Social Emotional Development in the Early Years: Promoting Positive Relationships

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The focus of this 1.5 hour webinar will be on the importance of social emotional development and lifelong outcomes for young children with disabilities. Specific topics will include:

• Research evidence that highlights the importance of healthy and positive relationships between children and their parents and/or caregivers.
• • Cultural, ethnic, racial, and linguistic variations on parent-child interactions and expectations.
  • Considerations for military families (e.g., absence due to deployments, reunification, parenting from afar, etc.)
    
• The importance of Family-Centered Practices.
  
• Typical relationship struggles between parents/caregivers and children with disabilities.
• Parent coaching strategies to support parents and caregivers as they develop healthy and positive relationships with their children.

Kimberly Hile has worked in the field of early intervention for 11 years as both a service coordinator and developmental therapist. She gained a greater appreciation for the role the family plays after participating in the early intervention program with her son, Logan. She recognizes that parents are their child's best teachers and should be empowered to play an active role on their child's team. Kimberly received her bachelor's degree in Human Development and Family Studies (2001) as well as her master's degree in Early Childhood Special Education (2007), both from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She is now working towards her doctorate in Early Childhood Special Education where her research interests focus on personnel preparation and exploring how early intervention service providers are trained to support families of infants and toddlers with special needs.    

Amy Santos, PhD:  I am a professor in the Department of Special Education at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.  As a faculty member, I am actively engaged in collaborative research working with investigators from a variety of disciplines on campus. I teach pre-service teachers in early childhood and special education and engage in service both within my professional field and in the public arena. My research focuses on young children with disabilities and their families within the context of early intervention and early childhood special education services. My ongoing research activities are focused on three interrelated areas (1) building empirical knowledge on how parents and other family members facilitate children’s learning and development; (2) developing a foundational understanding of the role that culture and language play in young children’s development; and (3) translating research to practice for professionals in early childhood settings. Through these research activities, my aim is to make a positive impact on the lives of children with disabilities and their families by enhancing the practices of professionals who work directly with these children and families. Since arriving at Illinois in 1997, I have been involved in multiple national and state training and technical assistance grant projects that are designed to promote evidence-based inclusive practices that support the growth and development of young children (birth-5 years old) with disabilities and their families. I have collaborated on the development of high quality professional development tools and materials that are widely disseminated and used nationwide (e.g., Head Start’s Center on the Social Emotional Foundations for Early Learning Preschool Modules). I have also designed and conducted over 200 workshops and trainings for a variety of pre- and in-service early childhood providers and family members. The goal of many of these workshops is to enhance the knowledge of parents and providers, building from what we know from research and translating these into strategies that they can effectively implement in their every day practice and routines.  Finally, I am currently the editor of the Young Exceptional Children journal, the only peer-reviewed journal in our field designated for practitioners, parents, and policy makers that focuses on the translation of early childhood, special education, and early intervention research to effective practice.