The University of Minnesota's Birth to Three Clinic has adopted a holistic approach to supporting children's needs within an attachment-focused, trauma-informed, and neurodevelopmental framework rooted in the DC:0-5™ classification framework. This clinical framework of infant and early childhood mental health (IECMH) assessment has been applied in…

To understand the broader societal context for supporting the healthy development and well-being of infants and toddlers, the following excerpt from the "State of Babies Yearbook: 2022 Executive Summary" presents key findings on the status of America's families with young children. As of August 2022, the reconciliation bill proposed in…

Early experiences matter. The quality of the early care and education provided to young children not only impacts their experiences now, but directly contributes to their future success in school and in life. High-quality early learning experiences require effective educators but attainment and application of these critical knowledge and skills is…

Childhood experiences of interpersonal trauma often leave a legacy of painful emotions and memories that can be especially destructive when adults transition to parenthood. In this article, the authors present a promising treatment approach, Perinatal Child-Parental Psychotherapy (P-CPP), adapted from evidence-based Child-Parent Psychotherapy…

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are stressful or traumatic events that place children at risk of negative health, mental health, and behavioral outcomes. The Center for Youth Wellness (CYW), working in partnership with the Bayview Child Health Center (BCHC), pioneered ACE screening for children and adolescents. This article describes the…

Who are Millennial parents? What strengths and struggles do they face, and what kind of messages and information about parenting and child rearing are most meaningful and relevant to them? To learn more about the people who account for 80% of the 4 million U.S. births per year (Millennial Marketing, 2015), ZERO TO THREE conducted a series of focus…

The new Institute of Medicine/National Research Council report, "Transforming the Workforce for Children From Birth Through Age 8: A Unifying Foundation" (2015), begins with a summary of the science of early development and learning, with particular attention to discoveries during the past 15 years since the publication of "From…

Research indicates that many toddlers experience low to mediocre quality child care settings with limited interactions and learning opportunities available. This article uses the context of brain and development research to describe toddlers' experiences in child care. Reporting on the established connections between toddlers' experiences and…

Adoption is a major intervention in a child's life, however internationally adopted (IA) children remain at risk for long-term neurodevelopmental and mental health issues due to the fact that most of them have a history of early adversity prior to their adoption. In the last 20 years, extensive research with this population has increased the…

Previous studies have supported a connection between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and negative outcomes in adulthood. Fewer studies have examined the connection between ACEs and parenting behaviors, however. The study described in this article examined the relationships among ACEs, reflective functioning, and negative parenting behaviors…

Between 1995 and 2004, Early Head Start (EHS) grew from 68 to more than 700 programs nationwide, serving more than 62,000 children and securing the program's reputation as a beacon of hope for the nation's low-income families with infants and toddlers. According to a comprehensive 5-year national evaluation of EHS, children who participated in…