So I had a research paper to do on March 12th for my Infant Mental Health Course I am taking from York University. (I feel like I should let you know right off the bat that it is written from my perspective because that is what was asked for) So on Friday the 9th I came into work and worked on it...I had NOT saved it! At about 3:45 I just turned my screen off and went home and said I'll be back in the morning to finish it. Well between then and the next morning I was asked to work with a teen from 9-5, Brad was working the kids were at their dad's so I said yes. I popped in to print off what I had and get some resources to use encase I had a chance to work on it while with the teen. Well I turned my screen on to realize everything was gone. An adobe reader update was available but nothing else. Apparently my computer updated and rebooted. So what I did do was gone. So yesterday I worked and worked on it while I was with the teen he was playing video games and calling me a nerd. My co-worker said it was nice to see me but next time not work! So after work I can back to my full time job and worked some more. Here is how my twitter/facebook posts went.
Michelle Carmichael
Friday via Twitter
Getting ready to go into work. Work on some Infant Mental Health stuff!
Trina Spencer Pearce Dislike button :)
Friday at 7:29am
Michelle Carmichael CONCUR!
Friday at 7:48am
Michelle Carmichael
Yesterday via Twitter
Off to work to pick up my stuff for my research paper shortly. Than working 9-5 for A&D!
Michelle Carmichael
Yesterday via Twitter
Sick to my stomach. I left 2 documents open on my computer yesterday. Turned off the screen. Locked the door today they are gone! Do over!
Michelle Carmichael So why would the documents go away? Time out setting or did someone unlock the door go in read & close out without saving. CrAzY bizarre O world!
Yesterday at 9:05am
Mike MacCormack Ever hear of the save button? Lol
Yesterday at 1:16pm
Michelle Carmichael Oh no you didn't! Yes entirely my fault. I left just before 4 last evening thought I would just turn the screen off & come back this morning & finish it up! It must of automatically updated and rebooted or something! SAD FACE! That will teach me! Research paper due Monday! Boo!
Yesterday at 1:19pm
Linda Sewell-Lord oh no...that so sucks...good luck re- doing it
Yesterday at 1:23pm
Michelle Carmichael Hand written I'm about 1/4 done.
Yesterday at 1:28pm
Michelle Carmichael So I'll live!
Yesterday at 1:28pm
Michelle Carmichael
23 hours ago via Twitter
I want to be done! Introduction & 3 points down 2 points & closing left to go! Then references & typing! UGH
Janice Martin but you're flying through it like a pro who may have written it before! :P hugs
23 hours ago
Michelle Carmichael Haha but I'm at the point where I lost it all so it may get sketchy! - just saying!
23 hours ago
Kendra Hill You're giving me horrible flashbacks from nursing school
21 hours ago
Michelle Carmichael Bhahahaha too funny!
21 hours ago
Michelle Carmichael
16 hours ago via Twitter
A little over 14 hrs l8r I'm home. Paper done just edits & references left!
Michelle Carmichael
16 hours ago via Twitter
The English Professor I mean Brad is editing my paper! Lots of mistakes. Amazing how U don't see mistakes when you read it how U thought it!
Michelle Carmichael It's those mistakes you make when you're typing and leave out a letter or add a letter & it makes a new word acceptable to spell check but not much sense in your paper. And when you read it you read what you want it to be!
7 hours ago
Kathryn Bjornson The key to editing is to read it out loud. Makes your brain see it differently.
7 hours ago
Michelle Carmichael Good tip! Thank! :-)
7 hours ago
Kathryn Bjornson I've seen it a hundred times with students presenting a paper and seeing the mistakes for the first time the first time they read it out loud.
about an hour ago
NOW IT'S OFFICIALLY DONE AND SENT! WHOO HOO!
Child Development
Factors and Influences
By
Michelle Carmichael
Infant Mental Health March 12, 2012
Instructor: Dr Chaya Kulkarni
Too many infants and toddlers are born into and grow up in environments
that narrow the opportunities for realizing their full potential. This comes at
great cost to mankind. As a Family Educator in the province of New
Brunswick my Early Childhood program gives me the opportunity for
addressing growth and development at the foundation. Our program meets
with the most vulnerable and challenged of our society. As a Family
Educator our visits can begin as early as birth ending at five years when the
child enters kindergarten. This gives us potentially five years to encourage
good health, early learning experiences and build on making families strong
and self-sufficient. The very nature of our program is “human nature” to
help those who need help. Our goal is to help at risk infants/toddlers to
realize their full potential and become successful in their later years, through
life long learning and good health habits. We attempt to accomplish this with
in home visits, regular developmental assessments, providing age
appropriate stimuli and activities designed to enhance their development.
Also with teaching parenting skills and providing information on healthy
growth and development, community events and other pertinent information
as needed. I will discuss through out my paper five developmental factors I
feel I can most influence when visiting a family.
The first factor I feel I can influence is – Infant-Parent Attachment.
Attachment is that part of an infant – parent relationship concerned with the
infant’s sense of safety and protection. For infants and toddlers the
attachment relationship is pivotal to development.
“Bowlby’s theory suggests that attachment is an organized system, the goal
of which is to make individuals feel safe and secure. Whenever safety is
threatened in infancy, attachment systems are activated and attachment
behaviors can be observed.” 1
Parents can respond to infant’s distress in several ways.
Loving: this of course is the ideal situation where parents are consistent in
their response to meeting their child’s needs, be it physical, mental or
emotional. The parents are there for the infant/toddler in a calming, loving
manner to meet needs. This response gives the infant/toddler the knowledge
that they are safe. These infants and toddlers are known to have secure
attachment. The best way to describe them is that they are balanced.
The other responses from parents to infants/toddlers in distress have the
potential to cause attachment disorders.
Rejecting: parents are generally not available to their infant/toddler and
respond uncaring or insensitively. They tend to ridicule, mock and taunt
infants/toddlers when they seek attention, affection and comfort. Showing
no comfort or support and ignoring the infants needs altogether. With this
the infant/toddler learns to fend for themselves so to speak. The
infant/toddler then becomes avoidant of parents during times of distress.
Equally damaging are those parents who are inconsistent in their responses
to their infant/toddler’s distress. These parents often reverse the roles expecting the infant/toddler to meet their needs. Ex. Don’t cry you are
giving Mommy a headache or When you fell you scared Mommy, give
Mommy a hug so I feel better. Often these parents want their
child to please them but rarely show approval of their child. These factors
leave the infant/toddler with ambivalent/resistant attachment. Some of the
symptoms are: preoccupied with their parents, upset when parents leave and
seeking comfort upon return but resistant of that comfort when received.
The infant/toddler often shows a mixture of sadness, anger toward and fear
of the parent. They have mixed strategies to attempt to win some attention
and have their needs met. You can, at any given point find them using a
combination of secure, avoidant and resistant attachment behaviors.
Disorganized attachment has to be the scariest for society, because this
pattern is proven to be a predecessor to psychopathology in later life.
Tanya Helton from Forest Cottage centre speaks on responding to
attachment disorders, some of her strategies used for older children could
easily be adapted to infant/toddler situations. We as Family Educators need
to help guide parents to show love, consistency, rules, expectations and
guidance. We the Family Educators also need to set a consistent tone with
our visits. There needs to be structure and consistency in the infant/toddlers
life. You need to make clear and firm boundaries that are reliable,
trustworthy and safe for them and teach parents to do likewise. In doing this
the child with attachment disorders will test the boundaries and will attempt
to break through them, especially when they begin to trust you and/or their
parents. They will often “act out” and disappoint you before you disappoint
them.2
The second factor I feel I can influence is Infant Temperament and Parenting Styles. “Temperament refers to individual characteristics that are assumed to have a biological or genetic basis and that determine the individual’s affective, intentional and motor responses in various situations. For example, temperament can affect you children’s mood and emotions, how they approach and react to situations, their level of fear, frustration, sadness and discomfort, etc.” 3
We know scientifically that infant/toddler development is influenced by their relationships and experiences. A child’s temperament can influence their ability to regulate, to be with other children and generally react to their world including the people and experiences they are exposed to. There are three types of children. The difficult child: who is irregular and unpredictable in routines. This child is slow to adapt and intense in reactions displaying lots of negative moods. The easy child: who is regular and predictable in routines. This child readily approaches new things and adapts well to new situations. They show a mild degree of reaction and are generally in a positive mood. The slow to warm up or shy child: often withdraws in new situations. They are slow at adapting and have a low activity level and intensity. Often displays a lot of negative mood. Knowing that children have their own unique temperaments, we need to learn to deal with those temperaments. Emphasis has been put on the importance of goodness of fit between the child and their environment. Goodness of fit means providing support by meeting the needs of the child’s temperament while respecting them. As well as providing structure and setting limits. Good fit leads to healthy development. Poor fit puts children at risk for developing behavior problems. Goodness of fit also has an element of parenting styles. There are four major parenting styles:
“Dominating-You are a firm believer in rules and have big expectations for behavior. You show your love be expecting the best from your children, but rarely show affection. Communication is generally one way: you to your child. Sometimes you can be ridged and harsh in correcting bad behavior.
Permissive-You show your child lots of love, give them what they ask for, communicate openly and let them do what they want most of the time. You have trouble setting and enforcing rules. You prefer to be friendly rather than a disciplinarian. Sometimes you feel like your children walk all over you.
Positive-You believe children need your love but also they need rules, high expectations and guidance in order to meet these expectations. You view parenting as your most important job, and serve as a role model for your children by modeling the respect you expect from them. You believe in listening to your children, but when it comes down to it, you have the final say regarding issues involving safety, values and health. Your children know what you expect and they know you will be consistent, fair and firm.
Unengaged-You may feel uncomfortable about parenting because you don’t spend much time with your children. You may focus more on work or other interests. When you have your children, you often are preoccupied and not focused on them. You assume the other parent is doing a pretty good job. You aren’t sure what you can do that would be helpful.” 4 Everybody is born with temperament and has their temperament throughout their life span affecting their lives and their parenting styles. Perhaps there is families with a combination of these parenting styles or predominately on of them. Ideally we would all fall under positive parenting. Many families are not there yet. As a Family Educator I would work with them and challenge them to change one thing at a time to make a difference in their relationship with their child.5
The third factor I feel I can influence is the effects of Paternal Postpartum Depression. “Postpartum depression is a temporary illness that may begin soon after birth or any time in the first year after birth. As many as one in five new mothers experience depression that may last for at least two weeks, and up to 70% of those women may experience depressive symptoms that last for a year or longer. These symptoms make it difficult for mothers to be sensitive and responsive to their infants and as a result the mother-infant relationship suffers.” 6 The seriousness of this is that “12% of maternal deaths are attributed to psychiatric illness including PPD. In that 12% the number one cause of death is suicide. Of those suicides there are found to be more violent methods. Rarely are the suicides by over dose.”7
You can find documented cases of mother’s with PPD going as far as killing their infants and other siblings if any. With the stress of PPD infant mental health is at risk. With Mom unable to cope with her PPD she will often neglect her infant, being unable to always care for the infant in a positive secure manner. This results in the infant displaying signs of insecure attachment. Some of Mom’s behaviors include: insensitivity, disengaged, uninvolved, emotionally flat and controlling. To counter act these behavior the infant often develops self-protecting strategies. Some of these strategies include but are not limited to: drowsy, withdrawn, disengaged and sleeping more. They are at a high risk for failure to thrive. As a Family Educator I feel an assessment of parenting competency and risk would be necessary. “This includes direct observations of parent-child interactions; a psychiatric evaluation; consideration of the parent’s home environment and social supports network; an assessment of children’s developmental, emotional, and attachment needs; and a record review.”8 After establishing the risks I would attempt to help implement safe guards and secure supports necessary to make a safe and healthy home environment
The fourth factor I feel I can influence is Competence and Self-esteem.
Self-esteem is not something we are born with, given by others or something we can earn. It is a personal judgment of worthiness. Our self-esteem affects the way we relate to others, how we parent, how we do our jobs, the kind of relationships we have, the way we allow others to treat us and how we treat others. It also affects the way we learn. If we think we are dumb and stupid we will not put an effort into learning. Self-esteem affects all our choices in life. It affects how we perceive ourselves and others, and it affects how others perceive us. It affects our ability to both give and receive love and our ability to take action when things need to be changed. It affects our stability, and it even affects whether we are followers or leaders; but it is not innate, not God-given. It has to be learned along the way. (Foley & Nechas 1993, p.421) When it comes to equipping families with necessary information to help them grow and develop, Mom and Dad’s self-esteem and competence is very important. Providing age appropriate stimuli and activities designed to enhance infant/toddler development coupled with providing information and resources regarding healthy growth and development only helps a family when they have the competency and self-esteem to use it. “A sense of competence in parenting and in other types of functioning has been linked in some studies to positive parenting. Gross and Rocissano described it as the “necessary mediator between knowledge and action.” (1988, p.20) or between knowing what to do and actually doing it. Thus, it is clear how important it is to enhance parents’ sense of competence in order to enable them to use newly acquired knowledge to enhance their interactions with their children.”9 As a Family Educator I need to emphasize on my parents strengths so that they can build competency and self-esteem and in turn pass it on to their infant/toddler. Self-esteem is the greatest gift we can give to our children. Give parents tips to boost both their self-esteem and the self-esteem of their infant/toddler. Some simple ways to boost your client’s self-esteem are: if they excel in something encourage them to learn more about it. It will increase knowledge and competency. Help them to learn to accept compliments with a simple thank you. Encourage them to maintain a physical fitness program. It doesn’t have to be intense it could be five minutes a day. It will energize and refresh you. Help someone be a volunteer. Join a club or group for parents of infant/toddlers, which helps you to know you’re not alone. Complimenting others makes them feel good and you for passing out warm compliments. Be as interested in others as you would like them to be in you. “There is a variety of ways to help parents have a greater sense of competence, both personally and in their parenting role. For some parents, just being listened to , visited on a regular basis, and having their strengths and positive behaviors noticed and acknowledged can go a long way toward helping them overcome a sense of helplessness and lack of control, and enable them to gain a great sense of parenting competence. Other, more high-risk parents have few supports and have had difficult experiences of being parented themselves. These parents typically find it challenging to provide nurturance for their children; thus, more intensive individual group interventions are necessary.”10
The fifth factor I feel I can influence is problem solving and planning.
There are many different parent groups that I see as a Family Educator. Some of those groups that need help with problem solving and planning are:
Parents who have had trauma in their past, teen parents, depressed parents, intellectually disabled parents, mentally ill parents and Parents with substance abuse problems. Each group comes with their specific needs for problem solving and planning. However this is true; “all problem solving has certain elements in common. It involves having a goal in mind that cannot be attained immediately because of the presence of one or more obstacles, recognizing the obstacles to that goal, having strategies for overcoming the obstacles, and being able to evaluate the results of the strategies (DeLoache, Miller, & Pierroutsakos, 1998).”11 Often times problem solving isn’t easy and it needs patience. Patience is something that I need to help teach as a Family Educator. Not everything is solved over night and sometimes it is hard work to get to the goal. We need to first plan before we take action in attempting to solve problems. Coping with the stress of the problem helps us to problem solve. There are different views our clients have that will make it easy or difficult for them to succeed in problem solving. How they think of themselves and the world around them along with their intellectual capacity will help to determine what they will do in a crisis situation. As Family Educators we need to help our clients determine action plans, develop them and implement them. Often clients live from one crisis to the next because they forgot or failed to do things that are necessary. In that we need to help them with a game plan and meet them on their level.
In conclusion as a Family Educator I have the opportunity to touch many lives not just of infants and toddlers but of whole families, a role I do not take lightly. As I go to each home my hope and prayer is that I can influence some developmental factors for the good. That I can help families be successful. We often see loss and failure in our profession which can be emotionally and mentally exhausting for us. However, the success stories are what keep us doing it along with the hope for more success.
References
1. Benoitt, Diane (1994) Parenting Infants: What Really Matters in the First Year of Life. First printed in IM Print 10.
2. Helton, Tanya. Responding to Attachment Disorder. Helping children with attachment issues 2 disc Audiobook. http://www.forestcottagecentre.com/
3. Encyclopedia on Early Childhood Development (EECD) http://www.child’encyclopedia.com/en-ca/child-temperament/how-important-is-it.html
4. The Parents Forever Team (2009) What is your parenting style? The University of Minnesota.
5. Kulkarni, Dr Chaya (2011, June) Understanding and Supporting attachment and temperament. Outline presented in a Temperament Workshop St Andrews, New Brunswick.
6. Clark, Roseanne (2000) Maternal Depression and the Mother-infant relationship. First printed in IM Print 27.
7. Letourneau, Nicole (2011, November) Maternal Postpartum Depression. Outline presented in a lecture Miramichi, Healthy Child Network.
8. Ostler, Teresa (2008) Assessment of Parenting Competency in Mothers with Mental Illness. (p39)
9. Landy, Sara & Menna, Rosanne (2006) Early Intervention with Multi-Risk Families. (p241)
10. Landy, Sara & Menna, Rosanne (2006) Early Intervention with Multi-Risk Families. (p256)
11. Landy, Sara & Menna, Rosanne (2006) Early Intervention with Multi-Risk Families. (p371)
So I hope you enjoy it, learn something but if you notice any mistakes don't worry! That's how I roll!!!
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