Building Early Social and Emotional Relationships with Infants and Toddlers

Amanda Sheffield Morris, Ph.D., is the George Kaiser Family Foundation chair in Child Development and a Regents Professor at Oklahoma State University. She is a developmental scientist and a Cooperative Extension Child Development Specialist with research interests in parenting, socio-emotional development, and infant and early childhood mental health. Her research focuses on the role of emotion regulation in children and adolescents' adjustment and the ways in which children learn successful regulation skills. Another focus of her work is child and family resilience, and she is particularly interested in how early experiences shape later development with an emphasis on the parent-child relationship. Dr. Morris has published more than 60 articles and book chapters on child development, and her work has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, the Administration for Children and Families, and the George Kaiser Family Foundation. She is endorsed as a Level IV Research Mentor by the Oklahoma Association for Infant Mental Health. Amy C. Williamson, Ph.D., is the Ramona Ware Emmons Paul Professor in Early Childhood in the Department of Human Development and Family Science at Oklahoma State University. She earned her doctorate in Human Development and Family Studies at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Her research interests include infant social and emotional development, early childhood mental health, teacher-child relationships, and early childhood teacher well-being and professional development.. She regularly publishes and presents on these and related topics. The overall focus of her work is to improve outcomes for children and families by improving the relationships between very young children and the significant caregivers in their lives. Prior to academia, she worked in a variety of settings in the field of early care and education, including time as an early childhood center director, kindergarten teacher, and early care and education teacher.

Chapter 1. Integrating Research and Theory on Early Relationships to Guide Intervention and Prevention.- Chapter 2. Laying the Groundwork for Social and Emotional Development: Prenatal Attachment, Childbirth Experiences, and Neonatal Attachment.- Chapter 3. Building the Foundation in Early Infancy, 1 to 6 Months.- Chapter 4. Deepening Connections in Later Infancy: 6 to 12 Months.- Chapter 5. The Impact of Primary Relationships and Early Experiences in Toddlerhood: 12 to 18 Months.- Chapter 6. Middle Toddlerhood: Autonomy and Peer Awareness in the Context of Families and Child Care.- Chapter 7. Terrific Twos: Promoting Toddlers' Competencies in the Context of Important Relationships.- Chapter 8. Supporting Early Social and Emotional Relationships through a Public Health Parenting Program: The Legacy for Children(TM) Intervention.- Chapter 9. Attachment and Biobehavioral Catch-up.- Chapter 10. The Circle of Security Intervention: Building Early Attachment Security.- Chapter 11. Enhancing Early Care Provider's Capacity for Building Early Relationships with Families and their Children: Touchpoints Informed-Practice.- Chapter 12. Tulsa Children's Project: Applying Evidence-Based Interventions in Early Childhood Settings.- Chapter 13. Building Early Relationship Programming Across Cultures.- Chapter 14. Promoting Early Relationships in Infancy and Early Parenthood: Integrating Social and Emotional Policy, Practice, and Research.