IECD-553 Understanding and Integrating Best Practices in Infant, Child, and Family Mental Health Across Multi-Disciplines

4 semester credits

Students successfully completing this course will be able to:

• Examine the field of Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health through the use of current research, foundational literature, and contributions from interprofessional disciplines.
• Understand and apply guiding principles in infant and early childhood mental health, including 1) the unfolding of social emotional development from in utero to 8 years old, and 2) the stages of emotional development throughout infancy and early childhood, within a relational and cultural context including the importance of regulatory capacities.
• Understand attachment, regulation, adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), and trauma and their effects on development and how this overall knowledge may apply to professional practice and the development of curricula and policies, as they relate to infants, children, and families.
• Understand and apply potential ‘missteps’ that might occur in infant-parent relationships and the potential longitudinal effects on social emotional, language, and cognitive development including school readiness, academic functioning, and behavior.