Growing With Your Toddler: A Relationship-Based Approach to Healthy Child Development
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Authors
Weiss, Anna Kriegel
Issue Date
2016-05-01
Type
thesis_open
Language
Keywords
Pre-Elementary, Early Childhood, Kindergarten Teacher Education
Psychiatry and Psychology
Alternative Title
Child Development Theses
Abstract
As an intern at the Chances for Children Institute, I have spent two years coleading a parent-child playgroup known as “Growing with Your Toddler.” This playgroup is a relationship-based intervention that strives to strengthen the attachment bond between caregivers and their children, increase affect attunement and regulation between each dyad, and generally help children move towards healthy development. This thesis focuses on the conceptual underpinnings of the Growing with Your Toddler playgroup, including attachment theory and child-parent psychotherapy, as well as the history and evolution of these theories. Using the KIPS analysis, which is conducted by Chances for Children each year, I evaluate the ways in which the 2014-2015 group intervention affected 12 key parenting behaviors in caregiver members, as well as discuss the theoretical implications of the results.