Infant Mental Health....

So I can’t remember if I told you guys or not but I’m taking Infant Mental Health from York University http://www.yorku.ca/web/index.htm Toronto Ontario. I’m really enjoying it! Our professor is Dr. Chaya Kulkarni and I really enjoy her teaching. This is not the first teaching I’ve had of hers. I’ve blogged on her teaching before from my AGM in June then we had another training with her in the summer as well.
Our first module in Infant Mental Health is; Understanding the context of working with infants and toddlers. So our first discussion form was this. . .
Should Infants and Toddlers be a Unique Category?
As you work your way through the modules, I wonder if you can think about how important it is that infants and toddlers be acknowledged as a separate group? Currently, documents, initiatives etc.... often say "Children and Youth" and in my mind, people are usually thinking about children as those who can walk and talk. Do you think that such titles need to say "Infants, toddlers, children and youth" - I think my bias is pretty obvious but I would like your thoughts about this? Because infants and toddlers have no way of communicating to us and being sure we have understood, their voice is so often lost. The more we insert infant, toddler, baby etc...Into documents the more we, policy makers etc... Are likely to think about this group. So what do you think?
Chaya
I'm not going to give you verbatim what I said but it went something like this….
I found it interesting that the term infant is derived from the Latin word infans, meaning "unable to speak" or "speechless." So by their very title it is apparent that they need someone to speak for them. I have to concur with you Chaya that there should be more focus on the infant/toddler group. I feel that we who realize that the first 3 years of a persons life is extremely important should shout it from the rooftops! We should be advocators whenever possible! I’m going to use church programming for an example. The church may say there is something for every age group but really there is something for every school age child (preschool 3-5 year olds often have programs) and teen. The under school age often get to go to the adult mid week service or the nursery. Neither of which is overly engaging nor stimulating for infants and toddlers. So I feel as if those of us that know there is a gap should express the gap and not only say; “you should be doing something for them.” But volunteer to help teach and train leaders within the community to better meet the needs of the infant & toddler group. I also find that I often have clients that their 3.5 year old are referred into our services but not their infants & younger toddlers. So I will say to them; “I can do assessments for your younger children as well you just have to call the health nurse to have them referred in.” Often times I’m met with the, “oh no that’s ok their only a baby or they don‘t seem to have anything wrong with them right now.” It’s a sad truth that infants & toddlers truly don’t have a voice! Often the forgotten ones and only when they are old enough to “cause trouble” and become difficult do they get heard or be referred on to programs. I feel that infant mental health is of up most importance and goes hand in hand with giving them a voice. If we can have parents, families, communities, provinces & ultimately our entire Country on board with the significance of infants & toddlers being heard, their needs being met and their mental wellness being thought of I believe we would have different children growing up in our country.
Michelle
So that’s what I think. . . Do you have any thoughts???