CRT is in our second year of funding through the Michael Reese Health Trust of a treatment effectiveness study of a parent/child intervention (The Early Childhood Mental Health Dyadic Therapy Program), for preschool children who are experiencing relational, developmental and/or behavioral difficulties. The purpose of this project is to enhance infant and early childhood mental health and the parent/child relationship through a dyadic group therapy intervention. To achieve this aim, funding from the Michael Reese Health Trust has been utilized by the clinical team at Children's Research Triangle to develop and conduct parent-child therapy groups for adoptive families who have pre-school aged children with special needs.
The first year of the program has been very successful. In this program children received a multi-sensory approach of interventions that facilitated their ability to respond to the positive parenting strategies designed for this specific population. Both parents and children are provided with critical information and skills that they could continue to apply in their daily lives. An essential component of the program is the psycho-educational parent group, providing caretakers with the opportunity to feel understood, supported, and connected with other parents.
