The Infant/Toddler Growth and Development course is designed to introduce students to in-depth knowledge of infant development, including developmental patterns of infants at risk. The knowledge includes an understanding of the basic developmental processes in the domains of cognitive, social/emotional, communication, and sensory and motor development. Throughout the course, consideration will be given to the interaction of social, cultural, and interpersonal environments with infant development. Special focus will be placed on the influences of developmental challenges in the child’s emerging capacities for engagement in relationships and in learning.  

This course is designed to promote an empathic understanding of parenting and family life from pregnancy through the first three years of life. Using family systems and attachment theory as organizing frameworks, the course explores the structure and function of families, psychological processes of parenting, and the development of the parent/ infant/family relationship within the context of culture and community. Conceptual models of stress and coping guide the exploration of family vulnerability and resiliency. The contributions and challenges of early childhood disability to family relationships are explored. Further, the course provides guidelines for examining the nature of the relationship between the family and service provider and the tenets of relationship-based, family-centered approaches to infant/family work.  

Prerequisite: 30 hours of hands-on, direct experiences with infants and toddlers or consent of co-director of Infant Specialist program.

This course takes a relationship-based developmental approach to observation, screening, and assessment of children from birth through age three.

Assessment is viewed as an integral part of the intervention process and as a collaboration between parents and providers. Students are trained to focus on underlying developmental processes as well as the appearance of individual milestones in cognitive, social/emotional, communication, and sensory and motor development. Students are guided in partnering with parents to assess the child’s strengths and challenges to development, and to identify the family’s priorities for services.

Selected screening tools, standardized tests, and criterion-referenced instruments are reviewed. Students receive introductory training in one screening and one assessment tool, including administration, interpretation, referral, and recommendations for developmental intervention. The rationale and practices for screening, referral, and assessment in various infant/toddler settings (e.g., child care, Early Head Start, early intervention) are examined.