Infant & Early Childhood Development with an emphasis in Mental Health & Developmental Disorders, PhD (with optional concentrations)

This PhD is a multidisciplinary doctoral program in mental health and developmental disorders covering topics such as trauma and neurodiversity, including autism spectrum disorder, learning differences, sensory integration, mood disorders, and cultural effects on development The program offers a unique link between various disciplines within a relationship-based developmental framework. The program was initiated by Stanley Greenspan, MD, and Serena Weider, PhD to promote research supporting relationships, individual differences, and development (DIR®) in working with infants, children, and their families. Using this as a foundation, the program continues to grow and expand as research in the field and in neuroscience broadens and continues to inform our understanding. The field of Infant and Early Childhood Development is exciting and highly rewarding. The first years of life lay the foundation for all domains of human development, including the basic relationship building blocks needed for the capacities to feel, love, adapt, and develop a sense of self. The program is interprofessional in structure, including mental health professionals (Clinical and counseling psychologists, Marriage and Family Therapists, social workers), Occupational Therapists, Physical Therapists, Speech and Language Pathologists, medical professionals (MD, RN), social services professionals, as well as educators and policymakers.

Students study multiple factors affecting an infant, child, and family’s well-being within a framework including mental health, education, occupational therapy, physical therapy, and speech and language development. The faculty teach neurotypical and neurodivergent infant, child, and family development using a curriculum that includes physiological, emotional, cognitive, linguistic, reflective, behavioral, social, and cross-cultural perspectives.

The program provides a pathway master’s degree, and offers optional concentrations in:

• Developmental, Individual Differences, Relationships (DIR®)

• Reflective Practice & Supervision

IECD graduates from this research-focused PhD program will be prepared for several careers in research, policy and advocacy, and clinical/educational settings.

The program is strongly aligned with the university’s mission as well as vision toward educating leaders, scholars, and practitioners for a more just and sustainable world.  Consistent with university values that include academic excellence, community, diversity, and social justice, the IECD program mission statement specifies these higher-level goals:

Through the study of Infant Mental Health and relationship-based theories, it is the goal of IECD faculty to:  prepare students for doctoral level competencies that increase students’ ability to think objectively, critically and imaginatively; encourage intellectual curiosity and the desire for knowledge; enhance the ability to identify, acquire, organize and interpret relevant data objectively; and develop effective oral and written communication skills.  Using a relationship-based philosophical framework, the mission is to graduate scholar practitioners that influence continued best-practice with those involved in the IMH and developmental work of infants, children, their families, and communities.  

Program Goals:

1. To enhance reflective, culturally informed interdisciplinary competency as related to early childhood development, families, and professionals. Build perspective and skills that include transdisciplinary processes, language, and individual differences, to enhance outcomes for infants, children, families and the professionals with whom they work.
2. To develop theoretical competencies that enhance programs, policies, procedures, and practices that contribute to advanced knowledge, diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice (DEIJ), and implementation of evidence-based practice. Build and enhance theoretical knowledge that can inform real world applications that directly affect the lives of all infants, children, families and the professionals with whom they work across multiple disciplines.  
3. To effectively understand, conduct, and use scholarly research to make advancements in the field. Demonstrate the ability to understand, integrate, and conduct research that advances fields related to infant and early childhood development including child & family mental health, trauma informed care, reflective and relationship-based practices, and the promotion of diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice (DEIJ).