Training in the use of the Zero to Three, DC 0-3 diagnostic system in current use by American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry is provided as well as exposure to the most commonly used diagnostic tools. Clinical experiences beginning in the first year provide opportunities to develop observational skills and beginning diagnostic and intervention skills that are essential to clinical work with infants and families. Trainees visit parents and infants weekly in their homesetting where they can refine their capacities to observe the communication processes and affective exchanges between the emerging infant and family members. Trainees participate in clinical placements offered at a number of child agencies and infant mental health facilities. These provide additional opportunities to develop diagnostic and treatment skills.
Trainees also participate in parent-infant groups.
These groups offer trainees the opportunity to learn supportive, educational and interpretive techniques in a group setting, and exposes them to the impact of these interventions on the mother-infant relationship. A variety of special topics covering developmental issues and psychopathology relevant to the first three years of life will be explored. The primary focus of clinical work in the second year is on the comprehensive diagnostic evaluation and treatment of three parent-infant dyads. For the first of these cases, each trainee has the opportunity to participate in a treatment conducted initially by a supervising faculty member. In the process of conducting a treatment together with the supervisor, the trainee may gradually take on more responsibility for the treatment and subsequently conduct treatments independently.