Project: Develop and operationalize a comprehensive set of evidence informed prevention and early intervention infant and toddler strategies

As a fellow Elizabeth is looking to improve infant and toddler outcomes by supporting practice changes that address the unique needs of infants and toddlers and their caregivers within the existing evidenced-based Early Childhood Consultation Partnership©(ECCP) program. Her goal is to develop a comprehensive set of best practice strategies that can be effectively implemented through the relationship-based service delivery model of ECCP. To promote the application of these strategies, Elizabeth will prepare the Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation (ECMHC) workforce by developing and implementing a series of related infant and toddler training modules.

Jean Clinton, MD
Child Psychiatrist
Offord Centre for Child Studies
McMaster University & Children’s Hospital

Project: Creating a population health measure of developmental health
at 18 months of age

The goal of the project will be: 1) To develop a brief, perhaps ten item tool, which will reflect the variance in development at 18 months of age. It will need to be simple to collect, able to be analyzed and reflect the developmental status of children.  2) To have a measure that jurisdictions can evaluate “Are we doing enough?”

Lauren Franz, MBChB, MPH
Child Psychiatry and Global Health Fellow
Duke University Medical Center

Project: Cross cultural, developmentally sensitive, adaptation of an autism diagnostic tool

Across all countries, investment and research into preventing and treating early childhood neuropsychiatric disorders, is disproportionately low relative to their disease burden. Controversy exists over the universality of psychiatric disorders, particularly in early childhood, as a result of a lack of scientifically sound studies, heterogeneity of methodological approaches, lack of biological markers, and unanswered questions regarding the influence of culture on the presentation of neuropsychiatric disorders. With the long term goal of developing a cross cultural, developmentally sensitive assessment of early childhood psychopathology, and with the support of the Duke Global Health Fellowship Program, Lauren will be collaborating with researchers in KwaZulu Natal South Africa on a cross-cultural translation of the Autism Diagnostic Observational Schedule. A portion of the children participating in this study, are nested within a cohort of 2000 young children and their caregivers, followed longitudinally, to assess for the effects of caregiver mental health and family functioning on early child cognitive, emotional, and physical health status.

Sarah Gray, M.A.
Ph.D. Candidate in Clinical Psychology
University of Massachusetts Boston

Project: Targeting Parent Insight in Young Children’s Trauma Exposure

As a fellow, Sarah will be conducting research among low-income families with children under 6 in the Boston area to promote our understanding of what happens when young children are exposed to violence. In particular, she will be examining how the parent-child relationship and parent’s insight into their children’s behavior may affect children’s reactions to violence exposure. Sarah will also be coordinating with All Our Kin, a Connecticut-based community organization that trains parents to become early childcare providers, to develop training materials and a resource directory on early childhood mental health, stress, and the parent-child relationship.

Sherryl S. Heller, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Tulane University
Institute of Infant & Early Childhood Mental Health

Project: Reflective Supervision and Reflective Functioning

Reflective supervision (RS) is a model that is seen in the field of early intervention as optimizing service delivery and enhancing professional development. RS is an area where much more research is needed to better understand its process and impact on program outcome. My goal for this project would be twofold: 1) to develop a way to assess reflective functioning in early interventionists so that change can be assessed and 2) identify projects using RS where a research protocol could be applied to assess change in reflective functioning.  Additionally, selecting and collecting outcome measures (i.e., decrease in provider stress, decrease in provider sick days, enhanced client outcome) related to RS would be part of this process. Having access to the mentors in ZERO TO THREE’s Leaders for the 21st Century Fellowship program will support me in creating a solid measure and research protocol.

Nucha Isarowong, LCSW
Early Intervention Social Emotional
Specialist and Evaluator
Doctoral Student in Social Work
School of Social Service Administration
University of Chicago

Project: Building Professional Interdisciplinary Collaboration to Support Positive Infant, Toddler, and Family Outcomes in the Illinois Early Intervention Program

As a Fellow, Nucha will be pursuing a project developed from his preliminary work to build professional community among IDEA* Part C funded Early Intervention (EI) professionals and encourage interdisciplinary teaming to better serve infants and toddlers with disabilities and their families. This project aims to better understand the state of interdisciplinary collaboration in Illinois' EI program and address barriers to interdisciplinary collaboration by creating standard documentation forms based on quality assurance (QA) standards, simplifying the process while ensuring compliance.

*Individuals with Disabilities Education Act

LaShawnda Lindsay-Dennis, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Paine College
Department of Education

Project: Project AMPP (Adolescent Mothers Preparing for Parenthood)

Evelyn Brooks Ridgeway, Ph.D.
Child Development and Mental Health Manager
The Early Head Start Program at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia

Project: Making Infant Mental Health Accessible to African-American Church Leadership

As a Fellow, Evelyn is developing materials to collaborate with African-American church leadership in promoting positive Infant Mental Health to church congregations. She will incorporate Christian teaching in the development of a parenting workbook and accompanying DVD which will focus on understanding how experience influences the social-emotional development of infants and toddlers, and will provide guidance in making positive parenting decisions. In addition, she will develop a workshop training series in Infant Mental Health and use of the workbook and DVD for church leadership to use with their members. The project will be piloted at Life In Christ Cathedral of Faith in Chester, PA, where Evelyn is a member.

Amy C. Thomason, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Education
Elizabethtown College

Project: Building collaborative relationships to support the development of self-regulation in infants and toddlers

As a fellow, Dr. Thomason will design and implement an educational tool for teachers focused on facilitating the development of self-regulation in infants and toddlers. Her goals for the program are to raise awareness on the important role that teacher-child interactions play in facilitating self-regulation and school-readiness and to build collaborative relationships between Elizabethtown College, local early childhood organizations, and local early care and education programs to develop and implement professional development for teachers on these topics.
 

Robin A. Wells, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Special Education
Eastern New Mexico University