Children from birth to 3 years old with complex medical needs often experience psychological issues, but there are limited services and supports to meet their needs. To bridge this gap, the authors created the Pediatric Birth to Three Clinic and Early Childhood Mental Health Program at the University of Minnesota. They describe the toxic stress…

Many children, especially those from lower-income families, face considerable instability early in their lives. This may include changes in family structure, irregular family routines, frequent moves, fluctuating daycare arrangements, and noisy, crowded, or generally chaotic environments. Moreover, instability and chaos affect young children's…

Child-parent psychotherapy (CPP) can strengthen the relationship and attachment between caregivers and children. Young children who have experienced multiple traumas, such as the destruction caused by a natural disaster and the sudden, traumatic loss of parents, depend on support of other caregivers for recovery and resilience. The case…

Early interventions aim at promoting a good mother-child relationship as basis for a good socio-emotional development, especially in high-risk populations, and at correcting already unfavorable patterns of interaction and are common today. Insecure attachment, both of the child and of the mother, has been identified as a risk factor for early…

The idea that parenting matters for early child development is now firmly recognised by policymakers. It is well established that parents' investments influence young children's development, and their chances in life. Parenting is one of the most important drivers of social inequalities in cognitive development before school. We also know that…

Infancy is a time of extreme opportunity, but it is also a time of extreme vulnerability, particularly for those reared in high-risk environments. Although infant exposure to any risk is important to understand, this brief focuses on the experience and impact of "trauma," defined as witnessing or experiencing an event that poses a real…

Parent-toddler groups constitute a primary intervention programme whose target is to support and encourage the parent-toddler relationship. Toddlerhood is a developmental period when major, crucial changes take place regarding how children function, as well as their relationship to their parents (especially to their mother). The present paper…

Secure mother-child attachment has been found to be an important factor in the healthy emotional development of children and has been shown to have effects on child, adolescent, and adult behavior. Previous research has primarily focused on attachment in children who are typically developing. However, little research has been conducted in…

After reviewing attachment research, this article argues enhancing early child-parent relationships involves two principle tasks: helping parents identify children's needs and parents' responses to these needs; and helping parents gain insight into how their "states of mind with respect to attachment" influence their parenting behaviors and their…

Intended for use in Florida training programs for caregivers of infants and toddlers with disabilities, this guide presents an overview of the Model of Interdisciplinary Training for Children with Handicaps (MITCH); offers a user's guide to the series; and provides specific information for presenting Module 7, which focuses on ways of preventing…

This brief paper summarizes issues and strategies in early intervention with infants and toddlers who have visual impairments. Characteristics of exemplary early intervention services are identified including collaboration with families and other professionals in the Individualized Family Service Plan process and home visits that promote…

Noting that during the first 2 years of life, children form attachments with caregivers that profoundly affect their emotional lives, this book presents a relationship-based reflective approach to help professionals who work with families of young children to nurture those crucial bonds, giving parents the support and guidance they need. The book…

Infant-mother dyads classified as anxiously attached intervention and control or securely attached control were compared. Intervention toddlers were lower than anxious controls in avoidance, resistance, and anger, and higher in partnership with mother. Intervention mothers were higher in empathy and interactiveness. No differences between…

This theme newsletter issue presents seven articles describing toddler behavior and development, services for toddlers, and toddlers with special needs. The first article, "Toddlers: Themes and Variations" (Lois Barclay Murphy and Colleen Small) focuses on variations in toddler development, noting emerging skills, language, and the caregiver role.…

Argues that reading children's picture books to babies is an underestimated resource for addressing parenting skills and developmental issues, for providing emotional attachment and satisfaction, and for promoting basic literacy. The program "Read to Me" is described as an inexpensive, nondidactic and pleasurable intervention model for use with…