1. Brazelton Touchpoints
New Hampshire Children’s Trust
Strengthening Families Summit
March 31, 2014

2. Presenters
Cathy Kuhn, PhD
Kristen Valente, LICSW

3. Brazelton Touchpoints
"When we strengthen families, we ultimately strengthen the community. Our goal is that parents everywhere work with supportive providers, feel confident in their parenting role, and form strong, resilient attachments with their children. To help achieve this, providers must be responsive to parents, knowledgeable about child development, and eager to see every parent succeed.“
-T Berry Brazelton, MD

4. Brazelton Touchpoints Network
Auburn, ME
Augusta, ME
Bangor, ME
Waterville, ME
Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe, WA
Seattle, WA
Suquamish Tribe, WA
Andover, MA
Boston, MA
Dorchester, MA
Newton, MA
Blackfeet Tribe, MT
Confederated Salish and Kootenai, MT
Rocky Boy’s Chippewa Cree, MT
Milwaukee, WI
Racine, WI
Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, WI
Manchester, NH
White Earth Band of Ojibwa, MN
Grand Haven, MI
Muskegon, MI
Vermont
BRAZELTON TOUCHPOINTS CENTER
Chicago, IL
Decatur, IL
Elgin, IL
Rockford, IL
Port Chester, NY
Syracuse, NY
Fresno, CA
Hemet, CA
Lassen County, CA
Los Angeles, CA
Napa, CA
Oakland, CA
Sacramento, CA
San Francisco, CA
Santa Clara Cty., CA
San Mateo, CA
Sonoma County, CA
Venice, CA
Waterbury, CT
Rapid City, SD
Bloomington, IN
Indianapolis, IN
West Lafayette, IN
New York City, NY
Scranton, PA
Wilkes Barre, PA
East Orange, NJ
Ocean, NJ
Princeton, NJ
Trenton, NJ
Arapahoe County, CO
Colorado Springs, CO
Douglas/Elbert Counties, CO
Fremont County, CO
LaPlata County, CO
Larimer County, CO
Logan/Phillips/Sedgewick &
Morgan Counties, CO
Logan, UT
Omaha, NE (2)
Western IA
Butler County, OH
Cincinnati, OH
Columbia, MO
Kansas City, MO
Prairie Band of Potawatomi Nation, KS
Washington, DC
Cary, NC
Charlotte, NC
Jacksonville, NC
Wake County, NC
Wilmington, NC
Talbot County/ Easton, MD
Nashville, TN
Stillwater, OK
Gallup, NM
Pueblo of Laguna, NM
Austin, TX
College Station, TX
Dallas, TX
Ft. Worth/ Tarrant County, TX
Houston, TX
Round Rock, TX
Waco, TX
Greenville, SC
Brevard County, FL
Palm Beach County, FL
Tallahassee, FL
Miami, FL
Statewide:
CA, CO, ME, VT
International:
Portugal

5. Impact of Trainings

6. Impact of Touchpoints on Parents and Early Childcare Providers
Parents with early care providers trained in Touchpoints report that:
Their providers are more supportive of parent expertise than comparison providers.
They have better quality and more collaborative relationships with their providers.
They have increased confidence in their providers.
They show less stress in general, and more stable stress levels over time compared to families without trained providers
Among parents, Touchpoints has been show to:
Enhance parent-infant relationships
Moderate parental stress in populations where parental stress tends to increase, on average, over time
Normalize parent’s perceptions of their child’s behavior
Increase well-child care treatment adherence
Improve infant developmental outcomes
Improve maternal mental health indicators

7. To provide safe, affordable housing and comprehensive social services to individuals and families who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless, enabling them to gain self-sufficiency and respect.
© 2005 Brazelton Touchpoints Center™

8. Since 1885, Ellis Memorial has been committed to serving working families in the South End of Boston Ma and adjacent neighborhoods with a comprehensive array of programs. Today, those programs include high-quality early education and care, safe and educationally enriching after-school and summer programs for youth, day programs for disabled, frail or elderly adults and supportive services that build strong, stable families.   From infants to elders, Ellis Memorial offers high-quality, affordable options that support working families

9. Expectations Exercise

10. Fundamentals of Touchpoints
cathy

11. What are Touchpoints?
Touchpoints are that time in a child’s development when change occurs in the child’s behaviors that can confuse or puzzle parents. They are the predictable bursts, regressions and pauses in a child's development.
cathy

12. Systems Approach to Working with Children & Families
Parent
FIT Staff
Child
Caregiver

13. A Paradigm Shift FROM TO Positive Model Deficit Model
Linear Development
Prescriptive
Objective Involvement
Strict Discipline Boundaries TO
Positive Model
Multidimensional Development
Collaborative
Empathic Involvement
Flexible Discipline Boundaries
cathy

14. TOUCHPOINTS Pregnancy Newborn 3 Weeks 6-8 Weeks 4 Months 7 Months
2 Years
3 Years
4 Years
5 Years
6 Years
TOUCHPOINTS
cathy

15. Three-Tiered Approach
cathy

16. Developmental Framework
Development is characterized by regressions, bursts, and pauses
Development is multidimensional
Bursts in one domain of development cause regressions in other domains
cathy

17. Relational Framework
Each Touchpoint is an opportunity for the professional to join with a parent to form a supportive partnership.
Touchpoint interactions build on parental strengths.
cathy

18. Anticipatory Guidance
A way of nurturing families that highlights prevention by using a parents own knowledge to prepare them for the next Touchpoint and its expected developmental themes
It is not predicting the next Touchpoint or offering advice (suggesting the provider is the expert)
Kristen

19. Touchpoints Offer Opportunity Points of disorganization
in the child and in the
family equal opportunities
to build relationships with
parents
Kristen

20. Touchpoints Principles
Use the behavior of the child as your language
Value and understand the relationship between you and the parent
Focus on the parent-child relationship
Look for opportunities to support mastery
Value passion wherever you find it
Recognize what you bring to the interaction
Be willing to discuss matters that go beyond your traditional role
Value disorganization
Kristen

21. Parent Assumptions The parent is the expert on his/her child.
All parents have strengths.
All parents want to do well by their child.
All parents have something critical to share at each developmental stage.
All parents have ambivalent feelings.
Parenting is a process built on trial and error.
Kristen 21

22. Provider Assumptions
Each provider is the expert within the context of his/her practice setting.
Providers want to be competent.
Providers need support and respect of the kind we are asking them to give to parents.
Providers need to reflect on their contribution to the parent-provider interactions.
Kristen 22

23. The Toddler

24. T. Barry Brazelton
Introduction to the
Toddler Touchpoint

25. Characteristics of Developmental Process
Infant: Unfolding
Toddler: Exploding 25

26. Toddler vs. Infant Developmental Process
BALANCE: adults ability & need to control the child’s affect and behavior
Infant
Toddler
Behavior requires
little control
Behavior requires
massive control
Affect is easy
to control
Affect is impossible
to control

29. Toddler vs. Infant Developmental Process
COMPLEXITY: the actions & intentions of an infant are more
straight-forward than those of a toddler
Toddler mental process opaque
Social Reference to test the limits
Social Reference for coming to agreement
Toddler
Infant
Infant mental process transparent

31. Toddler vs. Infant Developmental Process
REGULATION: Needs and wants of an infant are generally
sequenced one at a time than those of a toddler who wants
opposing desires at the same time.
Infant
Toddler
Wants two totally
disparate experiences
at the same time
Wants one thing
at a time

32. Toddler Developmental Agenda
Independence  Dependence
Wants control of own purpose and self
Wants control of others availability

36. Toddler Developmental Agenda
Empathy  Aggression
Discovers the spectrum of affect
Love  Hate
Kiss  Bite

37. Toddler Developmental Agenda
Knowledge  Skill  Judgment

38. Using A Toddler’s Behavior as Language: Translation, Please!

40. Toddler Behavior as Language: Translation, Please!
“What I want NOW!”
(Immediate Need)

45. Exploring the Parent Assumptions
Pick two assumptions that you find most interesting or most challenging
Talk to your neighbor about why you chose the ones you did. Why is it challenging? What makes it hard to put it into practice?
The parent is the expert on his/her child.
All parents have strengths
All parents want to do well by their child.
All parents have something critical to share at each developmental stage.
All parents have ambivalent feelings.
Parenting is a process built on trial and error. 45

46. For More Information About Touchpoints
Brazelton Touchpoints Center

47. For More Information on Upcoming Trainings
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