As the share of infants and toddlers with slow development rises rapidly, an integrated platform has emerged to link early detection with support. Samsung Welfare Foundation and the Korea Institute of Child Care and Education said on Aug. 3 they have opened the infant development support platform Sprout and Rain (saessakgudanbi.org).

A research report published by the institute in 2025 showed that results from Korea's K-DST developmental screening test for infants and toddlers, run by the National Health Insurance Service, found the share of children needing follow-up tests rose about sixfold to 12.3 percent in 2023 from 2.1 percent in 2012. The share needing detailed tests also rose more than threefold over the period, to 3.3 percent from 0.9 percent.

Sprout and Rain provides free access to K-SIED (Korean Screening Index of Early Development), an infant development check tool developed by the institute. Based on results, it links tailored play content for parents to use at home and for teachers to use at daycare centres and kindergartens, along with information on specialist institutions by region. Samsung Welfare Foundation built the platform in cooperation with the institute for about two years from 2024.

A consultative body of 18 experts from public institutions, the medical community and child-related academic societies took part in the development. Advisers in development support centres and special education also participated. The organisers also separately selected monitoring groups of parents and teachers and reflected field feedback on user flow, design and language.

Ryu Moon-hyung (류문형), executive vice president in charge at Samsung Foundation, said, "Sprout and Rain is a platform built not only for children at risk of disability, but to support parents and teachers so all children can grow up healthily from infancy." He said, "We will further develop the platform so it can serve as a hub for the development support ecosystem by cooperating with the education, childcare, medical and welfare sectors."

Hwang Ok-kyung (황옥경), head of the institute, said, "As infants and toddlers with slow development have increased recently, difficulties for parents and teachers are also growing." She said, "Sprout and Rain is meaningful in that it implemented research成果 by public institutions as a platform that parents and teachers can actually use." She added, "I hope it will serve as a platform that helps parents raise children and contributes to teachers' support for infant and toddler development by using professional information and data."