Mental Health for Infants and Toddlers

Did you know that May is Early Intervention Awareness Month? Developmental specialists at Grafton’s Infant and Toddler Connection of the Shenandoah Valley (ITC-SV) are keen on helping families understand the importance of social-emotional development in their children, particularly as it relates to mental health.

“Most people associate mental health concerns with teenagers and adults, but when it comes to infants and toddlers, they have no idea what it looks like,” explains Camberly Pifer, a service coordinator at ITC-SV and a member of its Early Intervention Team. “Of course, we know how valuable and important mental health is during these foundational years.”

To this end, ITC-SV specialists have developed an easy tool to help parents consider the day-to-day factors that can affect the mental and behavioral health of their infants and toddlers. The tool (seen below) offers guiding questions for parents to reflect upon. This can assist with solving potential problems related to development and identifying daily influences that may be impacting a child, for better or worse.

ITC-SV’s tool offers a simple way to help parents home in on possible concerns, as a starting point for building lifelong mental health and wellbeing.