Babies and children, families and communities do the research on what it takes for them to flourish. Listen with us to what they’ve been learning. Watch a webinar. Check out the Indigenous Early Learning Collaborative. Join the Brazelton Touchpoints Center Learning Network. Join the conversation.
Touchpoints are periods in the first years of life, during which children’s spurts in development result in disruption in the family system. The succession of touchpoints in a child’s development is like a map that can be identified and anticipated.
Thirteen touchpoints have been noted in the first three years, beginning in pregnancy, and centered on caregiving themes that matter to parents (e.g. feeding, discipline).
A child’s negotiation of touchpoints can be a source of satisfaction and encouragement for the family system.
Knowledge of these touchpoints and strategies for dealing with them can help reduce negative interactions that might otherwise throw the child’s development off course.
Professionals can use the Brazelton Touchpoints as a framework for each encounter with families during the first three years of a child’s life. Hence the creation of the Brazelton Touchpoints Approach to family engagement, an evidence-based professional development program that assists family-facing professionals in engaging families more effectively through a strengths-based mindset, and to partner with them during the critical and challenging periods of child and family development.
Together with Touchpoints, professionals and parents can discover themes that recur and strategies to negotiate upcoming challenges.
Evidence
More than a decade of extensive and in-depth evaluation shows that Touchpoints-informed practice is proven effective in a variety of organizations and settings, including early care and education centers, pediatric healthcare, mental health, early intervention and home visitation, child welfare, public health, institutions of higher learning (i.e., pediatric residency programs, nursing sites, education sites, and early childhood education quality improvement programs) and Tribal communities. Touchpoints works and skills learned are maintained over time, with reflective practice. Learn more.
Want to learn more about Touchpoints? Explore our upcoming Touchpoints trainings!
Interested in bringing a Touchpoints Training to your organization? Contact us.
Touchpoints are periods in the first years of life, during which children’s spurts in development result in disruption in the family system. The succession of touchpoints in a child’s development is like a map that can be identified and anticipated.
Get Involved
Seats still available for Touchpoints Training starting September 10!