Free Online Course - Practice Strategies For Infant and Toddler Assessment

Understanding infant and toddler mental health requires recognizing that babies are inherently designed to form connections, build relationships, develop, and discover their surroundings. During this course you will develop your confidence in applying five base relational assessment strategies.

This course guides learners to intentionally keep infant and toddlers developmental and relational needs at the centre of assessment interactions. It presents five practice strategies to develop learners confidence to: prepare to work relationally; nurture responsive parenting; discover the infants experience; create connections through play’ and develop shared understandings.

It invites you to consider key relational assessment strategies that promote infant and toddler mental health and family-inclusive practice. In reflecting on these skills, you can explore how they can complement your current practice.

By the end of this course, you will be able to:

• describe how reflective practice skills apply to infant, toddler and family inclusive practice
• develop responsive relationships with parents to understand the family’s psychosocial context and the developing parent-child relationship
• develop and apply skills in observing, noticing and describing infant and toddler interactions, needs and communication cues with parents
• engage in play activities with infants, toddlers and parents during your sessions to explore parenting strengths and challenges and to promote connection; and
• reflect upon and expand your assessment discoveries with parents to consider the context and meaning of these for both the parent and child.

It is estimated that this course will take you approximately three hours to complete, including reading material and watching videos. You can undertake the course across multiple sessions at your own pace. 

For more information and to complete the course: Practice Strategies For Infant And Toddler Assessment