Infant-Family and Early Childhood Developmental and Mental Health Intervention
The mission of our infant/family and early childhood intervention program is to support families in building resilience in infants and young children with special needs due to biological and/or psychosocial circumstance. This is accomplished through service delivery, workforce development, research, and policy. Recent infant brain research has validated the impact of the early caregiving environment on parent/child relationships, the regulation of behavior and the trajectory of development. Our program outreaches to families with infants and young children who have developmental delays and disabilities, chronic illness, perinatal drug exposure, or experience out of home placement, domestic violence or the stresses of poverty. We collaborate with community health, mental health, public health, Head Start, early education and care, early intervention, and foster care to build an infant-family and early childhood system of care in Los Angeles County.
Programs, Collaborations and Initiatives
Service Delivery
- Stein Tikun Olam Infant-Family Mental Health Initiative
- Early Childhood Mental Health Programs
- Early Head Start/Head Start Mental Health consultation with parents and staff
Training/Workforce Development
- Birth to Five Mental Health Core Training Initiative for Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health clinicians
- Early Head Start/ Head Start: Staff training on Infant-Family and Early Childhood Mental Health
- Interdisciplinary training in early assessment and identification of autism and other developmental disabilities
Current Projects
Early Cleft Lip Surgery: Neurodevelopment at Age Three Years (Alexis Johns, Co-Investigator)
First Connections at South Central LA Regional Center (Marian Williams, PI).
Filipino Family Initiative: Engaging Immigrants in Faith-Based Preventive Parenting Interventions (Joyce Javier, PI)
Impact of a Mother-Baby Group on Depression and Infant Development in Mothers with Postpartum Depression and their Infants. (Co-Investigator: Douglas Vanderbilt)
The HEALthy Brain and Child Development Study (HBCD) (Co-Investigator: Douglas Vanderbilt)
Biological and Environmental Contributions to Healthy Baby Development in Diverse Population (Co-Investigator: Douglas Vanderbilt)
Factors Associated with Successful Early Intervention Service Contact (PI: Christine Mirzaian)
MRI Assessment and Long-Term Neurodevelopment in Newborns Undergoing Cooling for Perinatal Depression ((Co-Investigator: Douglas Vanderbilt)
Scalable Measurement and Clinical Deployment of Mitochondrial Biomarkers of Toxic Stress(Co-Investigator: Douglas Vanderbilt)
Needs assessment regarding safely surrendered infants in Los Angeles County (PI: Micah Orliss)
Retrospective chart review of ASQ scores for children from a general pediatrics clinic who had a delay in receiving or were found ineligible for California Regional Center Early Start Program Services. (PI: Christine Mirzaian)
Outcomes of High Risk Infants_Informatics (Co-Investigator: Douglas Vanderbilt)
Endoscopic repair of myelomeningocele ( Co-Investigators: Douglas Vanderbilt, Kathryn Smith, Alex Van Speybroeck)
Neuroimaging and neurodevelopmental outcomes of infants undergoing hypothermia therapy (Co-Investigator: Douglas Vanderbilt)
Publications
Lakshmanan, A., Sunshine, I., Escobar, C. M., Kipke, M., Vanderbilt, D., Friedlich, P. S., & Mirzaian, C. B. (2022). Connecting to Early Intervention Services After Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Discharge in a Medicaid Sample. Academic pediatrics, 22(2), 253–262. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.acap.2021.10.006
Macam, S. R., Mack, W., Palinkas, L., Kipke, M., & Javier, J. R. (2022). Evaluating an Evidence-Based Parenting Intervention Among Filipino Parents: Protocol for a Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial. JMIR research protocols, 11(2), e21867. https://doi.org/10.2196/21867
Mirzaian, C.B., Ghadiali, T., Vestal, N., Song, A., Vanderbilt, D., & Lakshmanan, A. (2022) Rates of connection to early intervention from the neonatal intensive care unit in a high risk infant follow-up program. Journal of perinatology, doi: 10.1038/s41372-022-01408-3. PMID: 35589971.
Quebles, I., Perrigo, J. Bravo, R., Patel, M., Poulsen, K. M., Wheeler. Y, B., Williams, E. M. (2022, In Press). Latinx Mother's Experiences with Linkage to Early Intervention. Journal of infants and young children.
Rosales, M. R., Deng, W., Nishiyori, R., Vanderbilt, D. L., & Smith, B. A. (2022). Leg Movement Rate before and after a Caregiver-Provided Intervention for Infants at Risk of Developmental Disability: A Pilot Study. Physical & occupational therapy in pediatrics, 42(3), 259–274. https://doi.org/10.1080/01942638.2021.1986615
Lakshmanan, A., Sunshine, I., Calvetti, S., Espinoza, J., Santoro, S., Butala, S., House, M., & Kipke, M. (2022). Designing a Mobile Health Solution to Facilitate the Transition from NICU to Home: A Qualitative Study. Children (Basel, Switzerland), 9(2), 260. https://doi.org/10.3390/children9020260
