January's Topic: Challenging Behavior
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Ask The Expert!
Linda Gilkerson
Linda Gilkerson, PhD, is professor and director, Irving B. Harris Infant Studies Program, Erikson Institute, Chicago, Illinois. Dr. Gilkerson’s area of specialization is early intervention and infant mental health. She has made pioneering contributions in promoting a focus on social—emotional development and reflective supervision within both the health and early intervention systems. Dr. Gilkerson is the founder and executive director of Erikson’s Fussy Baby Network and co-principal investigator, Infant Crying and Developmental Outcome: A Biobehavioral Approach, NICHD-funded research project awarded to University of Illinois—Brain Body Center. She is also principal investigator for a study on the effectiveness of an infant mental health-informed intervention approach for fussy babies and their families. |
The Center on the Social and Emotional Foundations for Early Learning: Addressing Challenging Behavior in Infants and Toddlers
Amy Hunter and Mary Louise Hemmeter
The Center on the Social and Emotional Foundations for Early Learning (CSEFEL) is a federally funded national resource center designed to support early care and education providers in addressing the social—emotional needs of children birth to 5 years old. Recent research has found that an extraordinarily high number of young children are being asked to leave early childhood settings because of their behavior. The authors describe the Pyramid Model, a framework of recommended practices to help early care and education programs support the social—emotional competence of young children and address challenging behavior.
Meeting the Needs of the Youngest Infants in Child Care
Amanda Perez and Sandy Petersen
Children may enter group care at very young ages. Developmentally, newborns (from birth to 4 months old) offer unique opportunities and challenges for child care providers. Are child care programs ready? This article explores the challenges of serving a newborn in child care from three perspectives: that of the infant, that of the parents, and that of the caregiver. Particular attention is given to fussy babies. Recommendations are offered for child care administrators, family support practitioners, child care trainers, and policymakers.
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Stories from the Fussy Baby Network: The Latino Family Services Drop-in Program
Marsha Baker, Sinane Goulet, and Linda Gilkerson
The Fussy Baby Network, a program of the Erikson Institute in Chicago, partnered with a local church to engage Latino families in a group drop-in program designed to offer parenting education, support, and early intervention services. The group format provides a safe and trusting environment where parents decrease feelings of isolation, offer support to one another, learn about child development, and have access to resources for their children. The authors share stories of program participants to illustrate how powerful a group process can be in making significant changes in parents’ knowledge, attitudes, and behavior.
In the Eye of the Beholder: Critical Components of Observation When Assessing Disruptive Behaviors in Young Children
Barbara A. Danis, Carri Hill, and Lauren S. Wakschlag
Clinical observation is an essential component of a sensitive and accurate diagnostic assessment. The Disruptive Behavior Diagnostic Observation Schedule is a structured diagnostic tool encompassing three essential features of observation: (1) the use of challenging tasks to elicit behaviors of interest; (2) opportunities to observe behavior in multiple settings and with different people; and (3) the clinician’s conscious and deliberate use of self to offer varying levels of support and better assess the child’s capacities for self-regulation.
Self-Control and the Developing Brain
Amanda R. Tarullo, Jelena Obradović, and Megan R. Gunnar
Self-control is a skill that children need to succeed academically, socially, and emotionally. Brain regions essential to self-control are immature at birth and develop slowly throughout childhood. From ages 3 to 6 years, as these brain regions become more mature, children show improved ability to control impulses, shift their attention flexibly, and wait for a reward. The early childhood environment helps to shape self-control pathways in the developing brain. Children who experience early adversity are at risk for self-control problems. Preschool curricula and specialized training programs to promote the development of self-control offer promise as an intervention for at-risk children.
Solving Sleep Behavior Disorders in Infants and Toddlers: An intervention Program for Fussy Babies
Mechthild Papousek
Sleep behavior disorders do not only affect infants’ well-being, they also challenge the parents’ physical and emotional resources, promote risks for the growing parentinfant relationships, and burden the parents’ co-parenting relationship. Sleep-onset and night-waking problems are widely spread among otherwise healthy infants, and they tend to escalate and persist without intervention. Based on international research and clinical data and experience from the Munich Interdisciplinary Research and Intervention Program for Fussy Babies, this article describes common sleep behavior disorders, their symptoms,developmental origins, and methods for early preventative and therapeutic intervention.
Sensory Food Aversions in Infants and Toddlers
Irene Chatoor
Sensory Food Aversion is one of the most common feeding disorders during the first 3 years of life, which is when young children are transitioned to self-feeding, and when issues of autonomy and dependency have to be negotiated between parents and child. In this article, the author discusses “picky eaters” and the importance of distinguishing between children who experience minor food aversions and those for whom their reluctance to eat becomes a serious feeding problem.
Helping Families Understand and Manage Pediatric Gastroesophageal Reflux
Elizabeth Pulsifer-Anderson
Gastroesophageal reflux is a common medical problem affecting about 5% of otherwise healthy children. It is extremely common among children with special needs and affects more than half of children with cerebral palsy, down syndrome, premature birth, and several other common conditions. The disease is becoming more widely recognized, but children with atypical symptoms may go undiagnosed for years. The author describes how early childhood professionals can help families in three important ways: first, to understand the disease thoroughly so parents can track the symptoms and work with their medical team; second, to learn homecare techniques that are an essential part of the treatment; and third, ways to support families when the daily demands of reflux pose a high emotional and physical burden.
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