Healthy relationship is food for development
CHERYL CLOCK
STANDARD STAFF
Little Tiana was engrossed in examining the big buttons on her coat until she spotted mom.
Suddenly, the buttons weren’t so interesting.
The two-year-old’s arm snapped outwards to point at her mother who was walking towards her, just beyond a glass door at her daycare. A smile stretched across her face and she jumped up and ran to the door.
Her mom, 21-year-old Toni-Ann Smikle, swept her up into her arms in a instant embrace.
This was a good mental health moment.
Indeed, good relationships for babies and preschoolers are as important as food, said Chaya Kulkarni, director of Infant Mental Health Promotion at the Hospital for Sick Children.
“Healthy relationships are as essential as good nutrition,” she said. “And the absence of good relationships is as detrimental as poor nutrition.”
She was speaking at a Tuesday gathering of people whose jobs put them on the front lines of infant mental health. Police. Paramedics. Family and Children’s Services. Daycares. Fire departments. Bethlehem Housing and Support Services. Schools. And more.
And she was talking to them about the importance of mental health in a child’s life.
In Niagara, a handful of agencies are piloting a program which identifies young children who are at risk, and then helps their parents to help their children while they wait for more intensive services.
Staff are trained to do the screening, interpret the results and then coupled with their own knowledge of the child, develop a support plan, she said.
The plan gives parents simple, concrete strategies to help their child. They might still eventually see an expert, but in the meantime they are doing something, rather than nothing, she said.
“When we put kids on a wait list for months, that further derails their development,” she said.
“It gives people a sense of, oh something is being done.”
Twenty-five children in Niagara, including Tiana, were part of this project. The children, ages one month to 3 1/2 years, are being followed to determine if the support plan had any impact. And while the pilot will be complete in December, there are already clear results.
The biggest — an improvement in their problem solving and gross motor skills. As well, their social and emotional development also improved, as did their communication skills, said Kulkarni.
Catching it early, can have a big impact, she said.
Case in point: a 2015 screening of Niagara senior kindergarten students found that they are well below average in social and emotional maturity, said Sandy Toth, co-chair of the Niagara Infant Mental Health Committee and executive director of Strive Niagara.
They are more anxious and fearful than normal. They cry more than they should. They lack selfregulation, are aggressive, and show behaviours like hitting other children. More than average do not have empathy.
And yet, as infants and preschoolers, they didn’t have any physical health concerns or issues that would have connected them to an agency. So, their mental health went unchecked until they entered the school system, said Toth.
It’s more difficult — but not impossible — to change behaviours and fix problems when children are older, she said.
Indeed, the years from birth to age five, are the most critical for development, said Dr. Andrea Feller, Niagara’s associate medical officer of health.
Every second, connections are made between brain cells. “These are driven by the relationships a child has,” she said.
“They are a foundation being built in front of us.
“What’s done to you over and over and over when you are teeny tiny, that becomes permanent.”
By the time a child is 18 months old, most of their brain is hardwired.
They have already formed an understanding of who they can rely on — or not — in the world. Their sense of belonging and being loved has been established. And the groundwork for regulating some emotions is set.
Healthy relationships — ones that provide experiences to nurture and strengthen attachment — will cultivate healthy mental health, she said.
Tiana likes snuggles. She often sits on her mom’s lap, with her stuffed rabbit and blanket, and together they read. They sing together, too. Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. ABC’s. And when she wants to sing Row, Row, Row Your Boat, she will take both her mom’s hands and pulls them, back and forth.
Toni-Ann is a single mom who will graduate from high school next month. She is working on her diploma at the Lifetime Learning Centre. She plans to take a year off to work, then enrol in Niagara College’s business and human resources program.
In the meantime, she is building a close relationship with her daughter.
Katherine Calott is an early childhood educator at Tiana’s daycare. She has been trained to screen infants and preschoolers. Helping parents help their young children to feel loved and secure isn’t difficult.
And the strategies complicated.
“It may seem simple and insignificant,” she said, “but it makes a big difference.” Cclock@postmedia.com