Introduction

Welcome to Infant & Toddler Mental Health: Issues & Information for Educators, an interactive computer-based instruction course designed to help you achieve a better understanding of infant and toddler mental health, child development, and strategies you can use to promote positive relationships with children and their families. This course provides information that will help you to understand and identify your role as a child care provider, educator, and early childhood professional. Infant & Toddler Mental Health will provide you with research-based information on child development, attachment, temperament, and curriculum. This course also lists resources for both teachers and parents who would like more help or information about infant and toddler mental health.

This computer-based instruction course is a self-supporting program that provides instruction, structured practice, and evaluation all on your home or school computer. Technical support information can be found, in the Help section of your course.

Course Materials

Title: Infant & Toddler Mental Health: Issues & Information for Educators

Author: Aumony Dahl, M.Ed.

Publisher: Virtual Education Software, inc. 2007, Revised 2010

Academic Integrity Statement

The structure and format of most distance-learning courses presume a high level of personal and academic integrity in completion and submission of coursework. Individuals enrolled in a distance-learning course are expected to adhere to the following standards of academic conduct.

Academic Work

Academic work submitted by the individual (such as papers, assignments, reports, tests) shall be the student’s own work or appropriately attributed, in part or in whole, to its correct source. Submission of commercially prepared (or group prepared) materials as if they are one’s own work is unacceptable.

Aiding Honesty in Others

The individual will encourage honesty in others by refraining from providing materials or information to another person with knowledge that these materials or information will be used improperly.

Violations of these academic standards will result in the assignment of a failing grade and subsequent loss of credit for the course.

Level of Application

This course is designed to be an informational course with application to early childhood education or childcare settings. The curriculum and strategies presented are designed for children from birth to thirty-six months of age. Some alterations may be needed when working with children with sensory processing disorders or other developmental disabilities.

Course Objectives

· To define Infant and Toddler Mental Health;

· To provide an overview of child development from birth to thirty-six months;

· To increase the ability to observe typically developing infants and toddlers, as well as to identify infants and toddlers with mental health issues;

· To provide information and best practice methods used in the care of infants and toddlers and their families;

· To increase knowledge in the research areas of attachment and temperament; and

· To provide resources for early childhood educators and care-providers to help them strengthen the children and families with whom they work.

Course Description

The Infant & Toddler Mental Health course has been divided into four chapters that are designed to support and train early childhood professionals, care providers, and their families by: Providing an overview of early child development; examining what curriculum looks like for infants and toddlers; exploring the importance of early attachment; exploring different temperament traits; and providing suggestions for strengthening families. Upon completing this course you should have the basic framework for understanding the critical role of infant and toddler mental health, as well as developmental knowledge of children from birth to thirty-six months.

Student Expectations

As a student, you will be expected to:

· Complete all information chapters, showing a competent understanding of the material presented.

· Complete all chapter examinations, showing a competent understanding of the material presented.

· Complete a review of any chapter on which your examination score was below 70%.

· Retake any examination, after completing an information review, to increase that examination score to a minimum of 70% (maximum of three attempts).

· Complete a course evaluation form at the end of the course.

Course Chapters Overview

Chapter 1: Introduction

Chapter One is an Introduction to Infant & Toddler Mental Health. In this chapter we will define what infant and toddler mental health is, discuss what the experts have to say about it, review relevant statistics, and examine the core values that support the philosophy of this course.

Chapter 2: Child Development

In Chapter Two we will look at child development from infancy to thirty-six months. We will briefly review what experts have to say about the following topics related to child development: child development theory, development of emotions, development of self, human development, SIDS, brain development, nutrition, development of vision and hearing, and finally, language development.

Chapter 3: Curriculum & the Classroom

In Chapter Three we will discuss the importance of infant and toddler curriculum. You will learn some vital information concerning curriculum, such as what is appropriate, what is meaningful, and what promotes the relationship between you, the child, and the child's family. In addition, you will be given the latest information about play and how it benefits a child's development.

Chapter 4: Attachment, Temperament, & Families

In Chapter Four we will discuss the important role attachment plays in the development of young children. We will discuss different types of attachment and examine several risk factors that impede healthy attachment in young children. We will look at methods for fostering secure attachment. We will define temperament, examine specific temperament traits, and review research about the impact of temperament on child development. We will discuss numerous practical strategies for supporting all children, regardless of their temperament. Finally, we will briefly discuss variables such as language and literacy, culture, gender, race, and socio-economic status that may influence connections with families (these variables will be thoroughly examined in another course in this series called Family-Centered Services). We will explore ways in which we can work to strengthen families, which ultimately has a positive impact on the well-being of the children we serve.

Examinations

At the end of each chapter, you will be expected to complete an examination designed to assess your knowledge. You may take these exams a total of three times. Your last score will save, not the highest score. After your third attempt, each examination will lock and not allow further access. Your final grade for the course will be determined by calculating an average score of all exams. This score will be printed on your final certificate. As this is a self-paced computerized instruction program, you may review course information as often as necessary. You will not be able to exit any examinations until you have answered all questions. If you try to exit the exam before you complete all questions, your information will be lost. You are expected to complete the entire exam in one sitting.

Instructor Description

Aumony Dahl received her Master’s degree in Exceptional Children from Western Washington University. She is certified to teach in K-12 Special Education with an additional endorsement in Early Childhood Special Education. Aumony began her career working as an elementary special education teacher for several years. She is currently an instructor in the Special Education Department at Western Washington University, teaching a variety of classes on topics related to early childhood special education, students with complex special needs, assessment and evaluation, and program planning. Aumony is also a supervisor for practicum students who are training to become teachers.

Contacting the Instructor

You may contact the instructor by emailing Aumony at aumony_dahl@virtualeduc.com or calling her at 509-891-7219, Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. PST. Phone messages will be answered within 24 hours. Phone conferences will be limited to ten minutes per student, per day, given that this is a self-paced instructional program. Please do not contact the instructor about technical problems, course glitches, or other issues that involve the operation of the course.

Technical Questions

If you have questions or problems related to the operation of this course, please try everything twice. If the problem persists please check our support pages for FAQs and known issues at www.virtualeduc.com and also the Help section of your course.

If you need personal assistance then email support@virtualeduc.com or call (509) 891-7219. When contacting technical support, please know your course version number (it is located at the bottom left side of the Welcome Screen) and your operating system, and be seated in front of the computer at the time of your call.

Minimum Computer Requirements

Please refer to VESi’s website: www.virtualeduc.com or contact VESi if you have further questions about the compatibility of your operating system.

Refer to the addendum regarding Grading Criteria, Course Completion Information, Items to be Submitted, and how to submit your completed information.

Bibliography (Suggested Readings)

Ainsworth, M. D. S., & Bell, S.M. (1970). Attachment, exploration, and separation: Illustrated by the behavior of one-year-olds in a strange situation.

Child Development, 41, 49-67.

Berk, L., (2005). Infants and children (5th ed.). Boston: Pearson Education, Inc.

Boris, N. (2006). Assessing clinical disturbances and disorders of attachment. Infant Mental Health Journal, 27(3) No. 167.

Bredekamp, S., & Copple, C. (Eds.). (1997). Developmentally appropriate practice in early childhood programs (revised ed.). Washington, D.C.: NAEYC.

Bretherton I. (1992). The origins of Attachment Theory: John Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth. Developmental Psychology, 28, 759-775.

Campbell, P. (2006). When home is hospital...working with sick babies, their families

and their hospital. Infant Mental Health Journal, 27(3) No.16.

Clothier, S., Cohen, J., Onunaku, N., & Poppe, J. (2005, September). Helping young children succeed: Strategies to promote early childhood social and emotional development.

Early Childhood Research and Policy Report to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Elkind, D. (2001). The hurried child: Growing up too fast too soon (3^rd ed.). Cambridge, MA: Perseus

Publishing.

Gallese, V. (2006). Intentional attunement: From Mirror neurons to inter-subjectivity.

Infant Mental Health Journal, 27(3), No. 24.

Goossens, F., & Yzendoorn, M. (1990). Quality of infants’ attachment to professional caregivers: Relation to

infant-parent attachment and day-care characteristics. Child Development, 61, 832-837.

Gonzalex-Mena, J., & Widmeyer Eyer, D. (2001) Infants, toddlers, and caregivers (5^th ed.). Mountain View,

CA: Mayfield Publishing Company.

Heidemann, S., & Hewitt, D. (1992) Pathways to play. St. Paul, Minnesota: Redleaf Press.

Landy, S. (2002). Pathways to competency: Encouraging healthy social and emotional development in young

children. Baltimore: Paul H. Brooks Publishing Co.

National Association for the Education of Young Children. (1998). Guide to Accreditation.

Washington, D.C.: NAEYC.

National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) early Childcare research Network.

(1997). The effects of infant childcare on infant-mother attachment security: Results of the NICHD study of early childcare. Child Development, 68, 860-879.

Mendoza, J., Katz, L., Roberston, A. S., & Rothenburg, D. (2003). Connecting with parents in the early years.

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Onunaku, N. (2005). Improving maternal and infant mental health: Focus on maternal depression. Los Angeles, CA: National Center for Infant and Early Childhood Health Policy at UCLA.

Oppenheim, D. (2006). Maternal insightfulness into the emotional experience of the child: Its significance for children's development in normative and high-risk conditions. Infant Mental Health Journal, 27(3), No. 403.

Parlakian, P., & Seibel, N. L. (2002). Building strong foundations: Practical guidance for promoting the social-emotional development of infants and toddlers.

Washington, DC: Zero to Three Press.

Pawl, J. H., & Dombro, A.L. (2201). Learning and growing together with families: Partnering with parents to

support young children’s development. Washington, D.C.: Zero to Three Press.

Positive Beginnings: Supporting young children with challenging behavior. Supporting Families presenter’s

materials. A joint project of Florida State University and University of South Florida. 18-19, 30-40.

Rogers, S., & Sawyers, J. (1988). Play in the lives of children. Washington, D.C.: NAEYC.

Sagi, A., Koren-Karie, N., Gini, M., Ziv, Y., & Joels, T. (2002). Shedding further light on the effects of various types and quality of early childcare on infant-mother attachment relationship: The Haifa study of early childcare. Child Development, 73, 116-1186.

Shonkoff, J., & Phillips, D. (Eds.). (2000). From neurons to neighborhoods: The science of early childhood development. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.

Zigler, E., Singer, D., & Bishop-Josef, S. (Eds.). (2004). Children’s play: The roots of reading. Washington, D.C.: Zero to Three Press.

Websites

Strengthening Families http://www.strengtheningfamilies.net/

ZERO TO THREE http://www.zerotothree.org

ZERO TO THREE Policy Center www.zerotothree.org/policy

Course content is updated every three years. Due to this update timeline, some URL links may no longer be active or may have changed. Please type the title of the organization into the command line of any Internet browser search window and you will be able to find whether the URL link is still active or any new link to the corresponding organization's web home page.

Updated 8/22/11 JN