Or - a way of teaching parents to interpret and respond to the cues/signals that their children are giving them.

Browning House staff have benefited from NCAST training and we use its programme to provide parents and other caregivers with the knowledge and skills to provide nurturing environments for their children.  Staff work towards empowering parents to become more ‘tuned in’ to their babies’ feelings and needs by learning to understand and respond to their behavioural cues.

We start by showing parents a 'baby cues' DVD, which demonstrates the basics of how to listen to babies, not just through their cries but also through their actions and movements.

Learning to read a child’s cues can help parents respond more sensitively by answering such questions as:

• How can I tell when my baby is ready to play and interact?
• How do I know when my child needs a break from an activity?
• What combination of cues might tell me that my baby is hungry?
• How can I readily respond to cues to help prevent tantrums?
• How can I tell when my baby is full?

A feeding or play session then takes place between the parent and child, which is recorded by staff using a camcorder.  Staff then carry out a detailed analysis of the video and score the assortment of movements using either a feeding scale or teaching scale. 

These scales measure not only responses between the pair but also some less obvious aspects of the interaction, such as how the child is held and other extremely subtle cues.

When the analysis is complete, the parents are given feedback regarding strengths and concerns. Any problems are discussed and, if necessary, an action plan of games and simple activities is discussed and arranged. 

Towards the end of the family's assessment, this filming process and analysis is repeated to monitor changes and improvements.

NCAST beginnings

In the early 1970s researchers at Massachusetts University, Seattle, began an investigation into how to identify children at risk of failure to thrive, abuse or neglect.  Dr Barnard, scientific consultant, carried out research on developing methods for assessing the behaviour of children and parents.  She identified environmental factors critical to a child's well-being and demonstrated the importance of parent-child interaction as a predictor of later cognitive and language development. 

Interaction, she found, is influenced by three vital elements.  Whereas a caregiver can promote interaction between a child and the environment by providing safe, age appropriate toys, on the other hand an over-restrictive or over-protective caregiver can inhibit a child’s attempts to learn and master new skills.  Additionally, the environment can impede the quality of the interaction between a caregiver and child - for example think how difficult it is to hold a conversation over a loud, distracting television

The result of the research was the development of the Feeding and Teaching Scales, which introduced concepts about caregiver/child interaction and observational methods that can be used in everyday practice. 

The Feeding and Teaching Scale programme was updated in 1994 and is known as the Parent-Child Interaction (PCI) Program.  Since its beginning, NCAST has trained over 800 Certified Instructors representing almost every state in the United States and several foreign countries.  NCAST's Certified Instructors have trained more than 20,000 health care professionals in the use of the PCI Feeding and Teaching Scales which have been applied in many settings, including state and county health departments, community outreach programmes, hospitals, clinics and universities and in various disciplines such as public health nursing, social work, child care, physical and occupational therapy, psychology, psychiatry and paediatrics.