Required (30 credits)

Credits

IMH 101

Human Development - Basic Theory and Concepts: An Integrated Bio-psychosocial Model

This course introduces students to the theoretical constructs of a comprehensive conceptual framework, a bio-psychosocial model to understand healthy and disordered infancy and early childhood development. It gives students an overview of its practical application in understanding and promoting normative child development, working with caregivers and families, as well as in providing services to children with special needs. The course combines lectures, reading materials, group discussions, videotaped examples, and related assignments to achieve its learning objectives.

2

Reflective Adult Learning

This is a core orientation course for all students participating in the PhD Program. Topics include: curriculum structure, personal goals and planning, mentorship and self reflection, case presentations and overarching developmental perspective of an integrated bio-psychosocial model. This course devotes to understanding the tools for studying and time management, video presentations, different faculty roles, clinical placements, and reviewing a range of case that equip students tools to build their professional futures.

IMH 201

Motor and Sensory Processing Development - History, Neuroscience, Developmental Models, Theoretical Constructs, Including Exploration of Healthy and Disordered Functioning

This course provides students with basic background information on the history, neuroscience foundations, the different developmental models and theoretical constructs involved in understanding gross and fine motor development, as well as the sensory processing mechanisms that occur during infancy and early childhood. The course combines lectures, reading materials and videotaped examples to achieve its learning objectives.

2

IMH 203

Language Development - History, Neuroscience, Developmental Models, Theoretical Constructs, Including Exploration of Healthy and Disordered Functioning

2

Social-Emotional Development - History, Neuroscience, Developmental Models, Theoretical Constructs, Including Exploration of Healthy and Disordered Functioning

This course provides basic background information on the history, neuroscience foundations, the different developmental models and theoretical constructs involved in understanding the different aspects of social-emotional development occurring during infancy and early childhood, both in normal and disordered functioning. The course combines lectures, reading materials and videotaped examples to achieve its learning objectives.

IMH 207

Educational and Cognitive Development - History, Neuroscience, Developmental Models, Theoretical Constructs, Including Exploration of Healthy and Disordered Functioning

This course surveys the history, neuroscience foundations, the different developmental models and theoretical constructs essential to a working knowledge of the salient aspects of cognitive development. Critical learning opportunities occurring during infancy and early childhood, along both typical and divergent developmental trajectories are identified with attention to the translation of theory into practice and the process of clinical reasoning. While the focus of the course is cognition, its relationship to the other domains of development is underline. The course combines lectures, reading materials, and videotapes, cases and clinical applications to achieve its learning objectives.

2

IMH 209

Visual-Spatial Processing Development - History, Neuroscience, Developmental Models, Theoretical Constructs, Including Exploration of Healthy and Disordered Functioning

This course is designed to provide students with an understanding of Visual/Spatial Thinking throughout typical development. It covers literature that provides historical, neurological and educational perspectives. It explores Piaget’s constructivist approach and applications for developing Visual/Spatial thinking. Relationships between visual , sensory motor and logical thinking are explored as foundations for learning. Practical applications of the “Thinking Goes To School” curriculum are reviewed within the context of therapeutic and educational settings for children with developmental challenges. The course combines lectures, reading materials and videotaped examples to achieve its learning objectives.

2

IMH 210

Family Systems Theory and Functioning - History, Neuroscience, Developmental Models, Theoretical Constructs, Including Exploration of Healthy and Disordered Functioning

This course provides basic background information on the history, the different developmental models and theoretical constructs involved in understanding the different aspects of family functioning — especially parental development over time—and their impact on child development during infancy and early childhood, with an emphasis on typical parental functioning. The course combines lectures, reading materials and videotaped examples to achieve its learning objectives.

2

Neuroscience and Early Social-Emotional and Cognitive Development

This course helps students to understand the relationship between the brain and social-emotional and cognitive development. Students learn how the brain develops during infancy, early childhood, and adolescence. It reviews common methods used in the neurosciences for imaging the brain. It reviews current perspectives on experience-based brain development including issues of plasticity and critical periods in development. It discusses the role of the brain and neurotransmitter systems responsible for emotion regulation, cognitive control, communication, and reviews the brain mechanisms underlying a number of clinical problems including autism, anxiety, depression and aggression. This course reviews recently published peer-reviewed articles on brain research and neuroscience to achieve its learning objectives.

IMH 213

Individual Differences and Psychopathology

This course helps students to understand motor, sensory, and visual-spatial processing, language, cognitive, and social-emotional individual differences, both in normal and disordered functioning and their contribution to psychopathology. The course combines lectures, reading materials, and videotaped examples to achieve its learning objectives.

2

IMH 301

Ethics, Values, Cultural Competency and Legal Aspects of Professional Clinical Practice

This course exposes students to develop critical ethical, cultural, and legal competencies when working with infants, young children, and their families. It includes discussion of the value and best practices related to consultation and supervision, as well as a review of California law and professional ethics for marriage, family, and child counseling. The course combines lectures, reading materials, and related assignments to achieve its learning objectives.

1

IMH 302

An Integrated, Developmental Approach to the Assessment, Evaluation, and Diagnostic Process

This advanced level course provides an opportunity to integrate the concepts and skills learned in previous first, and second level courses into a comprehensive, developmental framework that guides their learning of advanced assessment, evaluation, and diagnostic skills. Students are exposed to different diagnostic approaches (ICDL-DMIC, and DSM-IV), analyzing their comparative advantages for infancy and early childhood mental health and developmental disorders. Students also review the most relevant psychological assessment tools available for infants, children, and families. The course combines lectures, reading materials and videotaped examples to achieve its learning objectives.

2

IMH 304

An Integrated, Developmental Approach to Intervention I - Fostering Basic Functional Emotional Capacities

This advanced level course provides an opportunity to integrate concepts and skills acquired during the previous courses and learn how to formulate a comprehensive intervention program for children who show early signs of developmental constraints in their first four basic functional emotional capacities. The course uses several case studies, supported with videotapes to achieve its learning objectives.

2

IMH 305

An Integrated, Developmental Approach to Intervention II - Intervention with Challenging Cases

This advanced level course provides an opportunity to integrate concepts and skills acquired during the first, second and third level courses. Participants learn how to formulate a comprehensive intervention program for children who have multiple risk factors or are slower to show progress. The course uses several case studies, supported with videotapes to achieve its learning objectives.

2

Medical and Alternative Treatments in Infant Mental Health

This course provides students with an overview of biological treatments that may be employed as part of a comprehensive intervention plan for infants and young children with mental health related challenges and challenges in relating, communicating, learning, and development in all spheres. The course combines lectures, reading materials and active group discussions to achieve its learning objectives.

IMH 307

Learning Disorders: Differences and Strengths in Infants and Young Children - How to Observe, Assess, and Intervene

This course explores the developmental pathways leading to thinking, oral and written expression, reading, and math capacities. Emphasis is placed on early identification and preventive oriented interventions. The course combines lectures, reading materials and active group discussions to achieve its learning objectives.

2

IMH 308

Federal, State, Community, and School Regulations and Administrative, and Social Patterns

This course reviews current federal, state, community and school regulations, within the context of the Individual Disability Education Act (IDEA) providing an opportunity to students to understand infants and young children’s rights and opportunities to access funding for rehabilitation and education services. The course combines lectures, reading materials and active group discussions to achieve its learning objectives.

1

Electives (4 credits minimum)

Credits

IMH 401

FEAS Reliability Training

The course gives students an overview of the strengths and weaknesses of the Functional Emotional Assessment Scale (FEAS) as well as the logistics aspects of setting up the video recording of a play observation session. The course also allows students to practice scoring a number of videos until they become reliable scorers of the child behavior scale items. Participation in this course prepares students to be eligible to participate in future research that applies and validates the updated version of this instrument, as well as to be involved in future training of other professionals. Lastly, students have an opportunity to contribute to writing a manual for this instrument.

2

IMH 402

Social Emotional and Brain Development During Infancy

This course focuses on brain and behavioral development within the first two years of life. It reviews the current behavioral and neuroscientific research broadly underlying the developmental stage model as outlined by Greenspan and colleagues. Beginning with a review of early pre-natal development through early arousal regulation, maternal regulation of child's brain and nervous system development. This course reviews current research extending from basic structural neurological systems of development, epigenetics (gene environment interaction), temperament, emotional self– regulation, maternal attunement, theory of mind, empathy, joint attention and the development of early symbolic thinking.

2

IMH 403

The Theory & Practice of the DIR/Floortime

This course provides an opportunity for students to apply the theoretical concepts of the DIR/Floortime model, reviewed in IMH 101 and IMH 205, and demonstrate increased competencies as a professional working with this model in clinical or educational settings. Students who complete this course satisfactorily are prepared to apply to DIRC2 entry at the DIR/Floortime certificate offered by ICDL.

2

IMH 404

Bridging the Gap: An Introduction to the Neurorelational Framework (NRF)

This advanced elective course introduces the NRF framework and bridges the gap across large systems of care that divide our children and families into medical, developmental delays, mental health, and educational orbits. The NRF provides a bridge to these systems of care by highlighting functional, neurodevelopmental processes that underlie all diagnostic categories. Another type of gap can often occur between the clinical work of individual differences and dyadic and family relationships. The NRF holds the tension between the quality of engagement (the socio-emotional milestones), family system relational patterns (interpersonal modes), and individual differences (the four brain systems). These three pieces are dynamic, interlocking dimensions that all contribute to a a part-to-whole dance between individuals and relationships. An emphasis on the interplay between individual differences and relational dynamics are highlighted.

2

IMH 405

Visual Spatial Processing Development Practicum (supervised clincial practicum)

This course provides an opportunity to apply concepts and observational skills related to visual spatial processing development learned in previous course (IMH209). Credits for this course are obtained by completing 160 hours* at appropriate training sites that provide services for infants and young children of different ages. This period includes regularly scheduled individual and group face-to-face supervision (ICDL Virtual Classroom) given by ICDL Faculty assigned to this course. (* based on 80 real-time clock hours per trimester credit.) This course primarily focuses on discussion of the participant’s clinical experience with reading materials and videotapes provided to achieve its learning objectives.

2

IMH 406

Introduction to Family Therapy - Theories of Marriage, Family and Child Counseling

This class reviews the major psychotherapeutic approaches in marriage, family, and child counseling. It includes family systems theories, interpersonal and human communication theories, and how each informs work with individuals, couples, families, and children. This class is designed to meet the training requirement for the California MFT license.

2

IMH 407

Advanced Family Therapy

This course discusses applications of family systems approach to the treatment issues facing families in crisis and transition. Special emphasis is placed in understanding the crisis of families with children with developmental delays, including aspects of grief and loss. Stressful lifecycle events are also addressed, developing intervention strategies to support families through difficult periods of life. This class provides training requirement for the California MFT license.

2

IMH 408

Domestic Violence and Child Abuse Assessment, Detection and Intervention

This course reviews early signs and different types of established domestic violence, as well as its impact on infants, children, adolescents, and family life. The discussion includes consideration of cultural and gender differences, as well as risk and protective factors. The course also reviews in depth critical aspects of assessment and method of reporting different types of child abuse. Students are able to recognize physical and behavioral indicators of abuse, acquire basic crisis counseling techniques, and knowledge of community resources. The course addresses intervention alternatives and legal responsibilities for the mental health practitioner, including understanding the rights and responsibilities of reporting, consequences of failure to report, and caring for a child’s needs after report is made. This class is designed to meet the training requirements for the California MFT license.

2

IMH 409

Psychological Testing

This course introduces students to basic concepts for using psychological tests, including projective, cognitive, and personality structured assessment as well as understanding the mental status examination. Students also review the elements of psychological assessment reports and diagnostic classifications available in mental health.

2

IMH 410

Psychopharmacology

This course provides an overview of clinical psychopharmacology in the context of providing professional support to treatment prescribed by psychiatrists. It focuses on the use of psychiatric medications for specific mental health disorders, diagnostic issues, and treatment plans, as well as the extent and impact of side effects in the life of infants, young children, and parents. This class is designed to meet the requirement for the California MFT license.

2