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Developmental Activity
of the Month
Painting with Textures
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Try this fun sensory painting activity with your children.
What you'll need:
Any type of finger paints or washable paints in several colors. Sand, flour, rice, coffee grounds, oatmeal, etc. Large piece of finger paint paper or poster board.
How to make it:
Mix one color with one of the above textures to create a texture paint. For example, dump some oatmeal into the yellow paint, dump some rice into the green paint, dump some sand into the blue paint, etc.
Tips:
Encourage your child to explore one paint color and texture at a time ideally using their hands to spread it around and make designs. Talk about the color you are using and the feel of the texture within the paint. Add another color combined with another texture and do the same. Allow the picture to dry. If you want to enhance the texture experience once the artwork is dry, let your child glue on pieces of yarn, crinkled up paper, and textured odds and ends you have around the house to create a truly unique textured masterpiece!
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OUR SPONSORS
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Dear Parenting Digest Subscriber,
Be sure to visit our newly redesigned Early Intervention Support website!
The graphics look the same, however, you will notice that there are new navigation buttons on the left hand side of the page that allow you to find information more easily. We have also condensed our past Blogs into a new section entitled Parenting Tips and Info which includes a drop down box entitled Parenting Tips for Special Needs where all previous Blog articles are located.
Additionally you should have noticed that this newsletter has also been reformatted to mesh more closely with the appearance of our website.
In this current issue we explore common sleep problems in infants and toddlers and tips for solving them, give an overview on the topic of infant mental health and provide you with a simple sensory painting craft to try at home with your children.
Early Intervention Support is a place for families who are facing any challenge
pertaining to their child's growth and development. It is a place where you can
come to find answers and practical suggestions from licensed therapists on how
to work on a variety of issues. Whether you are a parent, grandparent or
therapist of a child with a disability, challenging behavior or other
developmental issue-childhood is short, it should be savored and enjoyed!
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FEATURED ARTICLE: Sleep Problems in Infants and Toddlers
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By Tamara Guo, M. Ed.
The Journal of Zero to Three (January
2009) states that "Sleep behavior problems are among the most
frequent parental concerns in pediatric practice and counseling
services." As in-home therapists, we also encounter quite a few
questions from parents on how to get their infants and toddlers to
sleep through the night or how to establish a consistent bedtime
routine. Sleep disorders have been found by various researchers to
put stress on parent's emotional and physical resources, put
parent-child relationships at risk, affect a child's well being, as
well as strain a mother and father's relationship.
Much new research is being done in this area to help parents with
"fussy babies". In fact, the Erikson Institute in Chicago started
a Fussy Baby Network in 2003 to help parents cope with their baby's
sleeping, crying and feeding difficulties. It has been found that
sleep problems in infancy can indeed carry on into the preschool and
school age years if not managed early in life.
Develop Good Sleep Habits Early In Life
Night time awakening is an expected and
natural occurrence for babies, as long as they can put themselves
back to sleep on their own. It is especially important to develop
good sleep habits and help your baby learn self-soothing techniques
early on in infancy. Sleep problems occur when a baby does not have
the ability to self-soothe and needs parental intervention throughout
the night in order to fall back to sleep.
Some mom's may bottle feed or nurse
their child every time he cries. Parents may give the child a
pacifier, pick the child up and carry him around until he falls
asleep again, wake up and play a bit, or even take him into their own
bed until he falls asleep. These are natural things that any parent
wants to do in order to comfort their child and allow the child to
return to sleep. What many parents fail to realize is that
establishing this type of routine leads to a baby's dependency and
expectancy on them to help them fall back to sleep night after night.
This becomes a vicious cycle, since although the baby may awake
refreshed with no ill effects, the parents eventually become sleep
deprived themselves which in turn leads to daytime fatigue, emotional
stress and sometimes tension between parents.
The Journal of Zero to Three ( Jan.
2009) states that "sleep problems often begin or escalate around 9
months, 15-18 months, and again in the 4th year of life
(Jenni et al. 2005)." The Journal also cites that sleep problems
can also be related to temperament, attachment problems, tension in
parent's lives or a parent's own psychological functioning (such as a
Mom who needs the closeness of her baby for her own emotional
security).
What can parent's do to help their
baby sleep through the night and establish a consistent bedtime
routine?
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What is Infant Mental Health?
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By Tamara Guo, M. Ed.
What is Infant Mental Health? It is
certainly a new term to many people, but it is a concept that many
professionals who have worked with young children and their families
have known about for years. Primarily, a focus on infant mental
health means establishing a healthy relationship between a baby and
the baby's primary caregivers from the time the baby arrives in the
world as a newborn. A positive and nurturing relationship between a
baby and his parents is the basic foundation needed to learn, grow
and develop in a healthy manner. In the past, little thought was
given to how a baby's social-emotional well being and coping skills
affected his overall development. Fortunately, this is changing and
many new Infant Mental Health programs are emerging across the
country that focus on helping families and children develop these
important skills.
Think of a mother who is depressed,
parents raising a child with special needs, homes where domestic
violence occurs, or families who are homeless. These and many similar
life stressors are very common in today's society and they greatly
impact the relationship between a child and his parent. Lack of an
early, supportive, nurturing relationship with a parent can
negatively impact a child's ability to form future healthy
relationships and emotional attachments.
How Can Professionals Support Infant Mental Health?
In late July Chatham University in
Pittsburgh, PA offered it's first annual Infant Mental Health
Conference which covered such topics as The Effects of Poverty on
Parent-Child Attachment and Child Development, Behavior Therapy with
Depressed Mothers, Infant Mental Health Concerns in Adoption and
Foster Care, The NICU Experience and What it Means for Infants and
Families. Chatham University also offers a certificate program in
Infant Mental Health for professionals.
Professionals can support Infant Mental
Health by identifying early social-emotional or behavioral issues in
the home, providing families with tools and strategies to manage life
stressors, assisting families with linkages to community agencies which
provide family counseling and/or depression management, assessing
families strengths and build on them, and becoming aware of families
cultural beliefs and values.
If you are a parent or professional in need of more
information on Infant Mental Health resources in your area, check out
the US Infant Mental Health Initiative, which includes
resources available in many states across the USA.
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"People who say they sleep like a baby usually don't have one." ~Leo J. Burke~
From The Team At Early Intervention Support
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