One Step Ahead Program
Who we are
The One Step Ahead (OSA) Program, part of the Children's Hospital Primary Care Center at Children's Hospital Boston, is an obesity prevention and management program that teaches children and adults how to develop healthful lifestyle habits. We help families learn how to make physical activity and healthy food choices part of their lives.
Our team provides children and teens, ages 3 to 13, with medical evaluations, nutritional counseling, access to physical activities and resources and behavioral psychology services to encourage them to stay healthy.
Our expertise
One way OSA helps children eat more healthfully is by identifying culturally appropriate food choices for families. Supermarket gift certificates provided by OSA allow families to shop for fresh foods that may otherwise be unaffordable. To encourage physical activity, patients in the program can receive stipends for things like a bicycle or dance classes.
Did you know? Helping families help themselves
OSA at Children's Hospital Boston has created the TLC (Targeting Lifestyle Change) Program to support children and parents as they make positive lifestyle changes.
TLC, launched in Spring 2007 by psychologist Laura Edwards-Leeper, PhD, is an eight-week-long, after school program where we work on helping children feel good about themselves and their bodies, assist the entire family in making healthy lifestyle goals and long-term changes, and provide support and guidance for parents.
Did you know? BMI linked to genes
An international consortium led by Children's Divisions of Genetics and Endocrinology has made significant headway, discovering six new genetic variants linked with body mass index (BMI) in the general population. Most are active in the brain, suggesting that differences in appetite regulation may play a role in obesity.
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