Baby Talk: Resources to support the people who work with infants and toddlers
Issue No. 13, June 2012
Promote Access to Early, Regular and Comprehensive Screenings
The Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) has developed a resource to highlight research on the importance of early and regular health, mental health, and developmental screening for infants and toddlers. It includes policy recommendations to help states improve their screening rates. Promote Access to Early, Regular and Comprehensive Screenings is part of the “Charting Progress for Babies in Child Care” project at CLASP.
http://www.clasp.org/babiesinchildcare/recommendations?id=0011
The Potential of Safe, Secure and Accessible Playgrounds to Increase Children’s Physical Activity
Are your children getting the recommended minimum of physical activity each day? If not, here are some ideas that may help. This brief summarizes research on playgrounds and how playgrounds impact physical activity among children. For the purposes of this brief, a playground is defined as a small, publicly owned, outdoor area that features play equipment and provides recreational physical activity for younger children. http://www.activelivingresearch.org/files/ALR_Brief_SafePlaygrounds.pdf
Social and Emotional Tips for Families and Providers Caring for Infants
The Center for Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation (CECMHC) has published two new resources: Social and Emotional Tips for Families of Infants (2012) and Social and Emotional Tips for Providers Caring for Infants (2012), which provide one-page posters with tips that families and providers can refer to during specific daily routines to help nurture the social and emotional health of infants. Each poster offers a rationale for using the tips which are based on research. They are meant to help families and providers practice using behavior and language that supports healthy, positive connections with children, learn more about social and emotional health, and understand the importance of social and emotional health to school readiness.
http://www.ecmhc.org/documents/CEMHC_Tips_Infants_Parents_2.pdf
http://www.ecmhc.org/documents/CEMHC_Tips_Infants_Providers_2.pdf
Free Tool Can Help Assess If Environments Support Motor Development
A free, easy-to-use assessment tool developed at the Motor Development Lab at Texas A&M University, can tell parents if their home is set up to help their baby learn and move. The Affordances in the Home Environment for Motor Development-Infant Scale (AHEMD-IS) lets parents and clinical personnel create an optimal setting for motor development and can also be used as a tool for early intervention for children at risk for developmental delays.
http://www.ese.ipvc.pt/dmh/AHEMD/ahemd_5.htm
Baby Talk is a free, one-way listserv that is distributed monthly. Each issue features one or more resources, the majority of which are available to download at no cost. To join the listserv, send an email with no message to subscribe-babytalk@listserv.unc.edu. For additional information (or to offer suggestions), please contact Camille Catlett at camille.catlett@unc.edu or (919) 966-6635.