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A Focus on Infant/Early Childhood Mental Health
February 2023
Interactions
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This newsletter focuses on sharing information on infant/early childhood mental health and
the importance of relationship-based approaches and supports that help infants and young children feel safe, supported, and valued by the adults around them. The newsletter, and the Infant Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation (IECMHC) program, is made possible by a partnership between the Office of Child Development and Early Learning (OCDEL) and the Pennsylvania Key.
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The February issue of the newsletter explores the Interaction section of the Request for Services form. As adults, it is our responsibility to model for children how to interact with each other, with adults, and with the world around them. Because all development occurs within the context of relationships it is imperative that children experience positive relationships from the beginning of life. We should not assume children inherently know how to share, take turns, or wait patiently. Adults need to understand that children need their guidance, support, and patience to learn how to positively interact with others and with the world around them.
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Cultural Competency in Early Care and Education Classrooms (Better Kids Care): Children are influenced by their early experiences and interactions with those around them. It is extremely important that children grow up learning to respect, accept, and celebrate people from different backgrounds and that have different experiences than themselves. Learn more about how you can celebrate different cultures in your classroom and check out the Better Kid Care courses.
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Interactions with others sometimes takes energy – physical, mental, emotional and even creative energy. Deciding how to connect intentionally in personal, meaningful and purposeful ways benefits everyone. Simple yet powerful interactions with children will make an impact on their relationships, development and learning. You make a difference!
Positive Interactions – Sesame Street in Communities 4:49. A consultant favorite! It’s not just the things you put into an environment that are important—a play space is made even more effective when adults interact with children in positive ways. You can build trust, give kids a sense of control, and use positive language to ensure that play time is a time of joy and healing.
Powerful Interactions. Powerful interactions are interactions in which you intentionally connect with the child while at the same time saying or doing something to guide the child’s learning a small step forward.
Simple Interactions. Learn about the four dimensions of interactions: connection, reciprocity, inclusion and opportunity to grow.
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Each day you have dozens of interactions with children. Every one of those interaction holds the potential to make a positive impact on how young children feel about themselves and about learning as well as what and how they learn. Remember to slow down, be present, and intentionally connect.
Connecting with Babies – Zero to Three. Watch how babies connect socially and emotionally to the loving caregivers in their lives, starting from birth! This 3-minute video demonstrates how much a baby’s well-being relies on responsive caregiving from parents. Dr. Ed Tronick developed the Still Face Experiment to demonstrate how important the connection between an infant and his or her closest caregiver is.
Five Steps for Brain-Building Serve and Return. Child-adult relationships that are responsive and attentive—with lots of back and forth interactions—build a strong foundation in a child’s brain for all future learning and development. This is called “serve and return,” and it takes two to play! Follow these five steps to practice serve and return with your child
Supporting Peer Relationships. Infants and toddlers love to connect with others. As they develop, young children may begin to show interest in their peers and want to play with other children. Learn how you can support peer relationships and reinforce positive connections here and what it looks like.
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Teachers can create and facilitate opportunities for peer interactions within the context of their daily routines and activities setting the foundation for developing friendships.
Helping Children Play and Learn Together – NAEYC. Researchers stress the importance of positive peer relationships in childhood and later life (Ladd 1999). Carefully arranging the environment, focusing on children’s skills and strengths, and regularly celebrating these strengths within early child-hood settings can help promote peer interaction among all children.
Peer Social Interactions. Children learn new skills by observing and interacting with other children during everyday classroom activities and routines. By paying close attention and responding to what children are doing while playing and interacting with others, adults can support and enhance their social play and interactions.
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Social interaction is at the core of learning. Social connections in schools lend to increased academic success and emotional wellbeing. The more you interact with people, the more you learn.
School-Age Youth Programs: Positive Interactions, Positive Outcomes. Accentuate the positive. This lesson shares best practices for building community and supporting youth development. The emphasis is on social-emotional development but all areas of development are positively impacted when adults engage with youth in supportive ways. Get tools to support intentional listening, conflict resolution, and positive guidance. It is not enough to know a child well. School-age professionals need to use that knowledge to form effective interactions and connections. (Two hours)
10 Commandments of Interactions with School-Age Children. Staff interactions are critical to the positive social/emotional climate in programs. Here are some ideas for improving interactions with youth. Please feel free to use this document in program staff meetings, one on one meetings with director and staff or other opportunities for professional improvement and growth.
Three Strategies to Foster Sociability. SEL begins with sociability, which you can encourage by teaching social skills early, creating shared social norms and engaging students in cooperative learning.
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A young child’s relationship and interactions with their family has great impact on early brain development and ongoing learning. For most children, family members are the primary caregivers who provide this important foundation. They know them best. Meaningful learning opportunities occur at home during daily routines and take into account the child’s interests and abilities.
Four Elements of Connection. Eye contact, presence, touch, and playfulness are the four core components required to truly connect with others. Watch your child blossom during daily, delightful interactions.
Banking Time with Your Kids 1:14. Improve child-parent relationships by making it more positive. When you “save up” positive experiences, your relationship with your child can withstand times of conflict, tension, and disagreement without weakening the parent-child relationship.
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IECMH Consultation helps adults strengthen their relationships with young children and build capacity to respond to children’s social-emotional needs. IECMHC can help reduce caregiver stress, as well as increase caregivers’ reflective practice skills.
IECMH Consultants are available by appointment to provide IECMHC Virtual Office Hours consultation via telephone or video conference. IECMHC Virtual Office Hours is a short-term, collaborative, problem-solving conversation to help you find next steps for: Child Social-Emotional Concerns | Child Behavioral or Developmental Concerns Emotional Well-being of Teachers and Caregivers | Partnering with Families.
Appointments are held on the first and third Fridays of the month, or other days/times by request. Get more info.
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Programs and families can contact the program leadership directly at PAIECMH@pakeys.org with questions or concerns.
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With the generous support of the Office of Child Development and Early Learning (OCDEL), the Pennsylvania Key IECMH Consultation team was able to add staff member, Lauren Walter, to support School Age Child Care (SACC) programs participating in Keystone STARS. This service will be primarily tele-consultation support. Click here to request support.
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Share your feedback! We'd like to hear what you think about infant early childhood mental health. Are there resources you'd like to see? Questions you have? Tell us! Send your feedback to PAIECMH@pakeys.org.
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