Promising Practices for Early Childhood Mental Health

Print resources

Carl Dundst, Carol Trivette, and Angela Deal Enabling and Empowering Families: Principles and Guidelines for Practice. Family Resource Coalition. 212 p.
    Excellent resource for family service managers and practitioners. This work is the basis for current thinking that informal supports are of greater importance than formal supports.

Yoshikawa, Hirokazu and Knitzer, Jane Lessons from the Field: Head Start Mental Health Strategies to Meet Changing Needs. (NCCP)
    This publication, supported by the National Center for Children in Poverty and the American Orthopsychiatric Association, describes promising strategies being implemented in 14 Head Start programs across the nation. The challenges described will be familiar to Head Start programs and the proposed strategies stimulate thought about solutions could apply in one's own community.

Articles from Journals

The following articles may be available full-text through your local or university libraries or through a commercial document delivery service.

Holmes, Maggie and Bethany Robertson. "Why Head Start and Mental Health Associations Should Collaborate. Pathways to Partnership." NHSA Journal; 14 No.1( Sum-Fall 1995): p23, 25-28.
    Suggests that one way to counteract the negative effects of violence on Head Start children is to employ a program of early prevention education. Describes NHSA's Partnership Project to expand the mental health component at Head Start sites, noting five issues that must be addressed: approach, adequate staffing, referral process, accessibility, and training.

Mann, T. "Promoting the Mental Health of Infants and Toddlers in Early Head Start: Responsibilities, Partnerships, and Supports." Zero to Three, 18, No. 2 (November 1997): 37-40.
http://www.ensnrc.org/ftmental.htm
    Using a complex case study, describes ways, including reflective supervision, that allow infant/family programs to support staff in responding to mental health issues. Emphasizes the need to provide services in partnership with parents that are responsive to the mental health needs of the family constellation.

Websites

Behavior
http://www.state.ky.us/agencies/behave/homepage.html
    The Kentucky Department of Education and the University of Kentucky collaborate on this web page on student behavior. The site allows school personnel, parents, and other professionals to access information, share effective practices, and receive ongoing consultation and technical assistance concerning the full range of behavior problems and challenges displayed by children and youth in school and community settings.

Center on the Social and Emotional Foundations for Early Learning (CSEFEL)
http://www.csefel.uiuc.edu/index.html
    Based at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the project, jointly sponsored by Head Start and the Child Care Bureau, focuses on strengthening the capacity of the programs to improve the social and emotional outcomes of young children. The Center develops and disseminates evidence-based, user-friendly information -- What Works Briefs -- to help early childhood educators meet the needs of the growing number of children ages 2-5 with challenging behaviors and mental health needs. What Works Briefs also include policies and procedural and administrative practices needed to support the use of evidence-based practices.

Early Childhood Research Institute on Inclusion
http://www.fpg.unc.edu/~ecrii/
    A federally-funded research project to study the inclusion of preschool children with disabilities in typical preschool, day care and community settings. Describes research that has been done at a number of sites, and links to other helpful Internet web pages related to inclusion.

The Louis de la Parte Institute Florida Mental Health Institute -- University of South Florida
http://www.fmhi.usf.edu/
    Contains many search options, including access to the database of their library of children and family mental health. This database holds over 8,000 records of 18,692 monograph titles, audiovisual materials, and vertical file materials at the Institute Library. A number of state documents, working drafts, and position papers will be found only on this database.

National Governor's Association Center for Best Practices
http://www.nga.org/center/
    This site includes but is not limited to issues related to prevention, and matters concerning children and families.

National Technical Assistance Center for Children's Mental Health, Georgetown University
http://www.georgetown.edu/research/gucdc/cassp.html
    The Technical Assistance Center assists states and communities in building systems of care that are child and family centered, culturally competent, and community-based. One of their specific goals is to integrate early intervention principles and strategies for children from birth to school age into the development of systems of care at national, state and local levels. Their Web site contains information on training opportunities, available technical assistance publications with prices, and information on conflict management and consultation services. Also contains links to related Web sites. Tel: 202-687-5000

Positive Behavioral Support
http://www.beachcenter.org/
    IDEA requires that the Individualized Education Program (IEP) team consider strategies, including positive behavioral interventions and supports, to address inappropriate behavior that impedes a student's learning and/or the learning of others. This issue describes promising research in using positive behavioral supports to improve learning opportunities for students with disabilities. A part of the The Beach Center on Families and Disability which is funded by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR) of the U.S Department of Education.

Prevention and Early Intervention
http://cecp.air.org/prev-ei/
    Provides prevention practitioners with information on promising practices in mental health, education, special education, juvenile justice, and public policy. This site is maintained by the Center for Effective Collaboration and Practice at the American Institutes for Research in Washington, DC.

The Prevention Connection - Maintained by the American Psychological Association
http://www.apa.org/prevention/
    This database contains research on the effectiveness of prevention and health promotion efforts for children and adolescents. It contains up-to-date scientific reviews of the effectiveness of various preention programs. It also contains links to professional conferences

School Mental Health Project/Center for Mental Health in Schools (UCLA)
http://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/
    Source for materials and information on school mental health issues and programs. Contains links to their clearinghouse of resource materials, a listing of upcoming conferences on school mental health, a "Do-It-Yourself Technical Assistance Center," and links to other mental health sites.