning, a multi-state leading early childhood operator.

“Clay’s platform has been an invaluable tool in helping us to identify and address behavioral and emotional issues early on, and we view this new data as a validation of the importance of this work.”

“At The Malvern School, we are committed to developing the whole child during their crucial early childhood years– from infancy to pre-kindergarten and beyond,”

Kristen Waterfield, Founder & CEO, The Malvern School.

“Our Program focuses on the physical, cognitive and emotional growth of the child and that is why partnering with CLAY is perfect for our school communities. We are excited to offer our parents resources outside of the classroom that will be customized to their child’s own developmental needs and provide all caregivers with the tools to navigate the early childhood years.”

For more information about Clay, or how to participate in Clay’s early education pilot program, please contact us at [email protected]

About Clay

Clay is a behavioral and developmental health platform for early education centers. With a comprehensive suite of best-in-class tools, Clay empowers teachers to create a better classroom environment by identifying potential behavioral and developmental health concerns, and provides training and strategic support to help teachers address them more effectively. With a seasoned executive team and a list of premiere customers and partners in early education including O2B Kids, The Malvern School, Kids ‘R’ Kids, and Otter Learning, and many others, Clay supports children, families and educators at hundreds of early education centers across the country, in order to produce better health outcomes.