Search

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic continues to demonstrate far-reaching impact on individuals, families, and communities. Emerging research highlights the detrimental impact of the pandemic on perinatal mental health. Warm Connections is a behavioral health program embedded in Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) clinics. The authors describe changes made by Warm Connections to address the increased needs of this population during the pandemic. In collaboration with WIC staff, the program developed a new outreach model to provide timely, comprehensive support for caregivers in the early postpartum period. Included is a case example and an important reminder that systems under stress can find resilience and inspiration in connection and innovation.

The Tennessee First Five Training Institute (TFFTI) is a workforce development project to build infant and early childhood mental health (IECMH) capacity across Tennessee's community mental health agencies. TFFTI focused on foundational trainings in IECMH concepts, training in child-parent psychotherapy, dyadic, trauma treatment for children birth to 6 years old, and reflective consultation. This article will discuss TFFTI's programmatic shift in the wake of Tennessee's March 3, 2021, tornado, COVID-19, and the murder of George Floyd. The authors highlight TFFTI's collaborations with national partnerships to adapt training and provide support through virtual formats. The authors discuss lessons learned and provide guidance for others considering large-scale IECMH workforce development efforts.

A recent partnership between the Irving Harris Program in Child Development and Infant Mental Health and the Community Based Psychiatry Program at University of Colorado Hospital joined two different approaches to child mental health treatment: infant mental health and multisystemic therapy (MST). This article illustrates the compatibility of these two approaches by detailing the application of both models to the treatment of 4-year-old Noah and his substance-abusing mother, Kim. The authors highlight helpful aspects of each approach, such as using ecologically informed interventions (MST) and reflective practice (infant mental health) to show how openness to contrasting frameworks can ultimately benefit families.

Children who begin kindergarten with stronger skills learn faster than do those who enter with lower skills. Minority children tend to enter kindergarten already at a disadvantage, and the gap widens across time. However, little is known about cognitive development among American Indian young children. In this study, 110 American Indian infants from one Northern Plains reservation community were assessed four times between ages 6 months and 36 months, with the Mullen Scales of Early Learning. At 6 months of age, scores were near the national norms; a drop occurred between 6 months and 15 months. Scores then tended to level off below the norms through 36 months. In each domain, we observed a crucial decline over the 1st year of life and relatively little change in the 2nd and 3rd years of life, highlighting the importance of developing culturally syntonic interventions to facilitate cognitive development during the 1st year of life. (Contains 6 figures and 1 table.)

Objective: To present data from a general infant psychiatry clinic, including range and frequency of presenting symptoms, relationship between symptoms and diagnoses, and comparison of two diagnostic systems, DSM-IV and Diagnostic Classification of Mental Health and Developmental Disorders of Infancy and Early Childhood (DC: 0-3). Method: A retrospective chart review was conducted for 177 children, ages birth to 58 months, who were seen between 1982 and 1997. Presenting symptoms were identified. Subjects were given diagnoses using both DSM-IV and DC: 0-3. Presenting symptom variables were reduced using subjective and empirical determinants. Stepwise regression analyses were used to determine whether presenting symptoms and demographic variables predicted diagnoses. Results: Descriptive statistics on the distribution of current presenting symptoms and assigned diagnosis were compared with previous studies. The study demonstrated interrater reliability for diagnoses using both diagnostic systems, evidence of diagnostic validity via the regression analyses, and good concordance where DSM-IV and DC: 0-3 overlap. DSM-IV disruptive behavior disorders may be better conceptualized in DC: 0-3 as regulatory disorders, leading to alternative conceptualization of the disorder and a different course of treatment. Conclusions: This study clarifies a developmental progression of presenting symptoms and diagnoses and suggests the need for continued diagnostic re-evaluation in early childhood. Greater attention to relationship factors and consideration of trauma factors is encouraged. J. Am. Acad. Child Adolesc. Psychiatry, 2004;43(5):578-587. Key Words: young children, infant psychiatry clinic, diagnostic systems.

Fourteen children (ages 3-6) from a therapeutic day treatment preschool program for maltreated children were administered the Weschler Preschool and Primary Scales of Intelligence-Revised. The abused preschoolers scored significantly lower than the population mean on four of the five subscales. Only on Picture Completion did they score significantly higher. (Author/CR)

Attempted to replicate findings of a previous study which found that mother-toddler interaction during problem solving was related to the child's prior attachment security. Examined the relationship between problem-solving interactions on the one hand, and mother-child interactions at home and infant temperament on the other. (PCB)