Extensive research has shown that home visiting parental education programs improve child and family outcomes, and they save money for states and taxpayers. Now, the next generation of research is deepening understanding of those program elements that are essential to success, ways to improve existing models, and factors to consider in tailoring…

Since the National Education Goals Panel was convened in 1991, school readiness for all children has remained a high priority across our nation. The Foundations of Learning Framework is a tool to understand what it means for a child to be "ready." Preparation for educational success requires two key ingredients--relationships and play. In the…

Gaping disparities in educational achievement exist at kindergarten entry. Research indicates that school readiness requires a holistic approach directed by the pivotal question: What will allow babies to become successful learners? By understanding the real-life situations of babies and their families in the context of their communities and…

Prenatally and in infants and toddlers, the brain is being constructed as a foundation for all later learning. Positive early experiences contribute to the formation of a brain that is capable, early in infancy, of utilizing and strengthening the basic processes of learning. Throughout a lifetime, a person will repeatedly use these approaches to…

Fostering healthy social and emotional development provides the foundation for school readiness in programs serving infants, toddlers, and their families. In this article, the author explores four key concepts that make the link between social and emotional development and early learning: 1) Cognitive and social-emotional development are…

Phyllis Glink, the executive director of the Irving Harris Foundation, describes the Foundation's strategic approach to grantmaking in the infant and early childhood field. The Harris Professional Development Network evolved out of Irving Harris's growing appreciation for the importance of supporting very young children's mental health and…

To create a just and equitable society for the infants and toddlers with whom its members work, the infant mental health field must intentionally address some of the racial, ethnic, socioeconomic, and other inequities embedded in society. The Diversity-Informed Infant Mental Health Tenets, presented and discussed here, are guiding principles…

The Diversity-Informed Infant Mental Health Tenets provide guidelines for addressing inequities in American society. Embedding the Tenets into infant mental health systems requires intentionality and careful consideration. With the use of vignettes, this article examines each Tenet and how infant mental health practitioners, agencies, and systems…

As the infant mental health workforce expands to meet the needs of increasingly diverse families and communities, leaders of the work--most often, supervisors in community settings--should be responsive to and reflective of the ethnic or cultural backgrounds of those served. The Reflective Supervision Training Program described addresses an…

Developing a sustainable, competent workforce is an urgent and challenging task for the Infant Mental Health (IMH) field. In this article, the authors share their experiences and perspectives on the importance of and challenges in the development of the IMH workforce. The broad view of both workforce members and professional development…

Mom2Mom is an attachment-based home visiting project for distressed mothers of young infants, based in Israel. Home visitors, who are volunteer mothers from the community, are trained and supervised by professionals. Home visits occur weekly for 1-2 hours and continue until the infant is 1 year old. The project was founded in Jerusalem in year…

Child-parent psychotherapy (CPP), an evidence-based dyadic therapeutic intervention for very young children exposed to trauma, is becoming the go-to therapeutic intervention for infant mental health practitioners. Although CPP has been shown to be effective for rebuilding the parent-child relationship, reducing trauma symptoms, and reducing…

The Mediational Intervention for Sensitizing Caregivers (MISC) model is a comprehensive developmental approach to help adults understand their role in child development by enhancing the quality of adult-child interactions. This article describes how the Irving B. Harris Program for Infants, Toddlers and Their Families at Bar-Ilan University…

Erikson Institute Fussy Baby Network[R] (FBN) developed an approach to engaging parents around their urgent concerns about their baby's crying, sleeping, or feeding in a way which builds their longer-term capacities as parents. This approach, called the FAN, is now in place in new Fussy Baby Network programs around the country and is being infused…

Early child development professionals naturally prefer playgrounds and classrooms to legislative arenas; however, their strengths, skills, knowledge, and data are sorely needed by policymakers who rely on those closest to an issue--the advocates, researchers, program directors, and consumers--to give them evidence of need and guidance toward…