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Observation: A Core Competency for Infant
& Early Childhood Mental Health
Professionals
Infant and early childhood mental health professionals regularly use both formal and informal observations to identify a child’s emerging competencies, evaluate parent-child relationships, and assess developmental delays and/or emotional disturbance.   This workshop focuses on observation as a set of skills that can be identified and practiced.  Participants will learn how to interpret parent-child observations, the value of self-awareness when observing and how observations can inform interventions. 

The morning session provides a foundation of information about the focus and goals of observation in early intervention.  The afternoon session offers opportunities to practice observation using videotaped vignettes, and considers how observations can be integrated into intervention.  

Training objectives advance key competencies for MAIECMH endorsement

Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Foundations and Principles*
8:30-11:30 p.m.
Application and Intervention*
12:30-3:30 p.m.
Wilder Center
451 Lexington Parkway North, St. Paul, MN 55104

Presented by: Developmental Partnerships, LLC

Scott Harman, MSW, LICSW, IMH-E® (IV)
Scott D. Harman is a clinical social worker overseeing program and professional development for St. David’s Center for Child Development & Family Services in Minnetonka, Minnesota.  He currently teaches in the Infant and Early Childhood Mental Heath Certificate Program at the University of Minnesota.  His professional interests include infant mental health, child development, and early and preventative interventions. Scott is a consultant to home visiting programs in Hennepin County and greater Minnesota.  He was a 2002-03 Leadership Fellow with the Bush Foundation and studied at the Infant-Parent and Early Childhood Group Therapy Programs at the Jewish Board of Family and Children services in New York City. 

Susan Schultz, Ph.D., LP, LICSW, IMH-E® (IV)
Susan K. Schultz has a private psychotherapy practice in Edina, Minnesota offering infant, child, adolescent and parent mental health services.   In 2003 she completed a three year course of study in infant mental health and clinical training in infant parent psychotherapy. She is on the Professional Staff of the Children’s Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota and as a consultant there developed an infant observation training project with the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit social workers.  She has developed curricula for professional development in infant mental health and currently teaches in the University of Minnesota’s Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Certificate Program.  

Carol Siegel, Ph.D., LP, IMH-E® (IV)
Carol F. Siegel is a clinical psychologist in Minneapolis, Minnesota who sees parents and young children in her private practice.  Her primary clinical focus is  parenting and issues encountered by parents with challenging histories.  From 1999 to 2005 Carol was the clinical supervisor of the Infant Toddler Program at Washburn Child Guidance Center.  Her clinical training included an internship at the Infant Parent Program of the University of California, San Francisco.  She is a consultant to  home-visiting programs around the state and offers training on high-risk families, attachment, early childhood mental health, and prevention of abuse and neglect.  She is an instructor in the Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Certificate Program at the University of Minnesota.

*We highly recommend that participants enroll in both the morning and afternoon sessions of the early childhood workshops. Those who are only able to attend a half day should sign up for the morning session as the afternoon session builds upon the morning presentation.  

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