Don’t miss this wonderful learning opportunity! Dr. Kelley Abrams will be giving a presentation on infant-parent attachment and the ways in which it affects parents of children with special needs. Over the first few months of life, babies form a close, special relationship with one or a few selected caregivers. This relationship is called attachment. This first attachment relationship serves as a model for all future social relationships and can have profound effects on a child’s developing sense of self and social-emotional competence. This workshop will cover: the biological roots of attachment and how early experiences shape our brains; how caregiving and attachment are linked; the different forms of insecure attachment and the role of loss, abuse, and trauma; how attachment affects development from infancy through adulthood.
Kelley Abrams, PhD is a developmental psychologist and parenting consultant. She received her Ph.D. from UC Berkeley where she focused on infant-parent attachment. Her research included empathy in preschoolers with secure and insecure attachments as well as parenting behaviors associated with disorganized attachment and traumatic loss and abuse. Dr. Abrams is a member of the Academy of Zero to Three Fellows and an Adjunct Professor at San Jose State University in the Child and Adolescent Development program.
This training is free. Pre-registration is required. CEUs are issued for LMFTs and LCSWs only. Certificates of attendance are available for all interested participants, indicating hours earned against the Infant-Family Early Childhood Mental Health Guidelines.