Infant/Adult Relationships: The Foundation for Learning J. Ronald Lally, Co-Director WestEd Center for Child & Family Studies Leadership Connections May 17, 2013, Chicago, Ill.

Relationships Are Essential to Growth Early relationships are so crucial to the map of the brain that, after a caregiver’s provision of basic needs for food, health and safety, they are the primary environmental ingredient for healthy brain development.

The Importance of Daily Interaction Early development is directly influenced by the tenor of babies interactions with their caregivers. The quality of what happens to babies during day-to-day care is of prime importance to future functioning.

The Science During the first three years of life, the brain builds crucial structures and pathways of emotional functioning that serve as the fundament for future social/emotional development and as the bedrock for the language and intellectual development that follows.

Humans in Relationships Regulate One Another “The mammalian nervous system depends, for its neurophysiologic stability, on a system of interactive coordination wherein steadiness comes from synchronization with nearby attachment figures.” Source: “A General Theory of Love” by Thomas Lewis, Fari Amini, & Richard Lannon.

Emotions Drive Learning Emotional competence establishes the foundation for success in all other developmental domains. — Stanley Greenspan

Growth of Intellect and Language Intellectual and language development are stimulated by and cannot be segregated from early emotional development and in fact build on and are informed by the first interactions babies have with their primary caregivers.

It is the pleasure and delight that babies get from interaction with people that drives them to relate to people more frequently and more skillfully. Emotional motive drives skill development.

Role of the Caregiver In Relationships Gives simultaneous attention to the vulnerable and competent sides of the young child. It encompasses the new “three Rs” of childrearing: Responsiveness Relationship Respect

The Image of the Child - Vulnerability The young child is dependent on adults for: physical survival, emotional security, safe base for learning, regulating, modeling and mentoring social behavior, information and exchanges about the workings of the world and rules for living.

The Image of the Child - Competent Curious, motivated, self starting An imitator, interpreter, integrator An explorer, inventor A communication initiator A meaning seeker A relationship builder

The Importance of Responsiveness in Relationships “’Feeling felt’ may be an essential ingredient in attachment relationships. Having the sense that someone else feels one’s feelings and is able to respond contingently to one’s communication may be vital to close relationships . . . .” Siegel, D. J. (1999). The developing mind: How relationships and the brain interact to shape who we are. New York: The Guilford Press.

Responsive, Reciprocal Relationships with Young Children The adult focuses on: Dialogue that fosters sharing attention with the child Dialogue that is not intrusive or demanding, but gives the child time and space to solve problems Dialogue that engages the child in learning and meaning making Dialogue that communicates respect

The Caregiver’s Role: Creating Responsive Relationships sensitivity to the needs and messages of the baby, timeliness in responding to those messages (particularly messages of distress), accurate reading of a child’s cues, and the provision of appropriate levels of stimulation. Belsky & Fearon, 2008 This is the transition to the 2nd topic – how caregiver should act in relationship & what child gets from those actions.

Babies Need Both Predictability and Novelty The young child is wired emotionally to expect that they will have their needs met by those who care for them and that their signals will be understood and addressed. At the same time the child is wired intellectually to respond to experiences that violate their expectations. The new, the novel, the surprising grabs their attention. Both parts of the child need to be addressed

What Does Good Communication With Babies Look Like? Spontaneous, significant communication that flows freely. It is balanced between continuity, familiarity, and predictability on one side and flexibility, novelty, and uncertainty on the other. “Neither partner of a dyad is fully predictable, yet each is quite familiar.”

The Very Young Baby Starting at this stage, babies start to use messages from caregivers to develop perceptions of whether they are lovable or unlovable based on how caregivers have responded to them and develop internal working models for how to engage others based on these perceptions. Ron talks about how reflective practice often ignores the S/E component and focuses on intellectual development and how S/E needs to also receive reflection time.

Starting at this stage, babies start to use messages from caregivers to develop perceptions of whether they are lovable or unlovable based on how caregivers have responded to them up to this point and develop internal working models for how to engage others based on these perceptions.

Building a Self Through Interaction The quality of the care babies receive from their primary caregivers influences the babies ability to successfully or unsuccessfully: attach to other human beings, regulate their impulses, learn how to communicate with others, and search for an intellectual understanding of the world into which they are born. Ron talks about how reflective practice often ignores the S/E component and focuses on intellectual development and how S/E needs to also receive reflection time.

Emotion Regulation of Infants “. . . Effective regulation of the infant is only possible within a supportive caregiving system. . . . By providing appropriate and changing stimulation in response to perceptions of infant state, moods, and interests, caregivers not only help keep arousal within manageable bounds, but they also entrain the infant’s own capacities for regulation.” Sroufe, L. A., Egeland, B., Carlson, E. A., & Collins, W. A. (2005). The development of the person: The Minnesota study of risk and adaptation from birth to adulthood. New York: The Guilford Press.

What the Baby Learns about Self from Interaction I am listened to or not. What I choose to do is valued or it isn’t. How I express my emotions is accepted or it isn’t. I am allowed to explore or I am not. Mostly my needs are met or they are not.

What the Mobile Infant Is Learning In Relationships It’s common to see 9 to 15 month old babies in motion throughout the day, repeatedly setting out on “adventures” in their environment, returning to the “safe home base” that their caregivers provide, and then leaving again. They move away for self-interest and return for support and connection, learning a great deal about how to separate and stay connected.

What The Mobile Infant Is Learning In Relationships The brain is preparing for life that doesn’t revolve entirely around caregiver support, a time when, for example, children will have to use the lessons they’ve learned from caregivers to independently identify risks like a poisonous berry on a bush,an un-gated stairway or a hostile stranger.

Relationships with the Mobile Exploring Infant Based on adults’ reactions to children’s actions children are gaining an understanding of which independent explorations are socially appropriate and which dangers they should avoid in the environment, from the point of view of their caregivers.

Emotion Regulation of Toddlers “. . .the adaptation of the toddler period remains fundamentally a dyadic adaptation. . . as [is] true for infants, toddlers require responsive and consistent involvement by caregivers to remain regulated. . . [toddlers] are not capable of self regulation, but within a supportive relationship, they are capable of ‘guided self-regulation’.” Source: Sroufe, L. A., Egeland, B., Carlson, E. A., & Collins, W. A. (2005). The development of the person: The Minnesota study of risk and adaptation from birth to adulthood. New York: The Guilford Press.

Relationships With The Older Toddler With the help of their caregivers, and based on their relationships with others, including peers, they are learning to process information that will prepare them to develop moral and ethical codes, to better control their impulses and emotions, and to learn the rules of the culture, society, and family into which they were born.

Relationships With The Older Toddler This age child is very sensitive to the judgments of others. Based on their interactions with others they will form opinions of themselves and their worth, begin to judge the behaviors of others, and feel shame and embarrassment with regard to their behaviors and appearance.

Domain: Social-Emotional Development Interaction with adults Relationships with adults Interactions with peers Relationships with peers Identity of self in relation to others Recognition of ability Expression of emotion Empathy Emotion regulation Impulse control Social understanding

Domain: Cognitive Development Cause and effect Spatial relationships Problem solving Imitation Memory Number sense Classification Symbolic play Attention Maintenance Understanding of personal care routines

Domain: Language Development Receptive language Expressive language Communication skills and knowledge Interest in print

Learning Styles Developed What is created during the first three years of life is a brain structure which influences: the courage to engage in the challenge of learning, the ability to persist while learning, the willingness to imitate adult models of learning, and the confidence to come to adults for help.

Early childhood mental health is not the absence of mental illness but rather the presence of a feeling of safety and emotional security, comfort in connecting with trusted others, confidence in ones developmental trajectory, an expectation that dependency needs will be met, and an assumption of one’s right to move, explore and communicate.

“How you are is as important We Must Remember…. “How you are is as important as what you do….” Jeree Pawl, 1998

Learning begins in relationships, is informed by relationships, and is stimulated by relationships