New mothers returning to academic studies face many barriers. One of these barriers -- the continuation of breastfeeding -- can be particularly challenging. Breastfeeding is integral to the health of both mother and infant, underscoring several important tenants of the Catholic ethos; however, the literature indicates a significant number of…

The Early Head Start-Child Care Partnerships (EHS-CCP) were developed to expand access to quality early childhood care and education programs for infant, toddlers, and their families. The EHS-CCP model includes partnering with child care centers and family child care homes to offer Early Head Start (EHS) "slots" for infants and toddlers…

Child- and family-serving programs in community-based settings wield tremendous power for improving the lives of infants and toddlers. In this article, three authors, from Ohio, Montana, and Sierra Leone, describe the principles of adaptive leadership and will share their real-world applications. Their stories explore critical questions for…

Second Substitute Senate Bill 5903 (2019) directed the Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF) to contract with an organization providing coaching services to early achievers program participants, i.e., Child Care Aware of Washington (CCA WA), to provide statewide Infant-Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation (IECMH-C) to Early…

Program monitoring is an important and necessary assessment practice within the field of early childhood deaf education. Effective program monitoring requires a focus on both the consistent implementation of intervention strategies (fidelity) and the assessment of children's ongoing progress in response to interventions (progress monitoring).…

The First Steps Domestic Violence Program (First Steps) was developed to address the mental health needs of infants and toddlers entering a domestic violence shelter. When domestic violence occurs, the primary caregiver's ability to help restore a sense of safety for the infant--through regulation of the infant's emotions, sleep, arousal, and…

Because fathers are clearly important to family well-being, including fathers in services for families seems a straightforward idea. How hard can it be? Yet across health, education, and welfare services it is still mothers who attend and engage on behalf of their infants and children. The Family Action Centre, located on the east coast of…

The most common setting for early intervention services for infants and toddlers with disabilities and their families is the home. This article discusses home- and community-based early intervention and how the routines-based interview (RBI) can set the stage for successful home visits. It also addresses what has been learned about home visiting,…

In this issue of "Odyssey," Joanne Corwin describes New Mexico's statewide partnership among several agencies for the provision of early intervention services to infants and children who are deaf or hard of hearing and their families (Effective Partnering of State Agencies to Achieve Early Hearing Detection and Intervention Benchmarks,…

Jewish agencies and organizations in communities across the country have developed a variety of innovative programs for parents with young children. Programs combine Jewish themes with content about parenting and child development, both to provide information and support and to inspire families to become more involved with Jewish religion and…

The Collaborative Mental Health Care program offers infant mental health consultations to case managers in child protection offices throughout the city of Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Through case examples, the authors demonstrate why clinicians working with maltreated infants should expand the scope of their practice to include multidisciplinary…

A collaborative team of faculty from The University of Akron (UA) in Akron, Ohio, and Kent State University (KSU) in Kent, Ohio, were awarded a federal grant from the U.S. Department of Education to develop a specialty area in the graduate speech-language pathology (SLP) programs of UA and KSU that would train a total of 32 SLP students (trainees)…

This 2009 KIDS COUNT Data Brief features highlights of the enhanced, mobile-friendly Data Center; data on the 10 key indicators of child well-being for all U.S. states, the District of Columbia, and many cities, counties, and school districts; and a summary of this year's essay, which calls for improvements to the nation's ability to design and…

This unique program emphasizes interaction between students, parents, educators, and infants, and facilitates the development of a high level of child care competence in future educators. (LH)

This brief, the first in a series exploring key issues of program quality and best practices within prevention programs for pregnant women and children from birth to 3 years of age, focuses on ways to incorporate developmental screening into programs and services for young children. The brief defines developmental screening and discusses its role…