Abstract of E.R. Katz lecture


REFLECTIVE SUPERVISION WITH CHILDCARE PRACTITIONERS:
A PROCESS FOR IMPROVING EMOTIONAL AND
DEVELOPMENTAL OUTCOMES IN YOUNG CHILDREN WITH
SPECIAL NEEDS AND THEIR PARENTS

E.R. Katz
Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, Department of Pediatrics; Keck School of
Medicine, University of Southern California, USA

The relationships young children have with the significant caregivers
in their lives provide the emotional and brain foundations for child
development and resilience necessary to promote coping with the
challenges of daily life. This is especially true for young children with
developmental disabilities, chronic illnesses, or victims of traumatic
stress. To nurture evolving emotional well being and psychological
resilience of infants, toddlers, and preschool children with special
needs and their parents, childcare practitioners need to process their
observational, subjective, and interpersonal experiences with their
clients. Attention to all relationships engaged in simultaneously is of
critical importance: between practitioner, child, parent, colleagues, and
supervisors. Reflective supervision relates to professional and
personal development within one’s discipline by attending to the
emotional content of the work and how reactions to content affect
clinical conduct. Reflective supervision is a distinct approach to the
shared exploration by supervisee and supervisor of the parallel
processes that occur when we work with young children with special
needs and their families. This presentation will review the elements of
Reflective Supervision and explore how this system can improve
morale and competence of childcare practitioners and facilitate better
mental health outcomes in the young children they serve.


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