ABSTRACT
Treatment methods for children ages 0–3 are generally attachment-focused and multifaceted. Traumas may interfere with children’s distress signaling as well as disrupt development and functioning. Traumas may also affect parents, requiring that parent symptoms be addressed as well. Separations from caregivers (e.g., for weeks, after deaths or divorce) are especially problematic for children this age. Infants’ and toddlers’ timetables for development, and for trauma or loss processing, along with differences in personalities/temperaments, cultures, and styles, suggest the possible need to adapt or modify treatments for individual children. Parents and teachers (e.g., daycare) can assist a child’s development and post-adversity recovery. Many trauma- and/or grief-focused treatments for this age group address caregiver sensitivity and synchrony with the infant/toddler and may include parenting and reflective function skills. Methods may use coaching, video assessments, and/or home visits. Some programs were tailored for use with institutionalized children and foster families. Programs are available that address executive functions—attention, orienting (e.g., a computer program)—and that help children with language delays. Play can be an aspect of neurologically based personality traits as well as a facilitator of development. Adults may assist or hinder play and its effective use. Play and associated parent training are among methods employed with young children.
