Staff training and expertise

Our teams of highly qualified infant and child development consultants are skilled in providing an effective home-based intervention service. They benefit from continuous staff development opportunities, both locally and provincially, through the support of OAICD and through base funding by MCYS, when that is provided. Each staff member has training in one or more of the following disciplines: child development; developmental services; early childhood education; education; infant mental health; nursing; occupational therapy; physiotherapy; psychology; social work; or other related disciplines.

The breadth of training backgrounds underscores the degree to which our infant and child development consultants bring a unique set of skills and abilities to work with high-risk infants and children and their families. Their expertise covers in-depth knowledge of typical and atypical child development, acute observation skills, the ability to assess developmental and environmental strengths and needs, an awareness of issues related to family dynamics and child-rearing. Their expertise also includes training with respect to supporting those who experience grief and loss following the diagnosis/identification of a child as having life-long special needs, or in some cases, coping with the needs of a child with a terminal illness or shortened life expectancy.

Family-centred service encourages positive parent-child interactions and promotes the infant’s or child’s optimal developmental progress. The relationship of secure attachment to developmental accomplishment is promoted by the active engagement of parents in recognizing their child’s cues and their response in ways that foster a sense of security that allows for appropriate developmentally based learning through play (Bromwich, 1997).