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.