Resource
Yes, Mental Health Includes Babies
The perinatal period and a baby's first few years of life are critical for lifelong mental health.
Need a little help justifying this infant mental health training to your supervisor?
DC:0–5™ Infant Mental Health Training & Manual for Professionals
Strengthen your ability to assess early childhood mental health with confidence
An essential guide to infant and toddler mental health diagnosis for infants and young children.
We proudly offer:
- Official DC:0–5™ Clinical Training: Expert-led professional training designed to help practitioners understand and apply DC:0–5™ in practice support children’s mental health and development.
- DC:0–5™ Diagnostic Classification: The essential tool for diagnosing mental health and developmental disorders in young children.
- DC:0–5™ Casebook: Practical case studies to apply diagnostic standards with confidence.
- Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health (IECMH) Trainings: Explore foundations of infant and early childhood mental health, including attachment, brain development, trauma-informed and relationship-based practice, reflective supervision, developmental assessment and strategies to support young children and families.
DC:0–5™ Manual
This guide is the first system for diagnosing mental health and developmental disorders in infants and toddlers.
It quickly became an essential resource for mental health clinicians, counselors, doctors, early interventionists, educators, and researchers. ZERO TO THREE is the only official source of training for DC:0–5.
The DC:0–5™ Manual is a professional mental health diagnostic manual for understanding and diagnosing mental health and developmental disorders from birth through age five. Formally titled DC:0–5™: Diagnostic Classification of Mental Health and Developmental Disorders of Infancy and Early Childhood, the manual provides the diagnostic framework used alongside DC:0–5™ Clinical Training.
The DC:0–5™ Manual serves as the professional diagnostic reference, while DC:0–5™ Clinical Training helps qualified professionals learn how to apply its developmentally informed, multiaxial framework in practice.
ZERO TO THREE published its groundbreaking manual, DC:0–3 Diagnostic Classification of Mental Health and Developmental Disorders of Infancy and Early Childhood
DC:0–5™ Diagnostic Classification of Mental Health and Developmental Disorders of Infancy and Early Childhood captures new findings relevant to diagnosis in young children and addresses unresolved issues in the field
The updated DC:0–5™ Version 2.0 includes:
- Discrete numerical coding provides consistency among various disorder lists and can prevent misunderstanding when translating diagnoses into other languages
- Criteria extended to younger ages when appropriate, including, in some cases, to the first year of life
- Introduces discussion of several new disorders, including:
- Relationship-Specific Disorder of Early Childhood
- Dysregulated Anger and Aggression Disorder of Early Childhood
- Atypical Social-Communication Emergent Neurodevelopmental Disorder
- Retains the multi-axial system, allowing optimal consideration of context in assessment and diagnosis; most axes revised substantially
Infant Mental Health Training
DC:0–5™ Clinical Training
DC:0–5™: Diagnostic Classification of Mental Health and Developmental Disorders of Infancy and Early Childhood captures the latest scientific findings and clinical research on infant and early childhood mental health.
DC:0–5™ Clinical Training helps qualified professionals translate that framework into practice through developmentally informed, relationship-based, culturally responsive and contextually grounded approaches to assessment and diagnosis. This infant mental health training uses case-based learning to strengthen professionals’ understanding and application of the DC:0–5™ multiaxial framework.
Participants learn to consider and integrate:
- assessment and diagnosis
- case formulation
- developmental competence
- relational context
- psychosocial stressors
- physical health considerations
- cultural and contextual factors
DC:0–5™ Certified Training-of-Trainers
The DC:0–5™ Certified Training-of-Trainers (ToT) prepares eligible clinicians to deliver the ZERO TO THREE DC:0–5™ Training curriculum to professionals in mental health, health and early intervention who are responsible for diagnosis in their own communities or organizations.
Clinicians who have successfully completed DC:0–5™ Clinical Training and meet additional eligibility criteria may apply for the ToT and pursue ZERO TO THREE Trainer Certification. The ToT may be offered virtually or in person.
IECMH Training
ZERO TO THREE offers flexible training opportunities to help clinicians and other early childhood professionals strengthen their skills, deepen their knowledge of child development and stay current on relationship-based practices.
Not Sure Which Training Path Fits Your Needs? Professionals and organizations can contact ZERO TO THREE to learn more about DC:0–5™ and infant mental health training options, including customized training packages.
For Continued Learning: Community of Learners
Community of Learners (CoL) events provide follow-up opportunities for professionals who have completed DC:0–5™ Clinical Training to analyze, reflect on and explore how they apply DC:0–5™ content in professional practice.
These 90-minute sessions may be offered virtually or in person and use collaborative dialogue to support real-world application of DC:0–5™ knowledge.
The DC:0–5™ Casebook
Featuring over 15 case studies jam-packed with practical tips to support your work with young children and their families.
The casebook is a compilation of case studies as a companion volume to DC:0–5™: Diagnostic Classification of Mental Health and Developmental Disorders of Infancy and Early Childhood (DC:0–5™; ZERO TO THREE, 2016, 2021). It is designed to strengthen understanding of clinical disorders in infancy and early childhood, and to help infant mental health clinicians better understand the application of the multiaxial framework and culturally sensitive/relational approach to diagnosis that is fundamental to DC:0–5™.
Learn more about our early childhood trainings and events.
DC:0–5™ Training FAQs
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We offer a robust suite of early childhood development trainings and courses for various disciplines and professions within the early childhood field.
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Experts weigh in on the relationship between the terms Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health (IECMH) and Early Relational Health (ERH).
Connect With IECMH Professionals at Our Next Conference
Don't miss the next LEARN Conference where early childhood professionals from across disciplines, geographies and backgrounds will come together to strengthen their practice.
